Mondrian - Plastic Reality News

[h2]Challenge Prompt: Indie Games
Submission Deadline: February 12, 11:59pm EST[/h2]
It’s no secret we love indie games. We MAKE indie games! So we want to see how much you love indie games too. It’s up to you how you’d like to interpret this prompt. Remake your favorite character? A specific in-game item? Maybe even your favorite indie game logo? It’s completely up to you!

You have until next Friday to submit, and for the first time ever, you can use Mondrian Free Admission to submit your creations. Once you’ve uploaded your creation to Steam Workshop, simply drop a link to it on our Discord in the #gala-submissions channel. Levels must be built in Mondrian Maker, thumbnails created in Mondrian Studio (external editing is okay), set to Publicly Visible, with “Level” and “Gala Entry” tags applied before the submission deadline. Please see this Pinned Thread for full challenge rules.

All eligible Gala entries will receive a Wooden Frame around Thumbnails, sent via the Developer Comments. Of course it wouldn’t be a Mondrian Maker Challenge without some 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes, so here’s what’s in store:

First Place

• Gold Frame
  
• Lantana Games Twitch Subscription
  
• Mondrian Bundle Steam Keys
  
• Lantana Games Discord VIP Role
  
• Social Media Shares
  
• Twitter Like/Retweet
  

Second Place

• Silver Frame
  
• Mondrian Bundle Steam Keys
  
• Lantana Games Discord VIP Role
  
• Social Media Shares
  

Third Place

• Bronze Frame
  
• Plastic Reality Steam Key
  
• Lantana Games Discord VIP Role
  
• Social Media Shares
  

Winners will be selected by the end of the day on February 12, and contacted with prize info in the Developer Comments section of their Steam Workshop creation.

Just a small update to get your Sunday going.

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Game: Fixed too many wins in a row getting added after completing a level
  
• Gem Chest: Fixed a bug that would cause the game to crash when unlocking the Arcade or Time Attack Top 10 Achievements
  
• Museum: Fixed a bug that caused control icons to stay hovering over paintings when you walked by them
  

The long wait is finally over: Mondrian Free Admission is now available on Steam! The free version of Plastic Reality, Free Admission gives you access to Endless mode, a handful of levels, Mondrian Maker, Mondrian Studio, and a small sampling of the background artwork and music that comes with the full game. If you don’t own the game yet, this is the perfect way to dip your toes into the water and see what’s on offer. You can pick it up on the game’s Steam Page.

To see what’s different between Free Admission and the full, lifetime pass version of Mondrian – Plastic Reality, check out the chart below:



Free Admission will be kept up-to-date with the full game, meaning any bug fixes, changes, or in some cases, new features that would affect the full game, will also get updated. While you have full access to the Mondrian Maker and Mondrian Studio suite of tools, you cannot open levels in Mondrian Maker, and your Mondrian Studio creations will be watermarked. You can still upload levels to Steam Workshop, but at the moment they may – MAY – not combine with levels from Lifetime Pass users. It is 100% our intention to let users creations combine in the one Workshop, whether they’re Free Admission or Lifetime Pass users, so if they don’t combine yet, just know we’re doing our due diligence to make that happen.

To celebrate the launch of Free Admission, we’re also offering a 20% discount on the full Lifetime Pass! This sale lasts for one week, until February 11.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]New Year, New Mode[/h2]
To ring in 2022, we’re excited to introduce Time Attack Mode! This new Quick Play mode challenges you to set a high score based on the amount of time you can survive. Grabbing Gems will add a couple seconds to your timer, while losing the ball hits your time with a big penalty. As usual, this all scales dynamically with Game Speed and Difficulty, but the clock always ticks down in real time. You also will not see the Gem Chest in Time Attack mode until the clock hits 0:00.00, with levels instantly loading one after the other, so don’t get too comfortable. The Gems you collect are still usable for decorating your Museum in Adventure, but your final score is based on the amount of time you survive, rounded up to the nearest second.

Like Arcade Mode, Time Attack features Steam Leaderboards, 4 in total (Relaxing, Easy, Medium, Hard). Reach the Top 10 to unlock brand new Steam Achievements! In fact, there are over 40 new Steam Achievements included in this update! Some may unlock the moment you start the game, depending on how much time you’ve put in previously, and others will take some doing because they are tracking brand new stats. Either way, hours of fun await!
[hr][/hr][h2]Full Patch Notes[/h2]
[h3]Features[/h3]

• Global: Introducing “Free Admission!” This is the official demo version of Mondrian – Plastic Reality. It comes with 10 levels, 6 backgrounds, 2 playable characters, 2 game modes (Endless and Testing), ½ the regular game soundtrack, Mondrian Maker (without the ability to Open levels), and Mondrian Studio (with a watermark across your thumbnails and corner logos forced on). This version of the game is completely free, so if you’ve ever wanted to make a Mondrian of your own but haven’t been able to afford to do so, now is your chance! You can even submit Gala entries for a chance at winning keys to the full version of the game.
  
• Game: Introducing “Time Attack Mode!” You have one minute to survive. Grabbing Gems adds to your time. Losing your ball costs you precious seconds based on your selected Game Speed, Difficulty, and the number of levels you’ve completed so far. Survive for as long as you can to reach the top of the Leaderboard. Your score is based on how long you survive, not the number of Gems you collect, but your collected Gems can still be used to purchase new decorations in your Museum!
  
• Game: Added 42 new Achievements:
  
  1. Brickbreaker Apprentice: Break 100 Blocks
     
  2. Brickbreaker Professional: Break 500 Blocks
     
  3. Brickbreaker Artisan: Break 2500 Blocks
     
  4. Demolitions Apprentice: Detonate 100 Bombs
     
  5. Demolitions Professional: Detonate 1000 Bombs
     
  6. Demolitions Artisan: Detonate 10000 Bombs
     
  7. Locksmith Apprentice: Lock the Wall 100 Times
     
  8. Locksmith Professional: Lock the Wall 1000 Times
     
  9. Locksmith Artisan: Lock the Wall 10000 Times
     
  10. Cardshark Apprentice: Trigger 100 Wildcards
      
  11. Cardshark Professional: Trigger 1000 Wildcards
      
  12. Cardshark Artisan: Trigger 10000 Wildcards
      
  13. Phalanx Apprentice: Raise 100 Gem Shields
      
  14. Phalanx Professional: Raise 1000 Gem Shields
      
  15. Phalanx Artisan: Raise 10000 Gem Shields
      
  16. Jeweler Apprentice: Catch 1000 Gems
      
  17. Jeweler Professional: Catch 10000 Gems
      
  18. Jeweler Artisan: Catch 100000 Gems
      
  19. Arcade Wizard Relaxing: Get a Top 10 High Score on Arcade Relaxing
      
  20. Arcade Wizard Easy: Get a Top 10 High Score on Arcade Easy
      
  21. Arcade Wizard Medium: Get a Top 10 High Score on Arcade Medium
      
  22. Arcade Wizard Hard: Get a Top 10 High Score on Arcade Hard
      
  23. I’ve Got All Day: Reach a 50 Level Win-Streak in Endless
      
  24. Watchmaker Apprentice: Survive for 5 Minutes on Time Attack Mode (any Difficulty)
      
  25. Watchmaker Professional: Survive for 15 Minutes on Time Attack Mode (any Difficulty)
      
  26. Watchmaker Artisan: Survive for 60 Minutes on Time Attack Mode (any Difficulty)
      
  27. Big Gem Hunter: Catch 1,000,000 Gems in a single playthrough of Gem Hunt
      
  28. Seeking Glory: Submit a Level as a Gala Entry
      
  29. Patron of the Arts: Subscribe to a Level on Steam Workshop and download it from the game
      
  30. Chrono Wizard Relaxing: Get a Top 10 High Score on Relaxing Time Attack
      
  31. Chrono Wizard Easy: Get a Top 10 High Score on Easy Time Attack
      
  32. Chrono Wizard Medium: Get a Top 10 High Score on Medium Time Attack
      
  33. Chrono Wizard Hard: Get a Top 10 High Score on Hard Time Attack
      
  34. In the Name of Self Defense: Destroy 300 Blocks with Explosions
      
  35. General Middlebrow Taste: Break 100 Blocks with the Regular Ball
      
  36. I Saw a Saw Saw Salsa: Break 100 Blocks with the Breakerball
      
  37. The Speeeed: Break 100 Blocks with the Speedball
      
  38. Arcade Survivor Apprentice: Beat Arcade Mode without Restoring your Lives
      
  39. Arcade Survivor Professional: Beat Arcade Mode without Losing more than 1 Life
      
  40. Arcade Survivor Artisan: Beat Arcade Mode without Losing a Single Life
      
  41. Dodge This: Break 50 Shifting Blocks
      
  42. You Dig On Multiverses: Break 50 Phasing Blocks
      
• Gem Chest: Updates for Time Attack mode, including new messages and menu selections
  
• Main Menu: Added selection and new key art under “Quick Play” for “Time Attack” mode
  
• Leaderboard: Added Time Attack Relaxing, Easy, Medium, and Hard local leaderboards
  
• Maker: Made “Free Admission” adjustments for Mondrian Maker, which disables the Open Window.
  
• Maker: Added mouse scrollbar functionality for Save/Open windows

[h3]Changes[/h3]

• Game: Moved Touchscreen Pause button to the upper-left hand corner to make room for the Time Attack game clock
  
• Gem Chest: Optimized code for menu selection and nickname entry
  
• Leaderboard: Redesigned the Leaderboard screen to reflect the game’s UI style more closely
  
• Studio: The Pause screen will no longer appear when you Alt-Tab out of the game
  
• Maker: Overhauled Scrollbar functionality for cleaner, line-by-line scrolling, and simple, dynamic adjustment of scrollbar height based on the number of level files
  
• Maker: Replaced Tooltip graphics with text strings. This will allow the Tooltips to stay more up-to-date, and even be localized in the future.
  
• Maker: Updated some Tooltips
  

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Menu: Fixed a bug that would crash the menu if the current Live Event was set incorrectly
  
• Game: Potential fix for the ball getting stuck in a just-phased-in block
  
• Game: Cut the number of particles spawned from Bomb Chains in half to increase performance
  
• Game: Fixed round tracking adding up on a loop at the end of a level
  
• Game: Fixed a bug where ball trails would continue to generate after the Breakerball was destroyed
  
• Studio: Fixed logos in the bottom-left-hand corner temporarily going invisible when Saving or Copying a thumbnail
  
• Studio: Fixed the Gallery Frame sometimes not holding its starting RGB value when changing tabs
  
• Maker: Touched up toggling of Tooltips on Main Menu items
  
• Maker: Fixed the Save and Open tooltips not showing when a level is open
  

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Join Us Tomorrow for the BostonFIG Virtual Fest![/h2]
BostonFIG’s second Virtual Festival is almost here! We’ll be showcasing all the additions to Mondrian – Plastic Reality since last year, including Museum cosmetics, Mondrian Studio, Time Attack mode, and more. We will also be hosting raffles for free Steam keys, running mini Mondrian Maker workshops, and answering any questions you may have about the game.

The festival runs all day, Saturday, February 5. Join us from 10am EST to 5pm EST and check out all the great indie games coming from the Boston scene! The Festival is free (or pay-what-you-like), so take some time and come game with us.

From today through next Friday, we’ll be hosting our own BostonFIG Gala! As with all our Galas, we have a challenge for you and fun prizes for a few lucky winners!

[h3]Challenge Prompt: Indie Games
Submission Deadline: February 12, 11:59pm EST[/h3]
It’s no secret we love indie games. We MAKE indie games! So we want to see how much you love indie games too. It’s up to you how you’d like to interpret this prompt. Remake your favorite character? A specific in-game item? Maybe even your favorite indie game logo? It’s completely up to you!

You have until next Friday to submit, and for the first time ever, you can use Mondrian Free Admission to submit your creations. Once you’ve uploaded your creation to Steam Workshop, simply drop a link to it on our Discord in the #gala-submissions channel. Levels must be built in Mondrian Maker, thumbnails created in Mondrian Studio (external editing is okay), set to Publicly Visible, with “Level” and “Gala Entry” tags applied before the submission deadline. Please see this Pinned Thread for full challenge rules.

All eligible Gala entries will receive a Wooden Frame around Thumbnails, sent via the Developer Comments. Of course it wouldn’t be a Mondrian Maker Challenge without some 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes, so here’s what’s in store:

First Place

• Gold Frame
  
• Lantana Games Twitch Subscription
  
• Mondrian Bundle Steam Keys
  
• Lantana Games Discord VIP Role
  
• Social Media Shares
  
• Twitter Like/Retweet
  

Second Place

• Silver Frame
  
• Mondrian Bundle Steam Keys
  
• Lantana Games Discord VIP Role
  
• Social Media Shares
  

Third Place

• Bronze Frame
  
• Plastic Reality Steam Key
  
• Lantana Games Discord VIP Role
  
• Social Media Shares
  

Winners will be selected by the end of the day on February 12, and contacted with prize info in the Developer Comments section of their Steam Workshop creation.[hr][/hr][h2]More to Come (as always)[/h2]
Yet another blog post is coming to a close, thus it’s time to look ahead to a few other things coming up. On Monday, February 7, we’ll be hosting our second monthly “Making a Mondrian” Workshop on Twitch, where we’ll take an in-depth look at making levels and art using Mondrian Maker and Mondrian Studio. The 1.0.11 “Free Admission” Movement will go through the Spring with multiple, smaller updates as usual. And as always, we’re looking for more events, more partnerships, more streaming and workshop opportunities, and into more Galas to throw for our excellent community. Hopefully this Winter will be as exciting as always!

2022 will certainly be an interesting year for us. Up to this point, Mondrian has been a fully premium experience. Now, with Free Admission, we are opening up our powerful creative tools to everyone, regardless of budget. We hope you’ll come be a part of our creative community, and make levels and artwork that help shine a positive light on what the game can do. If you enjoy what’s on offer, please consider buying the game, introducing it to your friends, and sharing your creations across social media. Don’t forget, if you’d like us to amplify your works, you can message our @mondrianmakers account on Instagram or Twitter and we’ll be happy to share them with out as well.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1087050/Mondrian__Plastic_Reality/
In the meantime, if you haven’t played Mondrian – Plastic Reality yet, visit the Steam page to download the “Free Admission” demo today! It’s free. Go get it. And thank you for playing.

– Danny

On February 5, we'll be bringing Mondrian - Plastic Reality to the BostonFIG Virtual Fest! This all-digital event is being held on Gather.town, along with a lot of other great indie games that deserve your support! It is free to attend, but you can pay what you'd like in order to support the show.

Visit the Eventbrite page to learn more: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bostonfig-2022-virtual-fest-tickets-226606224317

For Mondrian, we'll be pulling out all the stops during the day. Here's what you can expect:

• Day long demonstration of Mondrian - Plastic Reality gameplay
  
• Three Mondrian Maker creation workshops, at 11:00am, 1:00pm, and 3:00pm EST. If you can't make these, our monthly Procedural Art Workshop will be on Twitch the following Monday, February 7, at 5:30pm EST.
  
• Razer ChromaRGB Light Show at 4:00pm. This will be a soundtrack listening party with RGB audio visualization. Razer device owners, join us on Twitch for the full immersive experience!
  
• Big Steam Key giveaways at 12:00 and 2:00 EST. We'll have some kind of raffle going for this so everyone has a chance!
  
• Members of the team will be around all day to answer questions about the game, what you can expect when you play it, and what's in store for the future.
  

An update for the game will be releasing the day before BostonFIG, on February 4. This is version 1.0.11, which will coincide with the release of the game's "Free Admission" demo. We will also be running a Gala for BostonFIG. Much like the Art Hallow's Eve and Makersmas Galas, there will be a creation contest with prizes. The theme will be "Indie Love," and the Gala will run for one week, so start brushing up your Mondrian Maker while you can. More details on the Gala and the Free Admission demo soon.

Can't wait to see you at BostonFIG on February 5! Don't forget to sign up to lock in your spot. And as always, thank you for playing.
- Danny

Happy New Year to all our wonderful artists! 2021 was filled with trials and tribulations, but it's tough to be more excited than we are about where the last year took Mondrian - Plastic Reality. Here's just a little summary of everything that happened with the game in the last year:

• The Creators Update introduced Mondrian Studio, a built-in design suite to create Steam Workshop thumbnails and shareable social media images from your Mondrian Maker creations
  
• Cross-promotional contests with our friends at SmartEgg Games and their wonderful Mondrian Blocks tabletop puzzlegame led to unbelievable amounts of growth for the game and our social channels. Big thanks again to everyone participated! More of these to come in the future, keep an eye out.
  
• Introduction of live events like Art Hallow's Eve and Makersmas to encourage community participation.
  
• We brought the game to lots of digital events, like Nordic Games Conference, and finally returned to in-person events with the Indie Showcase at Balance Patch in Boston!
  
• Began hosting Creative Workshops on GamerJibe and Twitch
  
• Added slightly more in-depth tagging functionality to Mondrian Maker, so you can now make your levels private or friends only, plus submit them to any live event Gala contests we have ongoing.
  
• More big improvements to Mondrian Maker, like precision painting and more logical Z-ordering (new blocks are always on top)
  
• Lots of gameplay improvements, such as end-of-level proximity homing and increased Museum inventory size.
  
• Introduction of Columns, Ceilings, and Baseboards in the Museum, resulting in (currently) over 10 BILLION different Museum spaces you can build!
  
• Ended the year by getting Mondrian - Plastic Reality Intel™ Iris Graphics certified!!!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]2022 Plans and Goals[/h2]
With such an enormous year behind it, how could we possibly top it? Well, there are two - just two - high priority goals we have for 2022:

1. Steam Deck: We have already received confirmation that the game runs, looks, and sounds great on Steam Deck! With today's 1.0.10f9 update, we've also made sure that images exported from Mondrian Studio will no longer awkwardly crop at screen resolutions other than 1080p, meaning creating Mondrian levels and artworks on the go will be easier than ever! That said, Mondrian Maker itself, admittedly, has a ways to go to be completely Deck-ready, so our highest priority for the beginning of the year will be making sure Touchscreen and Controller functionality is working everywhere. Mondrian Maker will be receiving an extra amount of attention in this regard. We want it to be possible to make creations with just a controller, while also making a combination of controller and touchscreen functions feel not just natural, but beautiful. Mondrian Maker needs to be a show-stopper, and a killer app for all Steam Deck owners.
   
2. Episode 2: I know I haven't talked about this in a while and it's way overdue. Wish I could say more, but what I will say is this: a good portion of development time last year was devoted to improving our internal storywriting tool in preparation for Episode 2, and that is still getting picked at. Ultimately, all story data for an episode will get contained in a single file, so even Episode 1 will receive an update. I'm hoping there'll be more to say in a few months, especially with regards to where the story is going, but keep your fingers crossed we can get Episode 2 out this year, and get on a steady stream of story content from that point forward.
   

Two more endeavors this year include the DLC galleries and a demo version. While both are still in a very early, pre-production state, they both fit with our mantra of making creativity as widely available as it can be. The tricky part is that the demo version does need to include regular gameplay, Maker, AND Studio, so the current plan is that the demo will include ~10 levels, Endless Mode, Mondrian Maker without the Open Level window, and Mondrian Studio with a watermark and corner logos forced on. However, it will also be fully compatible with Steam Workshop, so any levels you want to share, you can, and any levels you want to play in Endless, you can play. While it won't be possible to play these levels in Test mode since Mondrian Maker won't have its open window, you will be able to test out anything you make, and get back to it if you purchase the game or... just never close it. 😂



Ideally, this demo will be more like a Free Version than just a demo, and kept up-to-date with the Premium version of the game. Expect more news on this very soon!

[h2]Full Patch Notes[/h2]
The keen-eyed among you probably noticed a pretty sizeable patch was pushed this morning. The game has indeed been updated to version 1.0.10f9! This will be the last addition to the Anniversary Update Movement, with the next Movement due out later this winter/early Spring. This particular patch has some exciting new additions to Mondrian Studio to help you mix up your thumbnails even more, and of course requisite bug fixes and adjustments. Plus, we have updated the core game engine, to help with text rendering times.



[h3]Features[/h3]

• Studio: Added a “Negative Color” function under the Custom Framing tab, which lets you set the color of the Negative Space outside the frame. You can choose between the day/night mode Gesso Color, the current Frame Color, or the current Primary Color.
  
• Studio: Added a “Transparency” slider under the “Background Canvas” tab, which lets you control the transparency strength of background images. Default is 50%.
  
• Studio: Added a “Canvas Fill” slider under the “Background Canvas” tab, which lets you control the color behind the background image. You can choose between the day/night mode Gesso color, the current Frame color, or the Primary Color.
  

[h3]Changes[/h3]

• Global: Ended the “Makersmas” event
  
• Global: Updated core game engine to the latest version, which may result in slightly improved text rendering
  
• Studio: Reworked Snapshot Capture to be based on screen width/height percentage, rather than the pixel position of the Gallery Frame. This has fixed the issue of captures being cropped awkwardly at resolutions other than 1080p.
  
• Studio: Limited functionality across the Custom Framing, Color Palette, and Background Canvas tabs when in Mask mode to only the options that will not interfere with masking
  

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Game: Fixed story and tutorial dialogue loading from campaign progress, rather than the selected level
  
• Museum: Fixed story levels unlocking by continuously beating previously completed levels
  
• Studio: Fixed a bug where 4 image selection arrows would be created in the Background Canvas tab rather than 2
  
• Studio: Fixed one-color background images resetting to the Primary Color when selecting the Background Canvas tab under the Random color harmony
  
• Studio: Fixed thumbnail images exporting in an awkwardly cropped state with black borders when saving or copying an image at screen resolutions other than 1080p
  

Now that the New Year has hit, it's back to the grind. Top priority is getting that Steam Deck verification as quickly as possible, while also trickling out other updates and keeping up support as we've always done. While there is no specific roadmap for 2022, there's lots to do, and all of it doable, but we'd prefer to do it with your help, so please make sure to Like and Share this post, buy a copy of the game for a friend while it's still on sale (Winter Sale ends Wednesday!), or grab some merch off our Redbubble.

Thank you all so much for playing! Let's make 2022 ours.
- Danny