As any major honors show nears, one notices a clamor for the addition fresh award types to honor underappreciated efforts and satisfy the passions of fans who have specialized interests.
My colleague made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. So would board games, representing someone's personal cause. However, I must insist for pushing forward since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal remains most pressing above others. The demand is this: It's essential to create a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it remains highly personal, and it will always spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains a necessary evil for the industry of gaming, showing incredible range they barely qualify one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications actually cover numerous genres, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, each quite distinct: structural challenges from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers launched regularly lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- Another imaginative release received no nominations during that ceremony
- Popular arranging title got ignored that year
- Just some puzzle games scraped into independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're modest productions, however the design behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among the most-played games in the world maintaining this status for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges popular creative games for the title of best-selling game of all time; it also contends as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, while interacting with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these represent titles that otherwise have no home in important events. Puzzle game makers are working at the hard edge of video game design, creating some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
