As any prominent awards ceremony draws close, one notices a clamor for introducing fresh award types to acknowledge unsung work and delight the passions of followers with niche passions.
My colleague made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, representing a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front because like all single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand stands as crucial and important of all. The demand is this: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations avoid this approach. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards currently feature classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories actually cover a lot of ground, making space possible for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Consider three of recent excellent titles, all very different: building puzzles in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens outstanding logic titles launched regularly lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated completely in 2014
- Another creative title was excluded in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored that year
- Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most engaged experiences worldwide and have been for many years.
The famous puzzle experience competes with famous sandbox experiences for the title of highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. You could fill five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers are working at the challenging frontier game development, creating some of essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
