Searching for my problem reveals questions about changing something during play mode and having it save in the editor. This is the opposite of my problem - I want the changes during play to revert back to before i pressed play when i stop the game, just like what normally happens. Here is my specific issue:
A script runs during play mode, that fades in a background material from 0 Alpha to 255.
When i stop the game, the alpha value remains at 255 for the material.
This really confuses me as i am fading in all my game objects over time and everything else works fine - they fade in and remain opaque throughout the game but start from 0 alpha next time I run it.
I am completely lost and would appreciate any help. The only difference i can see with this GO compared to the others is that its material uses its own single texture, while very other GO uses the same spritesheet.