Each time a major honors show nears, there’s always an outcry for the addition additional classifications to honor underappreciated efforts and delight the passions of followers with niche passions.
My colleague has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, representing a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification backing this proposal is the most urgent and significant. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and typically generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of gaming, which are so diverse they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies offer these genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these classifications successfully include numerous genres, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Consider three of recent excellent titles, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers published annually without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category during that awards season
- A different innovative game missed out during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Just some brain-teasers scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often small games, yet the craft of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as most popular titles globally and have been for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals famous sandbox experiences competing to become highest-selling title ever; it also contends for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, while interacting with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories in important events. Puzzle game makers operate at the demanding boundary interactive creation, producing among most fundamental forms of the video game form. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait 35 years.
