You ever have one of those months where you’re banging your head against the table trying to fix a big problem? That was us. But, thankfully, we overcame the hurdles, and Mondrian – Plastic Reality EX3.1 is out! You can grab it now on itch.io and GameJolt.

What’s New?

So, you’re probably wondering what the deal is with this update and why it took a couple weeks longer than expected. Well, first and foremost, we have deprecated the old “mondriansettings” file, and replaced it with a new “settings.mondriandata” file. This new file is a paltry 430 bytes compared to the old settings file’s massive 2765 bytes. It also does not store as much data, in particular, stat tracking. That’s all being moved into the new “player1.mondriandata” file, with eventual compatibility for multiple save files! This way you, your siblings, and your cat (or dog, or turtle) can all have different save files, with different unlocks and story progress.

These new data files in particular were causing us some technical headaches over the last month, but we did manage to eventually solve the problems. Many many thanks to Brian for helping hunt down the bugs! Now we can get back on schedule and bring lots of updates to you this Summer.

On top of the new data files, we’ve also included 3 new Gem Chests (Andy’s, Hale’s, and Loïs’s), and fixed the ability for you to turn Backgrounds off and on freely in the menu (without you having to leave the menu to see your changes). We’re also working on the ability for you to bring in your own Gem Chest graphics, but we’re working on the best way to do so without needing extra data input. It shouldn’t be too difficult, so expect this feature to be in during EX4 period in June-July.

You can view the full Patch Notes here.

What’s on the Way?

Now that we’re back on schedule, we can get back to building. With the new Summer Team coming on board in a week, we have a lot of goals in mind for EX4, 5, and 6. Alpha is still a ways out, but we can hone in on what features to bring to the game at which EX update, including the new Level format; improved Mondrian Maker UI; and any new blocks, mods, and other mechanics we want to add. You can view our plans for the Summer right here in our new Roadmap:

This roadmap lays out a general idea of what will be in store each month this Summer, but some items will inevitably get shifted around, some will get added, and others may get cut. However, as you can see, we’ll be putting a lot of effort into Mondrian Maker specifically, adding new tools to make applying Modifiers and flipping to various Block Types easier, improving the UI, and adding new manual pages. This will also call for new Mondrian Maker tutorial videos. In fact, you can expect the second in that series within the next week or so.

As always, please let us know if you have any trouble with the game, and make sure to leave feedback on the itch.io or GameJolt communities! Thank you for playing and have a great one.

– Danny