Each time a significant awards ceremony approaches, there’s always an outcry to include additional classifications to recognize underappreciated efforts and satisfy the passions of fans who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. The same goes for strategy board titles, this being a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front since similar to blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand remains most pressing and significant. The demand is this: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and typically generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why movie academies don’t do it. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise in the world of gaming, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types actually cover numerous genres, making space possible for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles in a particular game, intense tile-matching of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges from additional release. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers launched regularly lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game received no nominations that year
- Popular arranging title received no acknowledgment recently
- Limited numbers of puzzle games barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're small games, yet the craft of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most engaged experiences worldwide maintaining this status for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals famous sandbox experiences competing to become best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these represent titles without proper classification at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the challenging frontier of video game design, creating some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Just like movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
