Each time a prominent awards ceremony approaches, you'll find an outcry for the addition additional classifications to acknowledge unsung work and satisfy the passions of followers with niche passions.
Another commentator has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. So would tabletop games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize just as with other blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification for why my demand remains most pressing above others. This is the request: We need an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why film award organizations avoid this approach. However, it represents a necessary evil in the world of interactive entertainment, 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 compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
Leading game ceremonies currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these classifications actually cover a lot of ground, allowing placement for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to put them. Consider three of recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges from a specific release, intense tile-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Which classification works between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked for anything in 2014
- A different innovative game missed out in 2019
- A beloved organization game was overlooked that year
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're compact experiences, yet the craft behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most popular titles in the world maintaining this status for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it also contends for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. One could readily select five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these include experiences that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge of video game design, developing some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait generations.
