Whenever a major awards ceremony draws close, you'll find a clamor for introducing fresh award types to acknowledge unsung work and delight the passions of fans with niche passions.
My colleague has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. So would board games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification supporting my request stands as crucial above others. The demand is this: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. But it is a necessary evil in the world of gaming, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards currently feature award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories actually cover numerous genres, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Consider three of recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Which classification works within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers launched regularly that have no home in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated for anything during that awards season
- Another imaginative release received no nominations that year
- A beloved organization game got ignored recently
- Just some brain-teasers barely qualified for niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often modest productions, but the art in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most popular titles globally continuing this trend for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with well-known building titles claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and engaging with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories in important events. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge game development, creating some of most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Just like cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
