That's a good list. I guess those series just aren't on my radar.

I like cute games, but have little personal interest in romantic games.

I agree with the above poster that said a lot of cute games tend to be aimed at younger audiences and lack the depth of more "grown-up" titles; I like my games to be engaging and to hold my interest, and if a cute game can do that then all-the-better. A cute game without depth is unlikely to hold my interest however.

I gravitate towards cute, because I feel it generally leads to a better game design. After all, cute is is another word for visually appealing. Plus if a game looks like a cartoon it's free to detach itself from the real world, abstract away all the boring bits and insert whatever zaniness it wants. Realism is far more constrained.

I don't care about whether or not the came is cute, I care about having a game that is fun with polished mechanics. I agree that most people associate cute games with shovel-ware, but look at Kirby Epic Yarn. That is a fantastic game and it's adorable. If the game is fun then the setting is just a way to exemplify the fun.

Hmm, I wouldn't say that it's all about dark and violent games. But yeah, a majority of known games are, because (remember my opinion) it's far more easy to create and make fun, you just give your character a big hammer, some opponents, a lot of blood, one ore more goals and there you have it!. The violent is somehow our nature :-)
But violent games can be cute as well IMO, it's a matter of mixing.

All games need conflict, it is just that violence is an easy conflict to represent in a game. But, even cute games can have violence in them. Take Kirby (as MashesButtons suggested), it is cute, but you are still beating up enemies, blowing things up, etc. What Kirby doesn't have is gore. The difference is important.

Gore and cuteness is less compatible than cuteness and violence (as Kirby shows).

Hmm, I wouldn't say that it's all about dark and violent games. But yeah, a majority of known games are, because (remember my opinion) it's far more easy to create and make fun, you just give your character a big hammer, some opponents, a lot of blood, one ore more goals and there you have it!

Actually, with that example, if you just remove the "lots of blood", you can see how the real difference is just the gore. If you think about it, the original Donkey Kong hand held game had the Mario character at one point wielding a big hammer against opponents (barrels), but this would not be considered a "violent" game by many (it is violent, just not gory).

However, the "Romantic" aspect of the OP is the indicator of the type of conflict in the game. That is, it is an emotional conflict.

This is an important point. The type of conflict is important to a game. You can make a game with a romantic plot and story, make it cute and funny, but if the gameplay is still beating thing up, the game is a violent game. What you need to do is tyo identify the conflict type you want ion a game and make the gameplay fit to that (this is also my complaint against Role Playing games, the gameplay is combat, but the conflict style is supposed to social for a role-playing game - that's not to say it can't involve combat as well).

I am male, and I am unenthusiastic about making any game which can be described as cute or romantic[/quote]
The important part is to make a game, not just play it. I like cute games and I don't prefer violent games, but playing is not making.

The issue with making a game is to get hooked up. When you make a game where you can't get connected to it, it is a just-a-job experience. For me this experience was a major reason to leave the game industry .

You mentioned Kingdom Hearts as an example of romantic/cute. At times, the game was gritty, dark and tragic (at least KH 2 was). Truthfully, I liked Hamster Paradise (GBA game) as much as I did Painkiller - both in a different way. I guess it all boils down to what you need at the moment - whether you need to feel the bond between you and a digital hamster or just feel you need to break enemies into tiny fragments or decorate walls with their interior. Fact is, the most "loud" games out there are gore, smash, violence and piles of dirt mixed with a cold palette - that could be a sign of our times, where a person you'd describe as calm and secluded plays bloody-gory games at home.

I totally agree that cute, funny (even silly) romantic games are needed. I love watching anime - games with the same light air of harem-romances, dates and ridiculous events (super powers, robots, aliens...) would be great should some light be shed on them. I think it's time to change the public opinion games have - so many people get the impression that gaming is only about teenagers getting a hard on when their monitor explodes with guts and blood. Playing games is for adults too, and if grownups can enyoj Pixar familiy movies, so can they have fun playing cheerful games.

Now that you think of it, the new generation consoles try to focus on that with their cameras and family software - but it is still considered casual, and so many like to be perceived as "hardcore" (whatever the meaning of that word is for gaming).

What is meant by "cute romance"?

It sounds disturbing, like cloying muppet babies mackin' on each other.

Well, there is a difference between "cute romance" and "disgustingly cute rainbow sparkly flying ponies shimmering and kissing over a sparkling lake of jello." You know, the kinda thing that screams "trying too hard." I'm male, and I don't mind cute things, even enjoy them once in a while, but there are times where people just go way too far.