I love puzzle games like this, and haven't ever played one quite like this before. Thanks for giving me another way to waste my super limited time :)

Nice relaxing entry. Got to a point where I had one big red block, some medium sized white ones, and a couple tine beige ones. Couldn't combine any more or figure out if there was gameplay left.

@dwemthy is indeed possible to complete the puzzle by crafting two big blocks and then combining them.

Is indeed possible to get stuck :-)

I like it! Nice little relaxing puzzle.

I still have no idea what are the rules for what can be merged and what cannot. Is that the point? I would like it better if I knew the combinations and had to carefully decide what to combine when so that I don't lock myself out.

I beat the game, eventually. Finding spaces for the weird shapes I'd been given and constantly rearranging my canvas was fun. But the bulk of the puzzle seems to rely on trial and error. Initially the rules make sense: combine two reds to make a red 2x1. Combine two whites to make a white 2x1. Combine two yellows to- wait I can't do that. Ok. I can combine two white 2x1s to create an S block, and two red 2x1s to create an L-block but now I can't combine the remaining two white 2x1s for some reason? There seems to be no logic after a point with what colors go together, or what shapes they'll make when they're combined.

Rearranging the canvas is the fun part of this game. Creating new blocks is the tedious and grindy part. Just clicking every block to every block. I tried to figure out some deeper ruleset behind the combinations, but I couldn't find it.

What I would have liked is a more consistent set of rules: you can only combine the same color. You can only combine pieces of equal size. And the orientation they have when you click them together determines the final shape. That would be nice. Then there'd be a puzzle to building shapes that will fit on your canvas.

As it stands, I've come out of this game a little frustrated. The backdrop is really pretty and the mechanics are creative and have a lot of potential. But you haven't explained your ruleset.

@amras0000 thanks for the review. Some explanation on the process: I have started creating this game by drawing the final shapes and than regress to the single cubes, and by doing that i have selected the weird recipes somewhat out of necessity. The problem is that if you create two T shaped object you'll get stuck so i had a limitation on the max number of objects for each type.

Probably with a little time I can work out all the possible combination to get to the final objective and creating a smoother crafting ruleset.

This was a very enjoyable experience.

I really like the title and the gif made me want to play.

But the game isn't as fun as I expected. As @amras0000 said, creating new blocks is hazardous. And I would add that to realize a monochrome is less interesting (for the game) than to realize another type of Mondrian paintings, in my opinion...

I liked and finished the game. The strongest feature is rearranging pieces to fit. But, as others have said, combining shapes is trial and error.

I did enjoy it, and completed it. It was tough knowing which blocks mixed with others, which led to trial and error without any sort of pattern. I can see this being a lot of fun with some relaxing background music, and maybe some sort of hint as to which blocks can be joined.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/mondriancraft gameplay at 50:00

I did feel like I was an artist rearranging a painting. The theme was subtlier there, I didn't really feel I was running out of space and instead was working within space. As everyone else hinted, the fact there was a lot of trial and error was a little annoying. Maybe just have a combination guide on the right. Always nice to have a good puzzle game. Not sure how hard it was to make this and what it would take to have more levels, but that would be fun.

Really enjoyed this, especially how the difficulty creeps up on you after you do a wave or two or combinations. I will agree that the rules for 'what combines with what' feels like it kind of falls apart after a while, but in the end it doesn't feel like it hurts overall too much, since by the time it really hits you you're near the end already. Nice work!

Cool puzzle concept. I like the artistic themeing. As noted by other people it seemed impossible to tell what would actually combine. It felt like trail and error was my only choice. The selection sound was a bit harsh >_<

I feel like I was painting a modern art! A very special form of puzzles game. Great Works!

I like the idea going into it, but it needs another twist to really work as a game. Perhaps a recipe book? It's like a proto-crafting game, and it needs to get some more crafting game elements!

Quite a neat puzzle, although the combinations felt a little arbitrary and I had to test combinations to see if they'd work. Also didn't really feel the theme of running out of space. Nice aesthetic, and I had fun. Would be great with some ambient background music.

I think it could be fun but it was just pretty much randomly picking up blocks and trying to get them to stick together. Didn't appear to be any skill involved, correct? Definitely not a bad entry though.

It's simple and goes to the point, I like that. However, as other people said, the combinating thing was just trying. I've seen there are some combination rules, but still it feels a bit arbitrary while playing. In general it's good!

A bit clunky, but a really fun idea I havent seen before. Maybe make it easier to tell what can combine and what cant though

I enjoyed the game - I thought it was a creative theme (the painting blocks) and fit nicely with the 'running out of space' idea! I got a bit confused at points how to know which blocks can join together, but otherwise I found it a fun puzzle. Nice job :)

This is a really cool game and I enjoyed it. I liked the concept and overall it's a pretty solid effort. There are a few things that kept it from being as fun as it should have been. There should be a way to go back to the instructions from in the game. The challenge itself starts out okay, but it feels a bit confusing with the combos and the pieces never look as good as at the start. Towards the end there are so few pieces that you can do most of the work on the palette until you're finished. Making the square one colour is a bit disappointing given the theme of the game (being a painter). Maybe an alternate objective would be to form a given pixel shape or pattern, a bit like the 15-puzzle but with different mechanics. This has potential to be really good.

What an amazing piece of game! I loved it so much! THe work you did here is incredible. Loved the way the game gets easier on the combining side but harder on the placement side. Also the pictures that form are quite nice, quite beautiful.

Cool idea! I'd like if blocks, resulting from 'mixing' other ones, would be easier to predict. It's quite easy to get stuck (or maybe I'm just bad at this...), but it's hardly a con in a puzzle game. Very clever take on the theme!

This is a really imaginative game, I struggled with it for what felt was just the right amount of time :)
The concept is novel and the Mondrian theme fits just perfectly with it. I admire how creative this is. The only aspect I'd really like to see improved upon is sound design... Other than that this is a really charming submission ! great work :)

I liked playing around with the blocks, and how the game looks. I didn't fully know what I was doing, but I won once! ;) The beep was quite annnoying.

Nice game, I hope to see more updates and improvments sooner.
If you don't bother take a look at our game when we focused on Graphics and visuals and see the results that we got:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/spacelab-42

Decent little puzzle thing. A bit hard, couldn't win it :P Looks and sounds good enough for an LD game.