The Future is #OnDeck

Greetings everyone! The latest update for Mondrian – Plastic Reality is out. This will begin the slow trickle of updates throughout the rest of the year to achieve the “Runs Great on Steam Deck” verification. The biggest hurdle to overcome for this will be Mondrian Maker, which is currently based entirely on Mouse and Keyboard input. The current plan is to overhaul the entire UI and input code to be more in-line with Mondrian Studio, and create the ultimate interface for creativity on the go.

Since we’re well aware of what we’ve built, we won’t be submitting the game for Steam Deck verification until Mondrian Maker is overhauled. However, don’t let that stop you from trying out the game anyway! Believe it or not, we don’t have a Steam Deck of our own, but would love to get some dedicated testers to send us feedback on game feel, stability, and ideas on what would work best for Mondrian Maker‘s revamped UI. Please get in touch if you own or have access to a Steam Deck. We’ll be happy to set you up with a Lifetime Pass key and access to a dedicated Steam Deck testing branch.

Patch Notes

This patch applies to both Lifetime Pass and Free Admission players. The 1.0.11f2 update mainly adds more dedicated touchscreen controls for Mondrian Studio, but there are even more Steam Deck-centric additions. Here’s the full list:

Features

  • Global: Live Events are now activated outside of game updates. This means you will no longer have to download a patch when any event goes live or ends. You will, however, need to be connected to the internet when the game starts to be able to access some live event features, such as Gala Contest uploads. Some events like Makersmas and Art Hallow’s Eve will still require a patch download for new content.
  • Menu: Added Steam Deck controller layout
  • Menu: Added controller names to the Input Selector (Colors, Shapes, Silver, Retro, and Modern)
  • Game: Added Steam Deck control guide to Pause menu
  • Studio: Added Q and E as tab selection controls

Changes

  • Menu: Increased font size of Controller Input instructions
  • Game: You can no longer bring the Pause menu up while story is typing out in Adventure Mode
  • Story: Fixed incorrect wording in the Level 2 tutorial
  • Studio: Improved touchscreen functionality for sliders and buttons
  • Studio: When Masking is set to On, the Negative and Canvas colors will now always switch to Black or White

Bug Fixes

  • Game: More fixes for the touchscreen pause button
  • Game: Fixed keyboard controls not appearing in the story dialogue box in Adventure Mode when starting a level if you were, in fact, using keyboard/mouse controls
  • Studio: Fixed corner logos being behind the negative space in Full Window captures
  • Studio: Fixed keyboard and controller not being able to scroll to Canvas Fill in the Background Canvas tab

Conclusion

You can probably tell we’re really excited about the Steam Deck, and especially what it can bring to the table in terms of content creation. We think Mondrian Maker could be a truly euphoric experience on the platform, and the efforts we put in on the platform will help make Mondrian a more complete package overall (like getting back to “Full Controller Support”). More will be on the way soon, and there’s a LOT to get to in 2022. As always, can’t wait to see what you create, and thank you for playing.
– Danny