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Cute games?
March 05, 2011 03:00 AM
I've been slowly getting the impression that the majority of the game development community prefers games that are dark, violent, and gritty, to those that are cute, romantic, and funny. If true, that would be quite frustrating because I want to design cute, romantic, funny games, and I really have no interest in dark, violent, and gritty ones. I want to see if this is accurate, or if I'm just imagining the community as a whole to be biased in that direction. If such a bias exists, I also wonder how much it has to do with the presumably mostly male population of the community. If you think a different reason for such a preference exists (perhaps it has something to do with age or with what is considered fashionable in this decade contrasted to past decades) feel free to explain your thoughts about that.
I want to help design a "sandpark" MMO. Optional interactive story with quests and deeply characterized NPCs, plus sandbox elements like player-craftable housing and lots of other crafting. If you are starting a design of this type, please PM me. I also love pet-breeding games.
100
March 05, 2011 07:01 AM
For myself personally, I enjoy any game as long as its an enjoyable experience. Whether thats something cute or something grim dark. But I think there is totally a market for more light hearted themed games as is being proven by interest in Double Fine's games Costume Quest and Stacked and in all the game's by That Game Company.
But I also think that there is a mindset about games that are cute that they need to be childlike and easy, so I believe there could be a preconception that cute games have simple easy game play that isn't engaging to the older gamer.
But I also think that there is a mindset about games that are cute that they need to be childlike and easy, so I believe there could be a preconception that cute games have simple easy game play that isn't engaging to the older gamer.
367
March 05, 2011 05:45 PM
Cute & romantic games are generally seen as simplistic and stupid button-mashers. Of course there are exceptions, but it depends on a lot of things. I wouldn't say there is a huge bias towards realistic, dark and gritty though - just a huge prejudice towards anything that doesn't fit that stereotype.
"I will personally burn everything I've made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames."
~ Gabe
"I don't mean to rush you but you are keeping two civilizations waiting!"
~ Cavil, BSG.
"If it's really important to you that other people follow your True Brace Style, it just indicates you're inexperienced. Go find something productive to do."
[size=2]~ Bregma
~ Gabe
"I don't mean to rush you but you are keeping two civilizations waiting!"
~ Cavil, BSG.
"If it's really important to you that other people follow your True Brace Style, it just indicates you're inexperienced. Go find something productive to do."
[size=2]~ Bregma
"Well, you're not alone.
There's a club for people like that. It's called Everybody and we meet at the bar[size=2]."
[size=2]~ [size=1]Antheus
5,990
March 05, 2011 07:35 PM
Cute & romance is not opposite of dark & dirty 
I am not a fan of either of these. There are many, many, any more options and categories 
Like Tetris... neither cute nor romantic nor dark nor light not dirty nor clean.
Also, what romance and cute have in common? There could be a game about cute rabbits for example...
You overly simplified the issue.
I am not a fan of either of these. There are many, many, any more options and categories Like Tetris... neither cute nor romantic nor dark nor light not dirty nor clean.Also, what romance and cute have in common? There could be a game about cute rabbits for example...
You overly simplified the issue.
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3,998
March 05, 2011 08:50 PM
I'm thinking...
men and women have similar thoughts about what is cute
men and women have similar thoughts about what is dark or gritty
men and women have different thoughts about what is romantic
as for what's funny, there's no accounting for taste.
men and women have similar thoughts about what is cute
men and women have similar thoughts about what is dark or gritty
men and women have different thoughts about what is romantic
as for what's funny, there's no accounting for taste.
March 05, 2011 11:05 PM
Cute & romance is not opposite of dark & dirty
Also, what romance and cute have in common? There could be a game about cute rabbits for example...
You overly simplified the issue.
Oversimplifying is usually necessary to make a poll. Personally I do think cute romance is the opposite of dark violence, and I would see tetris as being a neutral middle ground between these two extremes.
I wanted to link romance and cuteness together because I wanted to specifically exclude tragic romance. My personal tendency with cute games which are not romantic is to look at them and say, this would go from good to great if it only had some romance added. So I tend to see non-romantic cute games as lacking. I freely admit that I'm biased. I did try to make the poll unbiased though. And I'm impressed by how evenly distributed the results are.
I want to help design a "sandpark" MMO. Optional interactive story with quests and deeply characterized NPCs, plus sandbox elements like player-craftable housing and lots of other crafting. If you are starting a design of this type, please PM me. I also love pet-breeding games.
102
March 06, 2011 12:17 AM
What are the popular cute and romantic games (that aren't dark and/or violent)? I can't think of any. How can I judge a genre that I've never played? This poll doesn't seem very pointed.
March 06, 2011 12:51 AM
What are the popular cute and romantic games (that aren't dark and/or violent)? I can't think of any. How can I judge a genre that I've never played? This poll doesn't seem very pointed.
The Sims series, the Harvest Moon series and its spin off Rune Factory, pretty much any dating sim there is, Animal Crossing, the Petz series, The Kingdom Hearts Series, Yoshi's Island and possibly the other Mario games to a lesser extant, possibly Plants vs. Zombies, the Mama series, and on the borderline are a lot of the lighter-tone pet monster games and RPGs including the Pokemons, Zeldas, and Final Fantasies.
I want to help design a "sandpark" MMO. Optional interactive story with quests and deeply characterized NPCs, plus sandbox elements like player-craftable housing and lots of other crafting. If you are starting a design of this type, please PM me. I also love pet-breeding games.
173
March 06, 2011 01:33 AM
I enjoy both in the end. All depends on my mood what i would rather play. From a design point of view i have very much been brought up on dark/violent games, by that i man the vast majority of games i have played are of a more dark/violent trend. I generally feel safer designing games that are darker/violent because that is what i know.
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