Each time a major honors show draws close, there’s always an outcry for the addition fresh award types to honor overlooked contributions and fill the hearts of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
My colleague previously argued for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. So would tabletop games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal stands as crucial and important of all. Here's the proposal: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of video games, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories actually cover many game types, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, intense tile-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles released every year that have no home at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition for anything in 2014
- A different innovative game missed out during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment that year
- Only a few brain-teasers barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often small games, yet the craft of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among the most-played games in the world maintaining this status for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals popular creative games for the title of highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, and engaging across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. You could fill multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these include experiences without proper classification in important events. Brain-teaser creators operate at the challenging frontier of video game design, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait generations.
