Each time a significant awards ceremony approaches, one notices an outcry to include fresh award types to recognize unsung work and satisfy the hearts of followers with niche passions.
My colleague previously argued supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. So would tabletop games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize because like all dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification backing this proposal stands as crucial above others. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise within the realm of video games, which are so diverse they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories actually cover many game types, and you can find room for most games within them.
Not so for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: structural challenges from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Which classification works within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- Another imaginative release was excluded that year
- A beloved organization game got ignored recently
- Just some brain-teasers scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, however the design behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most popular titles worldwide maintaining this status for many years.
The famous puzzle experience rivals popular creative games competing to become best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and engaging across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. You could fill five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these are games lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers operate at the challenging frontier game development, producing among the purest expressions of gaming itself. Just like cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay decades.
