Each time a major honors show draws close, one notices an outcry for the addition of new categories to acknowledge unsung work and delight the passions of followers dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague has already made supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. So would strategy board titles, this being a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case supporting my request remains most pressing and important of all. The demand is this: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works is not a science; it remains highly personal, and typically generate discussions resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why movie academies steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise in the world of video games, which are so diverse they hardly constitute one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
Leading game ceremonies offer these award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these award types successfully include many game types, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Not so for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Consider three of this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens outstanding logic titles published annually without proper recognition at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked completely during that awards season
- A different innovative game received no nominations that year
- Popular arranging title got ignored in 2021
- Only a few brain-teasers barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often modest productions, but the art behind logic titles is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most popular titles in the world and have been for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience competes with famous sandbox experiences for the title of most purchased experience; it also contends as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, while interacting with almost every other genre.
Proposal and Rationale
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. You could fill a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these include experiences that otherwise have no home in important events. Brain-teaser creators operate at the demanding boundary of video game design, creating some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
