Each time a significant awards ceremony nears, there’s always a demand for introducing of new categories to recognize overlooked contributions and fill the passions of followers with niche passions.
A fellow writer previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. So would tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification supporting my request remains most pressing and important of all. Here's the proposal: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies don’t do it. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications successfully include numerous genres, making space possible for most games within them.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Which classification works within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles released every year that have no home at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- A different innovative game missed out that year
- A beloved organization game got ignored that year
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're modest productions, however the design behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles count as the most-played games in the world continuing this trend for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges famous sandbox experiences for the title of best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and engaging across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. You could fill a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these represent titles without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge interactive creation, developing some of most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
