On November 10, a demo titled *Raccoon Coin Pusher* was released on Steam. It is a small indie game developed by three Chinese developers based in Shanghai.
The game shot into the top 10 of the demo charts as soon as it launched, and recently climbed to the number one spot. As of one week after the demo’s release (October 17), the game had received 348 reviews, with 93% of players giving it a positive rating.
Development and Publishing
The development team, Huanquan Games, is a student startup founded by university students, with core members hailing from the Communication University of China. The team’s final-year project, *Mouse Mouse Is Coming*, was shortlisted for the “Best Visual Effects Award” in the finals of the 2024 CUSGA (China University Student Game Development and Creation Competition).
Shanghai Huanquan Technology Co., Ltd. was established in November 2024. According to publicly available online information, the company’s legal representative and actual controller, Ma Xinyi, and shareholder Tang Mingjun both graduated from the Game Design program at the Communication University of China.
Furthermore, based on the ownership structure, it is evident that Eagle角 Network and its subsidiary, Dongyu Technology, have also invested in the company.
It is reported that since launching its "Kaituo Xin" sub-brand in 2023, Eagle角 Network has aimed to support and incubate small and medium-sized game development teams. The company organizes game creation competitions and provides support to emerging game development teams in four key areas: team incubation, financial support, resource sharing, and offline events.
"Raccoon Coin Pusher" is the first game developed by Raccoon Games since its founding, and it has been in development for a year.
And you’ve probably heard of their publisher, Playstack.
That’s right—*Clown Card*, which won the Best Indie Game award at last year’s TGA, was published by Playstack. This single-developer roguelike generated over $4.4 million in revenue, making it the biggest winner of the year.
This new game, *Raccoon Coin Pusher*, shares many design similarities with *Joker Cards*, and has even caught the eye of *Joker Cards*’ publisher, Playstack. Who knows? *Raccoon Coin Pusher* might just be the next *Joker Cards*.
Coin Pusher + Roguelike Deckbuilding
Since the coin pusher was invented in the early 20th century, there have been many different variations of the game, but the core gameplay has always consisted of “pushing coins” and “collecting rewards.”
The game of the coin pusher is not complicated; players simply insert coins, and the pusher moves back and forth to push the pile of coins toward the edge of the platform. If the coins at the edge fall off, they become the player’s winnings.
The game features professionally tuned sound effects—the "click" of the coin slot, the "creak" of the sliding panel, and the "clatter" of the coin tower collapsing—creating an immersive experience. In fact, 80% of new players are drawn in by the sound of the coin tower collapsing.
The high degree of randomness and strong sense of instant gratification inherent in coin-pushing machines have ensured their enduring popularity; even in recent years, one can still find quite a few electronic versions of these games.
With the release of *The Joker’s Card*, this model—which combines traditional entertainment tools with roguelike elements—offers players a more diverse and immersive gaming experience. As a result, *The Joker’s Card* won the TGA Award for Game of the Year in the Independent Games category.
"Raccoon Slot Machine" follows the same formula and bears some resemblance to "Joker Cards"; it incorporates roguelike elements into the traditional slot machine setup and features even greater randomness.
This demo is divided into 12 levels, each with a required score to clear it; the final level requires a score of 150,000 to complete.
Going from an initial score of 35 to a final score of 150,000 is certainly a significant leap, but the roguelike combinations in *Raccoon Coin Pusher* are incredibly diverse.
In the game, each coin is scored as "token value × multiplier." Although a basic copper coin has a base value of only 2 points, this version of Dengmo offers two selectable characters, 3 starting cards, 40 different special-function tokens, 30 passive items (chips), 8 active items (gifts), and 8 customizable effects (charms).
At the same time, coin payouts are calculated as "coin value × multiplier." The multiplier is based on the total number of coins settled within a given time period. Additionally, each time the multiplier doubles, it triggers corresponding wheel-of-fortune rewards, such as token distributions, gift drops, and multi-tier coin towers.
By combining these elements, you can discover a variety of ways to clear the level.
For example, by combining the interactions of "Power Coin," "Multiplier Coin," and "Saw Coin" with the "Sparrow" chip and the high multipliers generated by long combos, you can easily score over 10,000 points.
In this test, using a combination of "Alliance Coins" and "HuaBei," the best result achieved was a score of 2.9 kW—nearly 200 times higher than the original target of 15 W.
The key strategy involves using the "Flower Shell" accessory to accumulate coins early on, while selecting the "Knight Card," which provides a "Passbook" accessory that allows you to save any unspent coins at the end of each round. By saving these coins, you’ll have a substantial amount available for spending by the 12th round, and continued spending can increase your multiplier and wheel rewards.
The core combination of "silver paint" and "silver beans" selected for the chip ensures a consistent output of silver coins.
When purchasing special coins, be sure to choose "Alliance Coins." They allow you to convert silver coins into Alliance Coins with no limit on the number of conversions, and the more Alliance Coins you have on the field, the higher your score will be.
Pixel art + high-quality sound effects
I have to admit that in the final round, holding 700 coins and feeding them in one go, watching them cascade down, seeing the numbers on the scoreboard climb, and hearing the sound of the coin tower collapsing into the bottom tray—it really is exhilarating.
"Raccoon Coin Pusher" combines coin-pushing gameplay with roguelike elements, and its outstanding visuals and sound design make it look incredibly appealing.
Pixel art has always been a popular choice for indie games. While the pixel art style in *Raccoon Coin Pusher* isn’t particularly standout, the developers clearly put a lot of effort into the physics of the coin pusher mechanism. The back-and-forth motion of the pusher and the collisions between the coins are quite smooth, and the various special tokens and power-ups also look great.
Reportedly, the development team used ProPixelizer to achieve the 3D pixel effect; however, the game places a relatively heavy load on GPU resources, and one of the team’s future optimization priorities will be addressing this issue.
In terms of sound effects, *Raccoon Coin Pusher* also stands out from the crowd. The clinking of coins, the sound of coins dropping into the tray, the effects of special tokens, and even the bonus wheel all feature their own unique sound effects, which effectively engage the player’s sense of hearing.
Using various items to create your own roguelike gameplay and then watching the coins dance across the coin-flipping screen is truly a wonderful audiovisual experience.
Currently, "Raccoon Coin Pusher" has garnered over 200,000 wishlist entries, and the demo version's challenge event, "Bunny Coin Challenge," reached its final goal in just two days after launching on November 10.
原创文章，作者：游茶妹儿，禁止转载：https://youxichaguan.com/en/archives/194652
