As any significant prize-giving event nears, there’s always an outcry for introducing of new categories to honor unsung work and delight the hearts of fans dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague previously argued for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. So would strategy board titles, representing a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward since similar to blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request remains most pressing above others. The demand is this: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and inevitably start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason cinema institutions avoid this approach. Yet it remains an essential concession for the industry of video games, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.
To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies presently include classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these six categories successfully include a lot of ground, making space possible for most games within them.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Think about these this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked in any category in 2014
- A different innovative game was excluded during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked that year
- Only a few puzzle games scraped into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent small games, but the art behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most popular titles in the world maintaining this status for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals famous sandbox experiences competing to become highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and engaging across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these represent titles that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators are working at the hard edge interactive creation, creating some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
