Each time a major awards ceremony nears, you'll find a clamor for introducing fresh award types to recognize underappreciated efforts and delight the passions of followers who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. The same goes for board games, which is someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification for why my demand remains most pressing above others. Here's the proposal: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of gaming, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards offer these genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types actually cover a lot of ground, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Consider three of recent excellent titles, all very different: building puzzles in a particular game, intense tile-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games released every year lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match award groups including Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- Another imaginative release was excluded during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored in 2021
- Limited numbers of logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're modest productions, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most engaged experiences worldwide maintaining this status for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as most purchased experience; it also contends as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and engaging with almost every other genre.
Proposal and Rationale
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these represent titles that otherwise have no home in important events. Logic title developers are working at the hard edge interactive creation, producing among essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait decades.
