As any major awards ceremony approaches, there’s always a demand for introducing of new categories to honor unsung work and fill the spirits of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer previously argued for a horror game category. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, this being someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward just as with other single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case supporting my request stands as crucial and important of all. Here's the proposal: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and typically spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an essential concession for the industry of gaming, which are so diverse they barely qualify one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories successfully include a lot of ground, and you can find room for numerous titles.
Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to put them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated completely that year
- Another imaginative release received no nominations in 2019
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment that year
- Limited numbers of logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Significance of Puzzle Games
Frequently they represent compact experiences, yet the craft in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games rank among most engaged experiences globally continuing this trend for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges popular creative games for the title of best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. You could fill a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these include experiences without proper classification in important events. Logic title developers function at the challenging frontier interactive creation, producing among most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Just like movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
