As any major honors show nears, there’s always an outcry for introducing fresh award types to honor overlooked contributions and delight the hearts of fans with niche passions.
Another commentator previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. So would strategy board titles, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize just as with other single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. The demand is this: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and it will always generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. But it is a necessary evil within the realm of gaming, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications successfully include numerous genres, and you can find room for most games within them.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Consider three of this year’s best games, each quite distinct: building puzzles in a particular game, intense tile-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. What category would fit them between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers published annually without proper recognition in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated completely in 2014
- Another imaginative release missed out in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored that year
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most popular titles in the world and have been for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it also contends for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, and engaging with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. One could readily select a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these include experiences that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers are working at the hard edge of video game design, producing among most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait 35 years.
