Whenever a significant awards ceremony approaches, one notices a demand for introducing fresh award types to honor underappreciated efforts and satisfy the spirits of fans dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. So would tabletop games, which is someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand is the most urgent above others. The demand is this: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why movie academies avoid this approach. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards offer these classifications covering Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications actually cover many game types, and you can find room for numerous titles.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges from a specific release, intense tile-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. What category would fit them among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly without proper recognition at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition completely that year
- Another creative title was excluded during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment that year
- Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games rank among most popular titles globally maintaining this status for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences competing to become best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and engaging with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. It would be easy to populate five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these are games lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators function at the hard edge of video game design, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait generations.
