Whenever a prominent awards ceremony nears, you'll find a demand for the addition fresh award types to honor unsung work and satisfy the hearts of fans who have specialized interests.
Another commentator made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are board games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist when I prioritize since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case for why my demand remains most pressing and significant. This is the request: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and it will always start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an essential concession for the industry of video games, which are so diverse they hardly constitute one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
Leading game ceremonies currently feature classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories effectively encompass a lot of ground, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Consider three of this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games published annually that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated completely in 2014
- A different innovative game received no nominations that year
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked recently
- Just some brain-teasers managed to sneak into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're compact experiences, yet the craft behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games rank among most popular titles globally and have been for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences competing to become highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories in important events. Logic title developers function at the hard edge game development, producing among essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait decades.
