In the cozy puzzle game PancitoMerge, the goal is getting the yummy pastries that tumble into your shopping bag to fit without overflowing. But the even bigger challenge? Resisting the urge to dash to the nearest Mexican bakery for a flaky orejita or chocolate-filled cuernito.

“One of the bad things about this game is that it makes you hungry,” jokes Antonio Uribe, the game’s designer. “People send us photos of themselves eating sweet bread, and say, ‘It’s because of you!’”

PancitoMerge is a love letter to pan dulce—sweet breads that are a culinary staple in Mexico. Matching two of the same kind merges them into a larger one—two smiley-faced galletas might turn into a muffin-like panqué, for example, while sugar-crusted conchas become a piglet-shaped puerquito.

What makes the game so mouthwatering? All of the pan dulce were hand-painted in dreamy watercolor by artist Jessica Álvarez, who grew up just outside of Mexico City.

“A lot of Mexicans told us they didn’t know about all the pan dulce we represent in the game,” she says. “I have a sense of responsibility to represent the richness of my culture. And pan dulce has a very special place in my heart, because it reminds me so much of my abuelita—my grandmother.”

Each pastry in the game is accompanied by tidbits of info—the ingredients, origin, or significance to touchstones like Mexico’s Day of the Dead.

“People from different places in the world have told us, ‘Now I know what these are named after,’ and some have said they can go and ask for a specific bread they saw in the game,” Uribe says. “That’s what I wanted—for people to be curious about this culture that may be uncommon for them.”

Even the customers who appear at the game’s bakery window—like a luchador in his signature wrestling mask, or a traveling knife sharpener called an afilador—are based on figures from Mexican life and folklore.

“They’re inspired by real people, a representation of characters you might meet in Mexican streets—not only humans but also animals and artesanías, the little sculptures we make in Mexico,” Álvarez says.

PancitoMerge’s creators are optimistic about the future of game development in Mexico, thanks in part to the foundation that homegrown studios have built.

“When I started, the biggest issue was that there were not a lot of people making games from our region,” Uribe says. “We have an expression here: ‘It was all jungle before.’ No roads, no infrastructure. You had to figure it out on your own.”

And now? “We’re seeing more and more people doing incredible, big things,” Uribe says. “We’ve been getting good at this for a long time.”