A tomato in a food arcade game is a data record. Understanding its fields explains a surprising amount about how these games behave — including several things that look like quirks and are actually deliberate.
The record
Every collectible on this site is created from the same structure:
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
type | Which food it is — the key into the catalogue |
value | Base points, derived from the tier |
tier | 1–4, determines value and chain-break behaviour |
group | fruit, ingredient, meal, dessert, snack or bonus |
glyph and color | How it is drawn, and its particle colour |
position and velocity | Where it is and how it moves |
animation | bob, spin, pulse, drift or none |
magnetizable | Whether attraction effects can move it |
comboValue | How many chain steps it adds — usually 1 |
spawnPattern | Which generator produced it |
hidden / risk | Special placement flags |
That is the whole model. A burger and a blueberry differ only in their field values.
Tiers do two jobs
The tier field sets the base value — 10, 25, 50 or 120 points — and it also determines what happens when the item is missed.
Missing a tier-1 item does not break the combo chain. Missing anything above tier 1 does. That single asymmetry is what turns collection from a reflex into a triage decision, and it is entirely carried by one integer on the record.
Groups enable recipe mechanics
The group field lets a game ask for a family rather than a specific item. Fruit Collector's harvest sets, Rainbow Fruit Quest's colour bands and Burger Rush's build order all read from it.
It also drives the named pools that game authors use — POOLS.burger, POOLS.sushi, POOLS.breakfast, POOLS.kitchen — so a game can say "this is a pizza game" in one line and get a coherent, themed item set.
Animation states are not decorative
Four animation states, each carrying information:
- Bob — a gentle vertical sine. The default; means "ordinary item".
- Spin — continuous rotation. Used for falling items and for ring patterns.
- Pulse — scaling with a slow rotation. Reserved for tier-4 and risk items, so a pulsing item is always valuable.
- Drift — applies velocity. Marks an item that is moving under its own power and must be intercepted.
Because pulse is reserved for high value, a player learns to read it without being told. That is a free channel of information paid for with one field.
The magnetizable flag
One boolean, and it is the reason magnets are usable at all.
Food records have it. Hazard records do not. The attraction loop skips anything without it, so a magnet can never pull danger into you — which is the difference between a power-up players seek out and one they learn to avoid.
It also allows selective immunity: an item can be made unmagnetisable individually if a game wants a collectible you must physically reach.
Combo value as a design lever
Most items add one chain step. Changing that number is a precise way to make something feel important without inflating its points.
- Bonus tokens add two steps.
- Risk placements add three — most of the gap between ×2 and ×3, which is how the design justifies asking you to stand next to a flame.
- Quest keys in Pixel Food Adventure add two, so three keys is six steps.
- Multiplier tokens add zero. They do something else, and giving them chain value would double-count the reward.
Why one catalogue rather than per-game items
Around seventy food types serve all thirty games. The benefit is transfer: a player who learns that pulsing items are valuable in one game knows it everywhere, and a player who learns the tier colours reads every game's field correctly.
For a site with thirty games, that shared vocabulary is worth far more than per-game bespoke items would be. It is also what makes adding a thirty-first game cheap — the collectibles already exist.
Try it yourself: Burger Rush
Sprint the burger line, grab ingredients in order and complete whole burgers for huge bonuses.
Key takeaways
- Every collectible is one record shape; a burger and a blueberry differ only in field values.
- The tier field sets both the value and whether missing the item breaks your chain.
- Group and pool fields let games ask for food families, which drives recipe and set mechanics.
- Animation states carry information — pulse is reserved for high-value items, drift marks moving ones.
- The magnetizable flag is a single boolean that makes attraction power-ups safe to use.
- Combo value is a precise lever for making something feel important without inflating points.
- One shared catalogue across thirty games means player knowledge transfers between them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a virtual ingredient made of?
A data record with about twenty fields: type, value, tier, group, glyph, colour, position, velocity, animation state, a magnetisable flag, combo value and a few placement flags.
Why does missing some items break my combo?
The tier field decides it. Tier-1 misses are free; tier 2 and above break the chain. That single asymmetry turns collection into a triage decision.
Why do some items pulse?
Pulse is reserved for tier-4 bonus tokens and risk placements, so a pulsing item is always valuable. It is a free information channel paid for with one field.
What does the magnetizable flag do?
It marks whether attraction effects can move an item. Food has it, hazards do not, which is why a magnet can never pull danger into you.
Why do all thirty games share one food catalogue?
So player knowledge transfers. Learning that pulsing means valuable, or that tier-1 misses are free, applies everywhere rather than once.