As any significant awards ceremony nears, one notices a demand for introducing additional classifications to recognize unsung work and satisfy the hearts of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer has already made for a horror game category. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, which is a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front just as with other single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal remains most pressing and significant. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it remains highly personal, and it will always spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. It's understandable that film award organizations don’t do it. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of video games, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these award types actually cover many game types, and you can find room for most games within them.
Not so for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Think about these outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games published annually lacking appropriate categories in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition for anything in 2014
- Another imaginative release was excluded that year
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Limited numbers of puzzle games scraped into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, however the design of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games count as most engaged experiences in the world continuing this trend for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, while interacting with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these are games that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers are working at the demanding boundary interactive creation, producing among essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
