Whenever a major awards ceremony approaches, you'll find a demand for introducing fresh award types to honor overlooked contributions and satisfy the passions of followers who have specialized interests.
Another commentator made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front because like all blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case supporting my request is the most urgent and important of all. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it remains highly personal, and typically start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason cinema institutions don’t do it. Yet it remains a necessary evil within the realm of gaming, which are so diverse they hardly constitute a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies presently include classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types effectively encompass numerous genres, allowing placement for most games within them.
Not so for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games published annually without proper recognition in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game received no recognition completely that year
- A different innovative game missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
- Only a few puzzle games barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Frequently they represent small games, yet the craft of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most engaged experiences globally maintaining this status for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges popular creative games claiming status as most purchased experience; it also contends for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and engaging with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. You could fill five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
Restating the point, these represent titles that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators operate at the demanding boundary of video game design, producing among the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Just like cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
