Whenever a significant prize-giving event approaches, there’s always a demand to include of new categories to recognize underappreciated efforts and delight the hearts of fans with niche passions.
Another commentator previously argued for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification backing this proposal stands as crucial and significant. The demand is this: We need an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and it will always generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies don’t do it. However, it represents a necessary evil within the realm of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards presently include classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these award types successfully include a lot of ground, and you can find room for numerous titles.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, intense tile-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. What category would fit them between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games released every year that have no home during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition for anything that year
- Another imaginative release was excluded in 2019
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment recently
- Limited numbers of logic titles managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Significance of Puzzle Games
Frequently they represent small games, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as the most-played games in the world maintaining this status for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with well-known building titles for the title of best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, and engaging with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. It would be easy to populate five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these are games that otherwise have no home in important events. Logic title developers operate at the hard edge interactive creation, developing some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Similar to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.