As any major awards ceremony draws close, you'll find an outcry for the addition additional classifications to acknowledge unsung work and delight the hearts of fans with niche passions.
My colleague has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, which is a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward just as with other blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case supporting my request remains most pressing above others. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and it will always spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why movie academies don’t do it. But it is an unavoidable compromise within the realm of gaming, which are so diverse they barely qualify a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types actually cover many game types, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers published annually lacking appropriate categories in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked completely during that awards season
- A different innovative game was excluded during that ceremony
- Popular arranging title received no acknowledgment recently
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers managed to sneak into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often modest productions, however the design in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games count as most popular titles globally and have been for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with popular creative games claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it also contends for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, while interacting with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these are games that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers are working at the hard edge game development, creating some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Comparable to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay generations.
