The Liquid Sort Game That Refuses to Squeeze You

The liquid sort genre has a problem. The core loop (sorting colored liquids between tubes until everything matches) is genuinely satisfying. That's why the category has over 100 million downloads. But most of the games running that loop have turned it into a delivery mechanism for ads, manipulation, and levels designed to be unsolvable unless you watch a video.

Pigment Pour exists because Brett, the solo developer behind No Bull Games, got fed up.

"Every liquid sort game I'd actually try ended up being the same irritating trash," he says. "Ad after every level, some bullshit dead end that would force you to watch an ad to unlock an empty vessel required to beat the board, board generators that are either pandering or actually impossible to win without an ad. So many in the puzzle genre had drifted into this thing that just feels so gross and disrespectful."

The core mechanic wasn't broken, he decided. The incentive structure was. "The genre has 100M+ downloads. People clearly love it. But what does this game look like if it actually treats the player like an adult?"

Pigment Pour is No Bull Games' answer. 1,000 hand-curated levels, every one guaranteed solvable. No forced ad interruptions. No rage timers. No dark pattern monetization that kicks in once your wallet is open. "The store listing can show you the art and the puzzle," Brett says. "It can't show you everything I made sure ISN'T in there. The game is built on what it refuses to do."

The studio is, at the moment, one person. Brett builds it nights and weekends around a day job. Obsession is his word for it, not passion project. No Bull Games ships almost every week, and a second world is in active development for players who've finished the 1,000-level campaign in World One. His father, he says, has told him he seems "possessed."

The results are small and real. Around 65 to 75 daily actives on a typical day, sometimes spiking past 125. About 300 weekly, 700 monthly. iOS and Android split nearly even.

"The number I actually care about isn't a vanity metric," Brett says. "It's that on any given day there's 65 to 75 real people choosing to spend part of their day in this thing I built so painstakingly. That gives me so much gratification and satisfaction every day."

What sets Pigment Pour apart isn't just the design. It's the support loop No Bull Games runs with its players. The developer replies to every Reddit comment, sends personal messages and in-game gifts to players hitting milestones, and ships within hours of feedback. A player complained about tube size on a Tuesday; by Wednesday the layout was updated, the fix was live for everyone, and a personal reply had gone out. The player came back: "What in the fuck I submitted that suggestion a few hours ago and you've already updated??? Absolute legend."

That response time isn't accidental. It's the argument. "The clones can't do that," Brett says. "They're spreadsheets pretending to be games. That's an edge I can press and I do."

Players have noticed. A Play Store review from Francesco put it plainly: "In the past I saw dozens of ads on various games depicting this kind of puzzle and then found out it was either false advertisement or ridden with ads. This game does neither, and actually delivers on what it promises. What I liked the most though was seeing a nice developer who listens and engages with the community." A reviewer named Riley left a one-star-shy review, then came back a week later after No Bull Games shipped the fix and sent a personal response, and bumped it to five stars. A third reviewer, Andrew, edited his review just to add: "The devs have done so much QoL stuff already, I just can't give them enough credit, really great work."

When asked what 10x players would mean, Brett is direct. "It'd start to look like a real business." Not retirement. The gap between 700 monthly actives and sustainability is real. But a different kind of math. "It's the difference between 'this is a passion project I subsidize with my own time' and 'this might actually fund itself possibly one day.'"

The milestone that keeps coming up isn't a chart position. It's one hire. "Just one. Someone to help me so I'm not the only set of hands on every single thing. That's the milestone I'd actually celebrate."

Until then, No Bull Games is shipping every week, reading every review, and building World Two.

Pigment Pour is free to download on iOS and Android.