[PC] Scrolls, from Mojang

[CeeKay]

Mojang's next game.   It sounds like it's going to be like a collectible card game from what they're saying on the site.

[baelthazar]

He should probably "finish" Minecraft first... 

[EngineNo9]

He should probably "finish" Minecraft first... 

You should probably realize they have a second team working on this before commenting first... 

[baelthazar]

Yes yes... but that second team could be finishing Minecraft too!

[Razgon]

How the heck did they get that web domain??

[EngineNo9]

How the heck did they get that web domain??

My guess?  A dump truck full of money. 

[Aganazer]

I am a little bit confused about this company.

At first Notch was a programming madman. The updates happened every day. The regular secret Friday updates were standard business. Then the game got really popular. Notch was making money by the truckload (as opposed to the previous bucketload). He created a company, hired people, things slowed down. I was very understanding since its hard to get things like this going. That was almost 6 months ago and it seems like nothing has happened since then. They didn't even make the portal work in SMP yet. Six months later and we get... beds. That would have been an afternoon project a year ago, but now its supposed to be the big accomplishment of Q1 2011. I thought hiring people was going to speed up development and add major improvements to the game.

Honestly, I'm ready for a big dev to steal the building block idea just like Notch did and turn it into a true DirectX game with a point. I like Mojang and will support them, but I am reducing my awe-status to the same level that I give to Cryptic Comet, Basilisk, Spiderweb, and Soldak.

So Scrolls. I love the idea, but I don't really trust them as a developer anymore. Even in the announcement and interviews they didn't mention what sets this apart from Poxnora, Guardians of Graxia, and the MtG CCG online games. Don't you think that would be important for potential fans to know or is having Notch's blessing supposed to be enough?

All the game really needs to be is cheap enough to justify collecting. That is something that WotC has failed miserably on, multiple times. It also needs to be streamlined and elegant enough to be intuitive, something GoG failed to do with all its fiddly combat rules.

[baelthazar]

I still hold a lot of "awe-status" for Cryptic Comet and Soldak. And a little for Basilisk (mainly because the guy is a Hoosier like me and a lover of classic RPGs). I do think Mojang slowed down but partially this is because the money gave them time to really think about all the things they added, rather than just add tons of stuff for no purpose (read "slimes").

But Scrolls looks like a fun idea. I'm more excited for Six Gun Saga at the moment, but Scrolls looks similar but cool as well.

[EngineNo9]

Yeah, one thing you have to realize with Minecraft is that since they are now in beta that likely means that the majority of big feature additions are done.  This is generally the time when you try to solidify and polish things that are there, and as they say "the last 10% of work takes 90% of the effort".  Also, rewriting systems so that what was a "make it work" single player experience into a more polished multiplayer experience is not a quick and easy thing by any means.

[Caine]

true, although i still miss the little updates and hints of upcoming ideas.  other than the achievements and hints at fighting a dragon, he's been pretty quiet lately.

[CeeKay]

if you sign up for the newsletter you can opt in to be put in the running to be an alpha tester.

[Harkonis]

I still hold a lot of "awe-status" for Cryptic Comet and Soldak. And a little for Basilisk (mainly because the guy is a Hoosier like me and a lover of classic RPGs). I do think Mojang slowed down but partially this is because the money gave them time to really think about all the things they added, rather than just add tons of stuff for no purpose (read "slimes").

But Scrolls looks like a fun idea. I'm more excited for Six Gun Saga at the moment, but Scrolls looks similar but cool as well.

I'm a hoosier too, seems to be a lot of us on the forums.  kind of odd.

[baelthazar]

I still hold a lot of "awe-status" for Cryptic Comet and Soldak. And a little for Basilisk (mainly because the guy is a Hoosier like me and a lover of classic RPGs). I do think Mojang slowed down but partially this is because the money gave them time to really think about all the things they added, rather than just add tons of stuff for no purpose (read "slimes").

But Scrolls looks like a fun idea. I'm more excited for Six Gun Saga at the moment, but Scrolls looks similar but cool as well.

I'm a hoosier too, seems to be a lot of us on the forums.  kind of odd.

Two questions: 1. Do you like boardgaming? 2. Are you a psychopath that chops people up? 

Thanks for the newsletter word Ceekay, going to sign up now!

[CeeKay]

signed up for the newsletter, although I'm not sure they needed the whole verification deal.

[baelthazar]

signed up for the newsletter, although I'm not sure they needed the whole verification deal.

I agree. It seemed like I had to verify twice to get the thing to go through.

[CeeKay]

since this has nothing to do with the legal issues I'm bringing back the original topic: has anyone ever received a newsletter after signing up on the main site?

[Harkonis]

 I love boardgaming, but I do think chopping people up sounds fun.  

[CeeKay]

new trailer that shows very little: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-NM-0P6LFY

[CeeKay]

some info from Minecon, plus gameplay.

[baelthazar]

I am far less interested now. Online... Fairly boring looking board.

[Turtle]

Seems to me that it's just another kind of collectable card game at heart. The board is a different touch, but it's all been done already by other online companies. Actually, there was a game out there that was decently popular, name started with a P, but you basically bought units like cards/scrolls in random packs.

CCGs can be fun, and the basic mechanics I see here can be a fine game, but it's been done before.

[rshetts2]

Looks pretty unoriginal.  Take M:TG  eliminate mana and add sacrifice for power instead.  Then break up the life force in to 5 units and slap it on a grid.   Yawn.

[baelthazar]

Nobody remembers Etherlords? It looks a lot like that.

I'm surprised at the lack of originality coming from the creator of Minecraft. Of course Minecraft was heavily "inspired" by that Infiniminer or whatever game.

[Turtle]

Eh, given some time and refinement it could be much more. They still have some more development time and the Mojang does add major gameplay elements to their games.

Also, there is currently no similar, well supported, game on the market that works across all platforms. While there have been many other collectible style games before, they tended to be a bit insular.

If they went ahead and put this across many platforms as the same game, it could still make them quite a bit of money.

[CeeKay]

the game will remain Scrolls.

The settlement is that we give them the trademark, get to keep the name, and won't make an elder scrolls competitor using the name.

[CeeKay]

release plans:

We are rapidly approaching the closed alpha of Scrolls. Although this alpha version will be far from a feature complete version of the game, it will include multiplayer matches, single player matches vs AI and the Deck Builder, where you can build your decks out of the 100+ scrolls that currently exist in the game.

As we get closer to a stable build, we will stop the closed alpha, and move to an open beta, where you will be able to buy the game at a reduced price and with some added benefits (more about that later).

At that point, we will also look to include the single player world, where you can explore and do battle to earn new scrolls to your collection.

Keep in mind, that the beta will not be feature complete. We will still have a big bag of goodies that we plan to include over time, such as an auction house where you may buy or sell scrolls from each other and additional features in the world such as character customization, items, quests and so on. If you’re wondering why we would release a game that’s obviously not finished, the reason is simple: We want your feedback in good time to help us shape Scrolls to be the next big online Collectible Card Game!

So if you’re curious enough to pick up a copy of the game, please don’t be shy. Hit the forums and help us out!

[hitbyambulance]

forums: "Coming Soon"

??

[CeeKay]

Apha invites are going to start going out today.

[rittchard]

Are any of you in the UK?  Supposedly the December 2012 PC Gamer comes with an Alpha code for Scrolls.  I'm trying to get one through iTunes but I don't have high hopes.  If anyone can pick one up for me I'd be happy to Paypal the cost of the magazine or whatever.

[rittchard]

FYI I actually did get an Alpha code, sweet!  Took a few days but no big deal; the issue was on sale on iTunes for $0.99 so I'm pretty happy.

I played the tutorial, pretty much what I'd expected.  I think it will ultimately play the best on a tablet, so hopefully games will all be cross-platform. 

I was a bit disappointed in the hex portion of the game, I thought it was a full chess board type but really it's more like MTG with layers, i.e. you can have multiple "things" (units, walls or whatever) stacked in front of the thing you are protecting.  In fact I don't see how making it a hex makes much difference at all but I barely scratched the surface.

Otherwise it plays very similarly to other CCGs.  Resources are the cards themselves so it's simplified from MTG's multi color system. 

I realize there's a ton of competition in the genre these days, but this one definitely seems like it good be a cut above, particularly if they can get games going seamlessly through all the major platforms.

[CeeKay]

sounds like they are going to start the beta next month, with the same 'pay for the complete game to beta test' concept they did with Minecraft.