Each time a prominent prize-giving event nears, you'll find an outcry for the addition of new categories to acknowledge overlooked contributions and delight the spirits of followers dedicated to specific genres.
Another commentator has already made for a horror game category. That would rule. So would board games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case supporting my request remains most pressing and significant. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and inevitably generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that movie academies don’t do it. But it is an essential concession for the industry of gaming, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies presently include classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these classifications successfully include a lot of ground, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges from additional release. Which classification works among existing types? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games released every year that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated for anything that year
- Another imaginative release missed out during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Limited numbers of puzzle games scraped into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent small games, but the art behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as most engaged experiences in the world maintaining this status for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges famous sandbox experiences competing to become highest-selling title ever; it also contends for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. It would be easy to populate a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these include experiences that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators function at the demanding boundary of video game design, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
