Whenever a major prize-giving event nears, you'll find a demand for the addition fresh award types to recognize underappreciated efforts and fill the passions of enthusiasts with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are board games, which is someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case for why my demand stands as crucial and significant. This is the request: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and it will always start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why movie academies don’t do it. However, it represents an essential concession for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards currently feature genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these award types effectively encompass a lot of ground, making space possible for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Consider three of recent excellent titles, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. What category would fit them between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category in 2014
- A different innovative game was excluded during that ceremony
- Popular arranging title was overlooked recently
- Just some puzzle games managed to sneak into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often compact experiences, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most popular titles worldwide and have been for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals famous sandbox experiences claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it also contends as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, and engaging across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these are games without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge of video game design, creating some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
