Each time a prominent honors show draws close, you'll find a clamor for introducing fresh award types to honor underappreciated efforts and delight the passions of followers dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. However, I must insist when I prioritize just as with other blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal stands as crucial and important of all. The demand is this: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents a necessary evil for the industry of gaming, showing incredible range they hardly constitute a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories effectively encompass numerous genres, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, all very different: building puzzles in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly that have no home at major award shows, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated completely in 2014
- Another imaginative release missed out that year
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often compact experiences, but the art of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games rank among the most-played games worldwide continuing this trend for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals famous sandbox experiences claiming status as most purchased experience; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these are games that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators are working at the hard edge of video game design, developing some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
