Each time a major prize-giving event nears, you'll find a demand to include additional classifications to honor overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague previously argued for a horror game category. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize just as with other single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case supporting my request is the most urgent and important of all. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and it will always start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an essential concession within the realm of video games, which are so diverse they hardly constitute one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these classifications successfully include a lot of ground, allowing placement for numerous titles.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, all very different: structural challenges of one title, intense tile-matching from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. Which classification works within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles released every year without proper recognition at major award shows, if they accidentally match award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked completely that year
- Another imaginative release received no nominations during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked recently
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, yet the craft behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as most engaged experiences globally maintaining this status for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges well-known building titles competing to become most purchased experience; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, while interacting across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these include experiences that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers operate at the challenging frontier game development, developing some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Comparable to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
