Each time a significant prize-giving event draws close, you'll find an outcry for introducing additional classifications to honor unsung work and fill the passions of enthusiasts with niche passions.
My colleague made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. So would tabletop games, which is someone's personal cause. However, I must insist for pushing forward just as with other blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand is the most urgent and significant. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it remains highly personal, and inevitably spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise for the industry of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories actually cover a lot of ground, and you can find room for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Which classification works within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers launched regularly that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked in any category in 2014
- A different innovative game missed out in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored recently
- Only a few brain-teasers managed to sneak into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, yet the craft behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most engaged experiences globally continuing this trend for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as most purchased experience; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and engaging with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. It would be easy to populate a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
Restating the point, these represent titles that otherwise have no home in important events. Puzzle game makers are working at the hard edge of video game design, creating some of most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Just like movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait decades.
