Each time a prominent prize-giving event approaches, there’s always an outcry for the addition fresh award types to honor unsung work and fill the hearts of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague has already made supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. So would tabletop games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request stands as crucial and important of all. This is the request: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and it will always spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents a necessary evil for the industry of video games, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these classifications successfully include a lot of ground, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Think about these recent excellent titles, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
There are dozens outstanding logic titles published annually that have no home in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked in any category during that awards season
- Another creative title was excluded in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked recently
- Limited numbers of logic titles barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often small games, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most popular titles worldwide continuing this trend for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with popular creative games competing to become highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these represent titles without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers function at the hard edge of video game design, creating some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
