Minecraft developer Mojang announces new game 'Scrolls'

by JC Fletcher on Mar 1st 2011 10:00PM

Mojang hasn't technically finished its first game, Minecraft, but it's gone ahead and revealed another one. Scrolls is a digital collectible card game/board game designed by Markus "Notch" Persson and Jakob Porser -- with story help from Penny-Arcade's Jerry Holkins, and art by famous "demaker" Jnkboy.

According to the newly launched website, Scrolls "offers a new and unique game play where you fight to outmaneuver your opponent on the battlefield [a chess-style game board] using the destructive powers in your collection of magical scrolls [cards]." Scrolls will become weathered with use, giving visual indication of your preferred tactics. Of course, you'll be able to augment your deck with new packs.

A limited free alpha will be available later this year, offered initially to some Minecraft alpha purchasers; a public beta willfollow. Both will be free and used to balance the game.

Via: Gamasutra
Source: Scrolls

Tags: gdc-2011, indie, jnkboy, mojang, pc, scrolls

Reader Comments (46)

Sounds significantly less experimental than Minecraft. It'll be nice to see what Mojang can do with a more traditional concept.

This actually sounds really cool!

Now give me my damn Minecraft dragon.

Sounds interesting so far, I love the designs they have up already. I just hope they abandon Java.

Oh, Mojang..

You know my weakness.. card based battling...

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze MIND CRUSH

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze
Majong activated it's trap card

Sounds like they are getting on the micro transaction bandwagon.

Good, I'd like to see these guys get more money.
They make good stuff.

@Mortegro

I could be wrong, but I don't think is going to be a microtransaction game. I read the articles joystiq links to, and it seems to me that cards don't get "used up", they just get more worn as a sort of status symbol to show how long you've been playing. And as for new packs, the website talks about adding new cards and constantly changing up which ones you can/can't use in multiplayer so players are forced to come up with new strategies.

@Neofalcon I believe he may be referring to "Of course, you'll be able to augment your deck with new packs". If it is like many card games if you want to be effective you need to buy 50 billion card packs in hopes of getting some powerful cards. Although this does not say whether or not these new decks will be random cards or not either. Time will tell, but my hopes are high.

Oh boy, this certainly won't piss off the people who want Mojang to finish the game they already paid for. They were already angry since Notch apparently isn't working. And now they're diverting their attention to this game.

@Mehbah

Seriously.

Notch should probably consider hiring some more people to work on the game when he's off taking care of business type things.

Oh, wait......

@Mehbah Because it's literally IMPOSSIBLE for studios to have more than one game going on at a time.

Do you have any idea how gaming development works?

@Mehbah

Really? O_o

Maybe you're an anomaly, but as for myself and every person I know who likes Minecraft (let's say, enough to care about the patches) has played it more than they do most $60 games.

More playtime for a quarter of the price...why are you crying?

@PointlessPuppies

I do know that it's physically impossible to give two things as much attention as you can give one thing. And if they do have people who weren't working on Minecraft, then you can bet that people would demand that they should work on it.

@Veko

Yo, reading comprehension, please. Notice how I said "they" and not "I"? There's a reason for that. I've seen a whole lot of people getting pissed off at Notch and his not updating thing. Hell, the Minecraft wiki even has a Notch Time page. I have no idea how you could possibly have missed people's attitudes.

I've only had the game for two days and I haven't followed the game closely enough to know if the complaints are justified.

@Veko

I played Minecraft for almost 8 hours straight, today.

The last time I did that with a disc-based game was.. well.. they were called cartridges, back then...

I would love nothing more than to see Minecraft content complete.
This new game doesn't piss me of f in the least, I won't lie its announcement before Minecraft has been completed does raise some lingering concerns. Since Mojang is such a small developer.

I don't doubt they are capable of working on multiple projects and I hope scrolls brings them as much success as Minecraft and that they don't inadvertently bite off more than they can chew.

@Mehbah

"I do know that it's physically impossible to give two things as much attention as you can give one thing"

True story:adding programmers to a project does not necessarily increase its production speed.

I know, it sounds crazy, but if it does that just means you know nothing about programming and there's no way I could possibly explain to you just how sensible that statement is. Go rant instead about how global warming must be a hoax because winter is still cold.

> Scrolls is a digital collectible card game

ehhhh never been a fan of digital CCGs, always felt like a random slot machine. I prefer to pay for a game and then play it, personally.

Why don't they finish the first goddamn game before they start thinking of new shitty card game projects?

@xdpirate

If you're not happy with Minecraft as it is, you'll never be happy with anything.

@xdpirate

How did you get dedownvoted?

There was literally just a big Minecraft update, and there is another one coming a couple of weeks after GDC. People are so damn impatient. At least you get to play the beta, how many in development games give you unrestricted access to the WIP client?

@Colin I'm not complaining about the game, I love Minecraft to death.

I'm just saying they should finish the game before the start something new, because Notch has a nasty habit of not finishing his projects (he even says so in the 20-min MC documentary on GameTrailers!).

@xdpirate

Well, from that perspective I agree with you. But I imagine Notch will find some way to stay on track to finish Minecraft due to the fact that the property is worth millions now.

sounds interesting. can't wait to see how it turns out though. By looking at the cards, almost looks like it's a cross between warcraft or catan (resource management) and magic.

Just hope it's not like magic where you need to spend metric sh** ton of money in order to compete on a competitive level though...

I will play anything these guys make! Bring it on, just don't ask me to buy digital booster pack a la MTG because I won't do that.

Reading the title i was kinda of hoping for a RPG type game, not card game/board game a little disappointed....

let the downvoting begin =/

Go Notch! and Mojang. Can't say its my cup of tea but i was curious to what post-minecraft development would be like.

Put this on a netbook or a tablet, and you could play card games on a motorcycle!

In other news, dog pets for minecraft have been confirmed.

Also people need to stop getting pissed off at Mojang for minecraft not being finished. The game is still good as is, and will only get better.

I can't wait to try this game out, at least. It sounds way interesting.

@HybridPara

I agree with everything you've just said. I think people need to accept that Minecraft will forever be in a "Beta" state like Gmail. Sure, it's "beta"... but hey, Beta is still better 90% of what else is out there...

@Xoonaka
Well I'm not so sure about it being in beta forever. I'm sure the retail release will happen this year if not early next year. And then we'll get access to the expansions, which will probably have interesting subtitles, haha.

Minecraft: The Pigman Rebellion

The fact that the cards weather and "you can obtain new packs" mean they are going to be selling them.

It's not that he doesn't deserve money, but the fact that the game by it's nature makes you less successful unless you keep spending money seems off to me.

@Drakkenfyre

You extrapolated a bit too much from just one statement.

"You get more cards later" = omg they'll charge for those = omg the game's automatically unbalanced = omg it's a pay-to-win game!!!!!

Wat.

You didn't read enuf.

"Scrolls will become weathered with use, giving visual indication of your preferred tactics. Of course, you'll be able to augment your deck with new packs."

Your scrolls become weathered, indicating to your opponent your strategy, making you less effective. They will sell new scrolls, and if you want to remain competitive, you will be assumed to be buying new scrolls.

@Drakkenfyre

I'm hoping the "weathered" idea will just be cosmetic... if so, no big deal... hopefully them knowing what cards I like won't necessarily screw me in random match making. Non-random matchmaking... well... they'll probably learn my tactics anyhow.

...but yeah, if they eventually disintegrate... that would suck.

Sold. I love card games and I've been wanting to get into a new one. Hopefully I'll get in the alpha.

I'm not interested in "Scrolls" unless they are of the Elder variety.

@The Only Girl your face is of the elder variety :O

Will one of the patches add motorcycles?

@Epsilon No that's planned for the final release. You know, the one that will never happen.

Doesn't sound video game related.

@koehler83

....other than, I dunno, being a video game?

Sounds awesome my only concern is that for such a small development studio they might be stretching their resources a bit far finishing up Minecraft and hammering out Scrolls.

Definitely sounds like an interesting game tho and I rather think I'll be looking forward to it.

I love well-made card battle games. Let's see what Mojang can do with that concept.
After all, working on Minecraft for an eternity might make Notch a dull boy. And we sure don't want that.

A trading card game? REALLY??.....hey notch, you really think magic the gathering is a huge hit online huh...

what a waste of development resources that could have gone into making minecraft even more amazing.

Bloodburn? shortminded much`?

I for one love trading card games! and i do think it would be a smash hit online!

Im not worried about Minecraft, i know you have people working on it, and considering its the game that brought you all here, Im certain they will give it the attention it deserves and make the game even better than it already is.
I'm gonna love to try out Scrolls ones it hits beta! Good work Mojang!

Scrolls

Minecraft developer Mojang announces new game 'Scrolls'

Reader Comments (46)

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:04PM PointlessPuppies said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:08PM MasterYogurt said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:10PM Epoque said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:11PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:52PM WiNGSPANTT from TopTierTacticsco said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 2:10AM Hivetyrant said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:12PM Mortegro said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 1:38AM Neofalcon said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 8:31AM DAmwake said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:14PM Mehbah said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:32PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 11:09PM PointlessPuppies said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 11:16PM Veko said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 12:04AM Mehbah said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 12:10AM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 9:04AM Scuffles said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 4:08PM ThePenIsMightier said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:16PM Beanalby said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:29PM xdpirate said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 11:50PM ironneko said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 1:09AM Colin said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 9:52AM xdpirate said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 1:41PM Colin said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:34PM xddga said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:37PM Poor Tom said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:38PM Jovany4Fingers said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:42PM PR0F3TA said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:46PM BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:54PM HybridPara said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 11:04PM Xoonaka said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 11:31PM HybridPara said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 10:58PM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 11:11PM PointlessPuppies said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 11:16PM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 11:20PM Xoonaka said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 11:09PM Xiegfried said

Posted: Mar 1st 2011 11:53PM The Only Girl said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 12:49AM Everything I say is true said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 2:25AM Epsilon said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 11:09AM Robborboy said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 6:22AM koehler83 said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 4:09PM ThePenIsMightier said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 8:47AM Scuffles said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 8:56AM RedViv said

Posted: Mar 2nd 2011 8:57AM Bloodburn said

Posted: Mar 3rd 2011 5:46PM aRne2k said

Scrolls Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

WB conjures up Harry Potter for Kinect this fall

Featured Stories

Silver Lining: I Am Alive's unfeeling world

Game Of Thrones and the paradoxes of adaptation

Super Joystiq Podcast 004: 38 Studios meltdown, Gravity Rush, Civilization 5: Gods & Kings, Dragon's Dogma

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW