As any prominent awards ceremony approaches, one notices a clamor for the addition of new categories to honor unsung work and delight the spirits of followers dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front because like all single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal is the most urgent and important of all. Here's the proposal: We need a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and typically start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents a necessary evil in the world of video games, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards presently include genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these award types effectively encompass many game types, making space possible for most games within them.
Not so for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Think about these outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, intense tile-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games published annually that have no home in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked in any category that year
- Another imaginative release received no nominations in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked recently
- Only a few brain-teasers scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most engaged experiences worldwide and have been for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges famous sandbox experiences competing to become best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, while interacting across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. One could readily select a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers function at the challenging frontier game development, creating some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay decades.
