As any major honors show draws close, one notices an outcry to include fresh award types to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and delight the hearts of fans with niche passions.
My colleague previously argued for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. So would strategy board titles, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward since similar to single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request stands as crucial and significant. This is the request: It's essential to create a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and typically spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations avoid this approach. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise for the industry of video games, which are so diverse they barely qualify a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards currently feature award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these six categories actually cover many game types, making space possible for most games within them.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to put them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, intense tile-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games published annually without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated completely that year
- Another creative title missed out during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment recently
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often modest productions, yet the craft behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles count as most engaged experiences in the world continuing this trend for many years.
The famous puzzle experience challenges popular creative games competing to become most purchased experience; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. One could readily select multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these include experiences that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge of video game design, developing some of essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Just like movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait generations.
