Each time a significant awards ceremony nears, there’s always a demand for introducing additional classifications to honor unsung work and satisfy the hearts of followers with niche passions.
Another commentator has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. So would strategy board titles, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward since similar to single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand stands as crucial and significant. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and it will always spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise for the industry of gaming, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these award types effectively encompass many game types, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Consider three of recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Which classification works between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly that have no home in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition in any category that year
- Another creative title was excluded that year
- A beloved organization game got ignored that year
- Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often modest productions, but the art in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Well-known matching games stand as most popular titles in the world maintaining this status for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges well-known building titles claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, and engaging with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these represent titles that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers function at the challenging frontier of video game design, creating some of essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Just like film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
