Whenever a prominent prize-giving event draws close, there’s always an outcry for the addition additional classifications to recognize unsung work and fill the spirits of followers who have specialized interests.
My colleague made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. So would tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward since similar to blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand is the most urgent and important of all. Here's the proposal: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works is not a science; it’s very subjective, and it will always start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. But it is an unavoidable compromise for the industry of video games, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these classifications actually cover many game types, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Consider three of outstanding current releases, all very different: structural challenges from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers launched regularly that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated in any category that year
- Another imaginative release was excluded that year
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked that year
- Only a few logic titles managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're compact experiences, but the art of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games stand as the most-played games in the world and have been for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals famous sandbox experiences claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers function at the demanding boundary of video game design, producing among most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
