Whenever a major awards ceremony nears, you'll find an outcry to include of new categories to honor unsung work and delight the passions of fans with niche passions.
My colleague made the case supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. So would tabletop games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand is the most urgent and significant. This is the request: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and inevitably start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why cinema institutions avoid this approach. But it is an unavoidable compromise for the industry of video games, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards currently feature classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these classifications actually cover numerous genres, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Think about these recent excellent titles, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, intense tile-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked for anything in 2014
- A different innovative game was excluded that year
- A beloved organization game was overlooked in 2021
- Only a few logic titles scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, but the art behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most popular titles worldwide maintaining this status for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and engaging across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. You could fill a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these represent titles without proper classification in important events. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge game development, developing some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Comparable to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait decades.
