Each time a major prize-giving event approaches, one notices an outcry for the addition additional classifications to honor underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of followers who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer previously argued for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. So would strategy board titles, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward because like all dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case for why my demand stands as crucial and important of all. This is the request: We need an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an essential concession for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories actually cover a lot of ground, making space possible for most games within them.
Not so for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles in a particular game, intense tile-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. Which classification works among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens outstanding logic titles released every year without proper recognition in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated completely that year
- A different innovative game was excluded in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Limited numbers of logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're small games, however the design behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most popular titles in the world and have been for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges famous sandbox experiences for the title of most purchased experience; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. You could fill five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
Restating the point, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories in important events. Logic title developers are working at the challenging frontier game development, producing among the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait generations.
