Whenever a significant honors show nears, one notices a demand for the addition fresh award types to acknowledge overlooked contributions and delight the hearts of fans with niche passions.
Another commentator made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. So would strategy board titles, representing someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal remains most pressing above others. Here's the proposal: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and inevitably generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession within the realm of gaming, which are so diverse they hardly constitute a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories effectively encompass numerous genres, making space possible for numerous titles.
Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to put them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Which classification works within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game missed out during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment that year
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're modest productions, yet the craft behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most popular titles worldwide maintaining this status for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with popular creative games competing to become best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and engaging across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. One could readily select multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these are games without proper classification in important events. Puzzle game makers operate at the challenging frontier game development, producing among essential manifestations of gaming itself. Just like movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
