Each time a major honors show nears, you'll find a demand for introducing fresh award types to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the hearts of fans dedicated to specific genres.
Another commentator previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. So would tabletop games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand stands as crucial above others. Here's the proposal: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies steer clear of genre categories. But it is a necessary evil in the world of gaming, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories actually cover many game types, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
Not so for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers released every year lacking appropriate categories in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match award groups including Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated completely that year
- A different innovative game missed out in 2019
- Popular arranging title was overlooked recently
- Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often modest productions, yet the craft of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most popular titles globally maintaining this status for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals popular creative games for the title of best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. It would be easy to populate a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these are games that otherwise have no home in important events. Logic title developers are working at the demanding boundary of video game design, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
