PAX East Boston Indie Showcase Preview: Girls Like Robots

The full version of little logic puzzler Girls Like Robots is not released quite yet, but I got a chance to check it out before it hits the show floor at PAX East this weekend.

The gameplay of Girls Like Robots is simple: make all the square people happy. Each level is a grid, with different amounts of spaces to place your square shaped friends in the right arrangement so that everyone plays nice. There’s the girls, who love being surrounded by robots. The nerds love being surrounded by girls, not other nerds. Girls won’t mind being around nerds if there’s some pie present, but the robots HATE pies.

It all sounds really cute and whimsical, but quickly you’ll realize that this little puzzle game is, well, a puzzler. It’s hard! Just like in real life, you can’t make everyone happy, and you won’t be able to in Girls Like Robots either. Depending on which squares you’re working with, you’ll have to decide which arrangement will maximize points and keep anyone from getting too angry with one another.

Those nerds REALLY annoy those girls! And like other mobile games, you can complete each level by hitting the required score, but also try to maximize points for a rating of “excellent”. And who doesn’t want to be excellent?

The art style in Girls Like Robots is fantastic. Painted backgrounds lay behind the cutely designed square people, and the colors really pop. Your eyes will be really happy looking at this game. Your ears will be happy listening to it as well. Indie game soundtracks always impress me, and this game features an original soundtrack from a real string band, called Peacemeal String Band. It’s excellent, enough that I always played the game with headphones on or the sound turned up.

Girls Like Robots is easy enough to grasp, challenging to master. Each level presents different challenges depending on which squares you’re presented with. And these squares, each of them with such strong personalities, really come to life.

Girls Like Robots will be available for Windows, OSX, iOS, and Android. Those of you attending PAX East will be able to check out the game on the show floor, and the creators will be attending the Boston Indie Showcase panel on Saturday at 6:30 PM.