🔗 Share this article

Each time a major honors show approaches, one notices a clamor for the addition of new categories to recognize overlooked contributions and fill the passions of enthusiasts with niche passions.

Another commentator has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. So would strategy board titles, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal remains most pressing above others. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.

Organizing Gaming Categories

Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. However, it represents a necessary evil for the industry of video games, which are so diverse they hardly constitute a single creative category.

For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.

Existing Game Classification System

Leading game ceremonies presently include classifications covering Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these award types successfully include numerous genres, and you can find room for numerous titles.

Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Think about these recent excellent titles, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.

Acknowledgment Issues

Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers published annually without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested Indie races.

• One classic puzzle game got overlooked in any category during that awards season
• A different innovative game was excluded that year
• Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
• Limited numbers of brain-teasers barely qualified for niche award types

Value of Brain-Teasers

These are often compact experiences, but the art behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most popular titles in the world and have been for many years.

The famous puzzle experience challenges famous sandbox experiences claiming status as most purchased experience; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre.

The Solution and Justification

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. One could readily select five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.

And to reiterate, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators are working at the challenging frontier game development, creating some of most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Just like cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay decades.