🔗 Share this article

Each time a prominent awards ceremony approaches, there’s always a clamor to include of new categories to honor overlooked contributions and satisfy the passions of followers dedicated to specific genres.

My colleague made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for board games, which is someone's personal cause. However, I must insist when I prioritize because like all dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case for why my demand stands as crucial and significant. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a classification for brain-teasing titles.

Categorizing Game Types

Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and it will always generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents a necessary evil in the world of gaming, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.

For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.

Existing Game Classification System

Leading game ceremonies offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories actually cover many game types, allowing placement for most games within them.

This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, all very different: building puzzles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.

Recognition Challenges

Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games released every year that have no home at major award shows, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.

• A renowned logic title got overlooked for anything in 2014
• Another creative title missed out during that ceremony
• Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
• Limited numbers of brain-teasers scraped into small studio or handheld classifications

Importance of Logic Titles

Commonly they're small games, however the design of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among the most-played games in the world and have been for an extended period.

The legendary block-stacking game competes with well-known building titles for the title of highest-selling title ever; it also contends for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, while interacting with almost every other genre.

Recommendation and Reasoning

Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.

To emphasize again, these represent titles without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators are working at the demanding boundary interactive creation, developing some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay 35 years.