Mojang had some huge news to share at GDC this week: the indie studio is working on another, much different title alongside their building game Minecraft. This new joint is called Scrolls, and it’s a collectible card game in the vein of Magic: The Gathering crossed with a dab of Chess.
Here’s how it works: in the game, you’ll collect and purchase bundles of cards in order to build the most devastating decks possible. With that deck, you can erect defenses and call on monsters to attack your lone opponent and his cards on a Chess-like board. When you or your opponent’s health hits the zero mark, it’s game over.
“At the core it’s a collectable card game, but it’s also a board game,” project lead Jacob Porser told Rock, Paper, Shotgun in an exclusive preview. “It’s combining the two. As you place your units or your buildings, or your siege weapons, you place it on the game board to play against your opponent,” he said.
“It’s not only about designing a proper collection of scrolls [the cards], and the tactical aspect of that deck, but it’s also about the tactical sense of how to place your units on the game board,” he added.
Mojang has big plans for the title. Gamasutra mentions that Markus Persson wants to see worldwide online tournaments, and of course, Mojang will be selling supplemental packs of cards, much like other digital and physical collectible card games.
Scrolls will see a private beta release at some point later this year on the PC and Macintosh. Apparently, Minecraft Alpha owners will get a shot at this beta.
If you're looking for a bit more on Scrolls, go check out those links to Gamasutra and RPS for your in-depth coverage needs. Both outlets hit the road and saw a build of the game over at Mojang.
this reminds me of all the people who end up given like loads of money, but they end up losing it all in bad investments and stuff. this is what notch is doing
More likely he got money and was lead astray due to lack of business skills. He isn't even CEO of his company. He needs to stick with what he knows.
this reminds me of all the people who end up given like loads of money, but they end up losing it all in bad investments and stuff. this is what notch is doing
@SmokePants: It doesn't really have to! They have enough money to fund this project whether people pre-order it or not. Some people think the game sounds great and would love to pay for early access, so that's a bonus both for the players and the company. I know I'll want to get in on it as soon as I can.
So... is it in the vein of MTG:O, or do you pay a flat price and get access to the "game economy". That is to say, buying cards with in-game points awarded by doing game things. I guess if its like 1/4 the cost per pack that MTG:O charges I might be interested, but otherwise.... yeah I'll just fucking play MTG
My initial reaction: Wow CCG, that just sounds greedy. Afterthought: Is it really that easy to make a CCG good enough to be played worldwide and in online tournaments? Then again maybe it doesn't have to be good..
Anywho, unless I can have a deck consisting entirely of different species of frogs I'm not at all interested.
" Not to be a wet blanket but shouldn't minecraft be finished first before we start hearing about this stuff? "
This. What the fuck. We pay for an unfinished product and now they're asking people to pay for another unfinished product before finishing the first one. "
Completely separate teams. Everyone who was working on Minecraft and needs to be working on Minecraft is still working on Minecraft. "
Yeah I am sure that there is no cross-development going on whatsoever... get real.
" Not to be a wet blanket but shouldn't minecraft be finished first before we start hearing about this stuff? "
This. What the fuck. We pay for an unfinished product and now they're asking people to pay for another unfinished product before finishing the first one. "
Completely separate teams. Everyone who was working on Minecraft and needs to be working on Minecraft is still working on Minecraft.
" Not to be a wet blanket but shouldn't minecraft be finished first before we start hearing about this stuff? "
This. What the fuck. We pay for an unfinished product and now they're asking people to pay for another unfinished product before finishing the first one.
DAMN HIM WHY WON'T HE WRITE PENNY ARCADE ADVENTURES 3! "
He did. The cancellation of PAA3 had something to do with their relationship with the developer. "
Your right chapter 3 is online, I had forgotten about it. Probably because I thought it was pretty poor. Both Hothead and Penny-Arcade gave half ass excuses as to why Ep 3 wouldn't come out. Pretty darn disappointing.
Daaaamn. Daaaaaaamn. Not a card game... Anything but a card game! I just know I'm going to waste my whole life on this thing! Knowing the Mojang crew's taste in games, this is probably going to be exactly the game that I, myself, have been trying to design for years... I've had secret plans to design an online card game and use the money from that to start a company or something! But now I'll just end up playing this...
@Brodehouse: Notch made 95% of Minecraft on his own, you know! Currently, I think there's two people working full time on Minecraft, out of the seven employees at Mojang. That's double the manpower, and Notch still very much considers it his game, so he's doing most of the front-end work. You don't need that many people to successfully develop and iterate on a game at a rapid rate. And apparently it's been a work in progress for five years already, so...
@Brodehouse: Yeah. MInecraft isn't big enough to need a full dev team. I suspect it would suffer with one. Mojang wasn't started to get more people working on Minecraft, it was started to so that notch wouldn't have to worry about keeping the website up, servers stable, and other such technical doo-hickeys.
And when all that was taken care of, he still had a buttload of money to throw at starting a full development team.
@admanb: Seems weird that he has that kind of manpower, but then again, I doubt there's much in the way of design left for Minecraft. Just coding and polish, probably.
Also the Magic fans might not be gullible but at the very least 90% of the minecraft fanboys most certainly are, and let's be frank here, they are the ones Mojang is targeting. 1 week after this game releases there will be a headline "Mom gets charged US$800,00 up the ass in credit card bills over 12 year son's collectible card game " "
People who like Minecraft are gullible, fanboys, and 12.
" " Stupid" and "little" are not how I would describe Magic, nor would I describe its players as "gullible." Again, I'm no fan of the strategy, but ignoring the history of the design and calling it a cash grab is unfair and unrealistic. "
Actually I have nothing against the TGCs out there, apart from the fact I don't like them at all, if this was a set package, like you pay 20 bucks for the full game with 30 decks or something and after that they release the odd DLC with rare cards or some shit like that, I wouldn't have a problem with that(granted I would never play it anyway), but this micro-transaction thing pisses me off.
Also the Magic fans might not be gullible but at the very least 90% of the minecraft fanboys most certainly are, and let's be frank here, they are the ones Mojang is targeting.
1 week after this game releases there will be a headline "Mom gets charged US$800,00 up the ass in credit card bills over 12 year son's collectible card game "
But then I hear about how it's not just about stupid cards, it's using cards to place pieces on an elaborate game board and having it sound a little like Final Fantasy Tactics but with a deck of cards and shit.
Yes, well no I'm not 12, but yes I think the concept is pretty much the same, a stupid little "free" game suported by micro-transactions, it's the sort if thing that is designed specifically to milk gullible users to the max, and I think that is extremely cheap. "
" Stupid" and "little" are not how I would describe Magic, nor would I describe its players as "gullible."
Again, I'm no fan of the strategy, but ignoring the history of the design and calling it a cash grab is unfair and unrealistic.
Not only that this sounds extremely cheap, it's basically the same concept as such masterpieces as farmville, "Hey you can play this awesome game for free, but if you want to stay competitive at all or have fun buy stuff god dammit". "
I'm no fan of the collectible strategy, but your first comparison is Farmville? really? Are you 12? "
" I'm no fan of the collectible strategy, but your first comparison is Farmville? really? Are you 12? "
Yes, well no I'm not 12, but yes I think the concept is pretty much the same, a stupid little "free" game suported by micro-transactions, it's the sort if thing that is designed specifically to milk gullible users to the max, and I think that is extremely cheap.
Not only that this sounds extremely cheap, it's basically the same concept as such masterpieces as farmville, "Hey you can play this awesome game for free, but if you want to stay competitive at all or have fun buy stuff god dammit". "
I'm no fan of the collectible strategy, but your first comparison is Farmville? really? Are you 12?
I was terribly disapointed by this, seriously, when I saw the name Scrolls I instantly imagined an epic RPG/Rogue like game full of complexity and fun times, not in a million years would I ever think it was a stupid card game.
Not only that this sounds extremely cheap, it's basically the same concept as such masterpieces as farmville, "Hey you can play this awesome game for free, but if you want to stay competitive at all or have fun buy stuff god dammit".
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