Each time a significant awards ceremony draws close, there’s always a demand for the addition of new categories to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and delight the spirits of fans who have specialized interests.
Another commentator has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. The same goes for strategy board titles, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist when I prioritize just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification for why my demand is the most urgent and important of all. The demand is this: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it’s very subjective, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards offer these classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these classifications effectively encompass numerous genres, allowing placement for most games within them.
Not so for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, all very different: structural challenges of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. What category would fit them between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles launched regularly without proper recognition at major award shows, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated in any category in 2014
- Another imaginative release was excluded that year
- A beloved organization game was overlooked that year
- Just some logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, but the art behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles count as most engaged experiences worldwide and have been for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges famous sandbox experiences competing to become most purchased experience; it also contends for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
Restating the point, these represent titles that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers are working at the hard edge game development, developing some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
