Each time a prominent awards ceremony nears, one notices a demand for the addition fresh award types to honor unsung work and satisfy the passions of fans dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are board games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front just as with other single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal stands as crucial and important of all. The demand is this: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it’s very subjective, and inevitably start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. But it is a necessary evil within the realm of gaming, which are so diverse they barely qualify one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications effectively encompass numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Which classification works between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles released every year without proper recognition 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 that year
- Another creative title missed out that year
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment recently
- Just some puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
Frequently they represent modest productions, however the design in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games rank among the most-played games in the world continuing this trend for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience challenges popular creative games competing to become best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and engaging across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. You could fill five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these represent titles without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge game development, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait decades.