Hi, I have a primary school girl who wants her share of gaming on the family android tablet.

While finding open source or commercial (i.e. I’m happy to pay) games with no ads that boys like is doable, I haven’t been able to find the kind of games a girl wants:

  • with cute graphics
  • where you care for dolls or pet
  • no ads or subscriptions, no endless DLCs.

Do you have any recommendations for android games that fit the bill?

Edit: I should have been more clear: I literally typed the description she gave me of the game she wants.

I don’t like gender stereotypes and I am not pushing her towards anything. I’d be perfectly happy for her to play any game she likes, as long as it has no adds or micro transactions.

She can play with puzzles, RPGs, tower defense, sims… She wants cute dolls, and I am looking for a game with cute dolls that does not suck.

    • manualoverride@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      4 months ago

      I was so convinced Stardew Valley had ads and micro transactions I had to look it up, but no ads no MT.

      Everything I found was positive, it may be the last bastion of cute and positive gaming.

      • slazer2au@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        4 months ago

        Also some major world expansions for free over the years.

        Ginger Island is the most recent one, and I believe there is another one on the way as CA switches between Stardew and the unreleased chocolate game.

  • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2·
    4 months ago

    without having read any comments i bet 99% of them are people telling you that you shouldnt give your daughter girly games even if it is she who wants them.

  • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.deEnglish
    2·
    4 months ago

    Here are some favourites of my daughter:

    • Minetest, a completely free and open source Minecraft clone
    • Picsart, a drawing app. I couldn’t find any free app that is similar in features.
    • the camera app, to make short videos, even cool stop motion videos, or pictures to paint on with Picsart
    • Signal, to share her art with the family. Although I don’t think it will run on a tablet.
    • Toca Boca World, a cute little game where you can decorate houses and play with figures
    • GCompris, a compilation of learning games, although she seems to have grown out of them in third grade

    If you have a PC great games for her besides Minecraft are Spider-Man, Goat Simulator, Life is Strange: True Colors (we play that together) and GTA 5 (seriously, give her a 100% save. the interactivity in that game is through the roof)

  • teawrecks@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    21·
    4 months ago

    No such thing as “girl games” and “boy games”. Just ones they like and ones they don’t.

    • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      4 months ago

      There are definitely games where the primary/target demographic is boys or girls though.

      The arcade classic “Centipede” is a good example of this. It was designed to try to attract women to play it. The colors were pastel shades and its sequel Millipede took it further by having a “story” about an elf archer protecting a mushroom forest from a bug invasion. Centipede was partially programmed by a woman (one of four people who made the game), Donna Bailey, who was also responsible for choosing the games vibrant pastel color palette.

      Now, is Centipede or Millipede only for girls? No of course not. No video game is only for a single demographic. But real world data showed that girls/ women generally played Centipede and Millipede more than boys/men did. Some things just have a general appeal to some demographics more than others. So typically when a person asks for “girl games,” they just means games that will have a high appeal to girls or games that were designed with girls as the primary demographic.

      Otome visual novels are this way as well. They target a female playerbase with a story-based romance game and generally feature a female protagonist who romances male characters in the game.

    • muzzle@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      2·
      4 months ago

      I absolutely agree. I just typed the description she gave me of the game she wants.

      • teawrecks@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        1·
        4 months ago

        Hah, sorry everyone jumped down your throat on the choice of words. Stardew Valley would be good for anyone old enough to read who would enjoy taking care of their own farm and building a relationship with villagers. I would call the graphics “cute”, but not gratuitously so (which might be preferred). Cooking Mama is another one that has a good reputation on non-mobile platforms, and it looks like they made an Android version. (Haven’t played the Android version, hopefully it’s not full of micro transactions).

        If she has a Switch, I would say Animal Crossing.

  • 2ugly2live@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit (though you need Netflix if you’re playing on your phone which is… Cool). I’ve played this one switch. It’s cute.)

    Window Garden: Not caring for pets, but plants.

    Bunny Haven (has ads)

    Good Pizza, Great Pizza: A pretty cozy looking dinner-dash kind of game.

    Neko Atsume: very popular cat collecting game

    Kuma Sushi Bar: Cute bear runs a sushi restaurant for other cute critters

    I know it’s not exactly what she’s looking for, but I believe they’re all “cozy” and have a “girly/cute” aesthetic.

    • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
      3·
      4 months ago

      Minecraft has microtransactions in the marketplace unfortunately

  • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    Nintendo has announced they’ll release a one-time paid version of Animal Crossing Pocket Camp without microtransactions, but it’s a few months away I believe

    • muzzle@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      That would be great, what could I follow to get a notification when that happens?

    • muzzle@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      0·
      4 months ago

      Of course, itch, thank you! How did I forget to look there?