Each time a significant prize-giving event approaches, there’s always a clamor to include fresh award types to honor underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of followers dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague previously argued supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. The same goes for tabletop games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize just as with other single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand stands as crucial above others. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why film award organizations avoid this approach. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of video games, which are so diverse they barely qualify as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories effectively encompass a lot of ground, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, all very different: the architectural riddles in a particular game, intense tile-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Which classification works among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers launched regularly without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game received no recognition in any category that year
- Another creative title was excluded that year
- A beloved organization game got ignored recently
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as most popular titles worldwide maintaining this status for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges well-known building titles claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, while interacting across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these include experiences without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators are working at the hard edge interactive creation, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait decades.
