As any prominent awards ceremony approaches, there’s always an outcry for the addition fresh award types to honor unsung work and delight the spirits of fans who have specialized interests.
My colleague has already made for a horror game category. It would be amazing. The same goes for tabletop games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand stands as crucial and significant. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it’s very subjective, and inevitably start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of gaming, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards presently include genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types successfully include many game types, and you can find room for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles published annually that have no home at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition for anything in 2014
- Another creative title was excluded that year
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Limited numbers of logic titles barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent small games, however the design of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most engaged experiences worldwide continuing this trend for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals famous sandbox experiences claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. One could readily select a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these are games that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Logic title developers operate at the demanding boundary game development, developing some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Just like movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
