Each time a major awards ceremony nears, you'll find an outcry for the addition fresh award types to honor overlooked contributions and delight the passions of fans dedicated to specific genres.
Another commentator has already made for a horror game category. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, this being a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front just as with other blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification backing this proposal remains most pressing above others. This is the request: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works is not a science; it remains highly personal, and inevitably spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. It's understandable that cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. But it is a necessary evil within the realm of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types actually cover numerous genres, allowing placement for most games within them.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Think about these recent excellent titles, all very different: building puzzles in a particular game, intense tile-matching of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges from additional release. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles released every year lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition in any category that year
- Another imaginative release received no nominations in 2019
- Popular arranging title got ignored that year
- Limited numbers of puzzle games scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often compact experiences, yet the craft behind logic titles is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most popular titles worldwide continuing this trend for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with popular creative games competing to become best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and engaging with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these include experiences that otherwise have no home in important events. Brain-teaser creators are working at the hard edge game development, creating some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay generations.
