Mojang's Scrolls Deals Up a Launch Trailer

[Andy Chalk]

Mojang's Scrolls Deals Up a Launch Trailer

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Scrolls, the new game from Minecraft studio Mojang, is just one week away.

More than two years after the title was revealed, it's almost time to dive into Scrolls, Mojang's followup to the mega-hit Minecraft. The studio announced that an open beta will begin on June 3, just one week from today, and has also rolled out a "mini-guide [http://scrolls.com/game]" that explains the basics of the game's mechanics.

Scrolls will offer opportunities to square off in matches against the computer, but the real action will be found in Challenge and Ranked matches against online opponents. Each player will build a custom deck from an "ever-growing library" of scrolls and bolster their abilities with special items that can be purchased with gold earned by playing matches or, in some cases, a "secondary currency" called Shards.

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The game appears to bear a powerful resemblance to Magic: The Gathering, with a healthy dose of Archon [http://www.amazon.com/Strategic-Simulations-Inc-Archon-Ultra/dp/B000H87W0Q/ref=pd_sim_sbs_sw_1] thrown in for good measure. The presence of "shards" suggests that while Scrolls is a conventionally-priced, single-purchase game, it will also incorporate freemium elements.

Scrolls [http://scrolls.com/] will sell for $20/£13/€15 depending on your region, and will be available for PC and Mac.


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[Rainboq]

It looks cool, I'd love to see a more in depth analysis of the core mechanics but for now this looks pretty good, I'll have to check it out.

 

[sid]

it's official, Notch got lucky with Minecraft

 

[mdqp]

it's official, Notch got lucky with Minecraft

I think nobody really doubted that, not even the man himself. It doesn't look like a bad game, though. I can dig a trading card game mixed with some turn-based strategy. Of course, It's just a trailer, and gives us very little to form an opinion, so far.

 

[Eleuthera]

Did I see an army of bunnies? I did didn't I?

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

it's official, Notch got lucky with Minecraft

Was his luck with the sandbox game-buying audience, or everyone else? Because Minecraft hit its core audience directly and built up around that with aplomb. That's not "luck" per se; I think he hit every target he wanted to hit as well as he knew he could. The luck only came in when it caught on with people outside of the game's scope.

This game is doing the exact same thing - it's aiming for a particular audience and will no doubt hit, in no part due to luck, the bullseye with confidence. Notch might get lucky again and might sway people outside of that demo to make this another million-seller, but none of us - Notch included - are holding our breath on that.

Or, let's put it this way: Notch achieved all his goals with Minecraft, and he's set to achieve all his goals here. The difference is that Minecraft built up such a staggeringly huge amount of steam after it had landed as predicted.

 

[IndianaJonny]

Aw crap, it's gonna be "Second Album syndrome" pressure for poor Mojang.

 

[sethisjimmy]

Looks very impressive in terms of presentation. They've come a long way from their roots. It also looks to have a lot of depth, but only time will tell. It's nice to see them going after a different niche this time, and not just milking the Minecraft genre as far as it'll take them, like some companies would.

 

[RandV80]

it's official, Notch got lucky with Minecraft

Was his luck with the sandbox game-buying audience, or everyone else? Because Minecraft hit its core audience directly and built up around that with aplomb. That's not "luck" per se; I think he hit every target he wanted to hit as well as he knew he could. The luck only came in when it caught on with people outside of the game's scope.

This game is doing the exact same thing - it's aiming for a particular audience and will no doubt hit, in no part due to luck, the bullseye with confidence. Notch might get lucky again and might sway people outside of that demo to make this another million-seller, but none of us - Notch included - are holding our breath on that.

Or, let's put it this way: Notch achieved all his goals with Minecraft, and he's set to achieve all his goals here. The difference is that Minecraft built up such a staggeringly huge amount of steam after it had landed as predicted.

Yeah basically Notch made his money on Minecraft so he can now afford to go after other pet projects without worrying about generating the same kind of sales. If Notch was working under a big publisher we'd be getting a Minecraft sequel, but he's independent so instead we're getting a completely different game that's going to hit a more specific target audience.

And personally I'm really looking forward to this one. I used to play Magic just about 15 years ago and for me half the fun was in playing the game, the other half was the deck building part. Deck building involves strategizing new builds with what you have, and the addictive joy of buying and opening new packs adding to your existing collection. The latter gets kind of expensive and was the reason I stopped playing, but occasionally over the years I've had the urge to get back into it so have looked for a PC game that could provide the same fun for a single up front cost.

...And there's nothing. Magic has a few different games out, but they either cram pre-built decks with little flexibility down your throat or are micro-transaction heavy. 'Magic the Gathering' seems to be tied to heavily to their physical card game to make a PC game that offers the same price for that single up front cost. This is the niche that Mojang's Scrolls should be able to fill, the only question is how big a niche is this but I don't think they're too concerned over that.

 

[RandV80]

Looking at the screenshots, 6/6 shows a shop with options to buy random scrolls or scroll packs using currency acquired in games. That's basically all I've ever wanted out of a M:TG PC game, but they've never delivered. Screenshot 2/6 also looks like a nice digital table to throw all your 'scrolls' down and sort them out into a deck.

 

[Entitled]

Aw crap, it's gonna be "Second Album syndrome" pressure for poor Mojang.

Poor is not quite the right word here...

They can afford about three dozen complete flops before hitting gold again.

 

[lacktheknack]

To quote a friend: "It's looks... somewhat unoriginal, but also fun."

I agree. I look forward to the beta.

 

[rofltehcat]

It looks like fun but I dread the whole trading card and microtransaction (p2w) thing. I don't play Magic anymore and every game I have seen with such systems either weren't good or were good games that were ruined by the toxicity inherent to such systems.

 

[Eric the Orange]

I always like games like this. Or that is to say I would like games like this if they let me play against computers but they are always VS other people only. And I hate other people and don't want to play with them.

 

[IndianaJonny]

Aw crap, it's gonna be "Second Album syndrome" pressure for poor Mojang.

Poor is not quite the right word here...

They can afford about three dozen complete flops before hitting gold again.

But "complete flops" aren't exactly what they're trying to put together, right? They're in a bit of a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" position.

Sure, they could just sit on their laurels, but I get the impression that Mojang want to make more (good) games - games that will inevitably, for better or worse, be compared with Minecraft.

 

[PH3NOmenon]

Yeeaaaah... no. Between Hearthstone and Hex, I don't see a real future for Scrolls. Maybe if the AI is really good, but PvE is what Hex also offers so, I don't know...

For Notch's sake, I hope I'm wrong. But I had bigger hopes for 0x10c than I had for this, so /shrug.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

I didn't know The Elder Scrolls had playing cards

This is clearly an Elder Scrolls knock off. Clearly[footnote]second time to emphasize sarcasm[/footnote]

I guess he ended up winning that lawsuit

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

So it's Hero Academy with customizable teams.

 

[Joos]

So I never got into the mine craft thing so I don't care about their legacy. Here is what I took away though:

I suppose the innovation here is that it's a card came with strategy elements, ie unit position matters.
Hexes rather than squares. Not sure that's a net positive on such a small board but looks interesting.
Card art is terrible. Not quite good enough.
Graphics and art style in general looks a bit meh.
Freemium elements you say? As in pay to succeed or pay to not get your ass handed to you because the main cards will start to lose their value over time? *walks away*