Whenever a major prize-giving event draws close, there’s always a demand for introducing fresh award types to recognize overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward since similar to single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal is the most urgent and important of all. Here's the proposal: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and typically spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise in the world of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify one unified medium.
To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards offer these classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories actually cover many game types, and you can find room for numerous titles.
Not so for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to put them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Which classification works between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games published annually that have no home during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated for anything that year
- Another creative title received no nominations during that ceremony
- A beloved organization game got ignored in 2021
- Only a few brain-teasers barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're small games, however the design in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most popular titles in the world and have been for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals popular creative games competing to become best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, while interacting across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. One could readily select a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers operate at the challenging frontier of video game design, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
