Whenever a significant awards ceremony nears, there’s always a clamor to include additional classifications to recognize overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of fans with niche passions.
My colleague made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. The same goes for board games, representing someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal remains most pressing and important of all. This is the request: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and typically generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that movie academies steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains a necessary evil within the realm of gaming, showing incredible range they hardly constitute a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
Leading game ceremonies currently feature award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories successfully include a lot of ground, and you can find room for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Which classification works within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games released every year lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked for anything during that awards season
- Another imaginative release missed out during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked recently
- Limited numbers of puzzle games barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're modest productions, but the art of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Well-known matching games rank among the most-played games worldwide and have been for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges famous sandbox experiences competing to become best-selling game of all time; it also contends for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. One could readily select multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these are games that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers operate at the hard edge interactive creation, developing some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait 35 years.
