As any major prize-giving event draws close, there’s always a demand to include fresh award types to honor underappreciated efforts and delight the hearts of followers dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague has already made for a horror game category. It would be amazing. So would tabletop games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification backing this proposal remains most pressing above others. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and it will always start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that movie academies steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an essential concession in the world of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories successfully include many game types, and you can find room for most games within them.
Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Think about these this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition at major award shows, except when they manage to fit for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked completely in 2014
- A different innovative game missed out that year
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Limited numbers of puzzle games scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art behind logic titles is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most engaged experiences globally maintaining this status for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges well-known building titles claiming status as most purchased experience; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these are games without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators operate at the hard edge game development, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
