As any major honors show nears, one notices a clamor for the addition additional classifications to acknowledge unsung work and delight the passions of followers with niche passions.
Another commentator previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand remains most pressing and significant. This is the request: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it’s very subjective, and inevitably start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise for the industry of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they hardly constitute one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
Leading game ceremonies currently feature genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories actually cover numerous genres, making space possible for numerous titles.
Not so for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Think about these recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. What category would fit them between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games released every year without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked for anything in 2014
- Another creative title missed out during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked that year
- Limited numbers of logic titles scraped into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, however the design behind logic titles is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most popular titles worldwide maintaining this status for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals famous sandbox experiences claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these represent titles without proper classification at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators operate at the challenging frontier interactive creation, developing some of most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
