Each time a prominent prize-giving event nears, there’s always a demand to include fresh award types to honor underappreciated efforts and satisfy the spirits of followers with niche passions.
A fellow writer has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. The same goes for board games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward because like all single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case for why my demand is the most urgent and important of all. The demand is this: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it’s very subjective, and typically start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. Yet it remains an essential concession for the industry of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards currently feature genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these classifications effectively encompass many game types, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Think about these recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges from additional release. What category would fit them within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
There are dozens outstanding logic titles launched regularly lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated completely during that awards season
- Another creative title was excluded during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
- Limited numbers of logic titles managed to sneak into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most engaged experiences globally continuing this trend for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, while interacting across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. You could fill five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories in important events. Puzzle game makers are working at the challenging frontier of video game design, developing some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
