Each time a major awards ceremony nears, you'll find an outcry to include additional classifications to honor unsung work and fill the passions of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
My colleague made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are board games, which is someone's personal cause. However, I must insist when I prioritize 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: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and typically start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of video games, showing incredible range they barely qualify as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies presently include award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these classifications actually cover numerous genres, and you can find room for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of this year’s best games, all very different: the architectural riddles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Which classification works between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game missed out that year
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Limited numbers of logic titles scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're compact experiences, but the art behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most engaged experiences globally continuing this trend for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals popular creative games competing to become best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. You could fill multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these are games that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers are working at the demanding boundary game development, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay generations.
