As any significant awards ceremony approaches, one notices a clamor for the addition of new categories to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and satisfy the hearts of fans who have specialized interests.
My colleague has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, which is a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize since similar to blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal stands as crucial above others. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and it will always start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that film award organizations avoid this approach. Yet it remains an essential concession in the world of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they barely qualify a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories successfully include numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges from a specific release, intense tile-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. What category would fit them within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked completely that year
- A different innovative game missed out in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored that year
- Limited numbers of puzzle games barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent small games, but the art of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles count as most engaged experiences in the world and have been for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience rivals popular creative games for the title of highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. You could fill multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these represent titles that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers function at the hard edge interactive creation, creating some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
