Whenever a prominent awards ceremony draws close, there’s always an outcry for the addition fresh award types to honor unsung work and delight the spirits of followers with niche passions.
Another commentator previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. So would strategy board titles, representing someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal remains most pressing and significant. Here's the proposal: We need a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works is not a science; it’s very subjective, and typically start arguments 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 gaming, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute one unified medium.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these classifications successfully include a lot of ground, and you can find room for most games within them.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Think about these recent excellent titles, all very different: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Which classification works among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens outstanding logic titles launched regularly lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked for anything that year
- A different innovative game received no nominations during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
- Limited numbers of puzzle games managed to sneak into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, yet the craft of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most popular titles worldwide maintaining this status for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences for the title of highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, while interacting across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. You could fill multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these are games without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers operate at the hard edge game development, producing among most fundamental forms of the video game form. Just like film action specialists, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
