Whenever a significant awards ceremony draws close, one notices an outcry for the addition additional classifications to honor unsung work and satisfy the passions of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
Another commentator has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. So would board games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward just as with other single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification supporting my request is the most urgent and significant. This is the request: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it’s very subjective, and inevitably generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise within the realm of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these classifications effectively encompass many game types, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Consider three of recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Which classification works among existing types? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers published annually that have no home at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked in any category in 2014
- Another creative title received no nominations during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment that year
- Limited numbers of logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent compact experiences, yet the craft in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most engaged experiences globally and have been for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with popular creative games competing to become best-selling game of all time; it also contends as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these represent titles without proper classification in important events. Logic title developers operate at the hard edge game development, developing some of most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Comparable to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay decades.
