As any prominent prize-giving event draws close, you'll find an outcry to include of new categories to recognize unsung work and satisfy the passions of fans who have specialized interests.
My colleague previously argued for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for strategy board titles, this being a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. The demand is this: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and it will always spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of gaming, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these six categories successfully include many game types, making space possible for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: building puzzles from a specific release, intense tile-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Which classification works within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers launched regularly without proper recognition in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated completely in 2014
- Another imaginative release missed out that year
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment recently
- Limited numbers of logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often small games, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as the most-played games worldwide and have been for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges popular creative games for the title of highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. You could fill a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these represent titles without proper classification in important events. Puzzle game makers function at the hard edge of video game design, producing among essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait 35 years.
