Each time a major awards ceremony nears, there’s always an outcry for the addition of new categories to recognize underappreciated efforts and fill the hearts of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. So would board games, this being someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward because like all dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand stands as crucial and important of all. This is the request: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and typically generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies don’t do it. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise within the realm of video games, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these award types actually cover a lot of ground, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Think about these recent excellent titles, all very different: the architectural riddles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. Which classification works between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers published annually without proper recognition at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition for anything in 2014
- A different innovative game missed out during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
- Just some brain-teasers barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Frequently they represent small games, however the design in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Well-known matching games stand as the most-played games in the world and have been for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals popular creative games for the title of highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. One could readily select five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
Restating the point, these include experiences without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers are working at the demanding boundary of video game design, creating some of most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
