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It's time for another awesome update!  Alpha 0.84 brings with it a host of tweaks, fixes, optimizations, and three new cards!  Owen has also provided a place for detailed feedback on 0.84 (click here to participate!), be sure to give your feedback, to make Scrolls even better!

Open Beta is on the horizon (no set date just yet!), but there is a ton of awesome stuff to do in the meantime!  What sort of changes has 0.84 brought?  Let's take a look, courtesy of Owen!

Features

• The deck builder has received a major overhaul. It should now work significantly faster
• The “Match” gold rewards have been increased. “Idols” and “Completion” rewards haven’t been tweaked. Easy wins now gives you 33% more gold, medium wins give you 42% more, and hard wins give 33% more
• Loss rewards have also been increased, particularly for easy and medium matches. Multiplayer win rewards have been increased by approximately 13%, and multiplayer loss rewards have also been increased by a small amount
• Multiplayer challenge games now give full rewards up to five times per day. We’ve limited the full rewards to five matches to prevent players exploiting the system
• Singleplayer challenges have been renamed “Trials” to avoid confusions with multiplayer challenge matches
• The store has been updated to include Shards: a secondary currency
• Preconstructed decks have been updated to fix rarity distributions. We’d appreciate it if players could delete your existing precon decks (to get the new ones) and help us test the relative balance of the updated decks
• We’ve introduced a new “Move” stat. The default values are Move 1 for creatures and Move 0 for structures. It indicates the number of moves that a unit can make per turn
• The chat has a flood filter that temporarily mutes users who flood the chat

Miscellaneous

• Completed Trials (previously singleplayer challenges) no longer give any rewards
• The buttons for enabling/disabling challenges and trade invites now have mouseover tooltips
• “Gold” texts have been replaced with an icon throughout the client
• You can now see remaining time on “Just for you” offers by bringing up the detailed information of each item. This is currently refreshed when entering the store
• Post-death spawn effects (e.g. Illthorn Seed) now trigger after the full attack has finished
• We’ve improved the visual feedback when units are killed
• d:string in deckbuilder now searches for “string” in abilities as well (e.g. d:relentless)
  
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where players would not be able to send challenges after having accepted a challenge from someone else
• Fixed a bug where the game would hang when ending turn too soon after sacrificing for resources
• Damage (units) now works as intended.
• Players now see the same background during battles
  
  

Known Issues

• Users running Avast will need to disable it temporarily in order to login. We’re looking into why this happens

Scrolls has been in alpha for some time now, and there have been ton of updates since then.  However, it will soon be available for a broader audience as it goes into beta in April!

Lead developer Jakob Porser wants to release the game in beta at a discounted rate, both to expand the number of players testing the game for feedback, and to add even more features than before, using a similar development structure as Minecraft used.  Jakob said the team is on the cusp of rolling out the open beta for the game, and plans to sell it at a price similar to what Minecraft was sold for.  That game - which has almost topped 25 million copies sold across the mobile, PC and Xbox 360 platforms - sold for €10 in early alpha, then €20 when it was officially launched in November of 2011 at Minecon.

With the current family of testers (roughly 1,000 people!) about to expand exponentially, Scrolls can only get more awesome.  More battles, more card trades, more tournaments.  We anxiously await for beta!

Owen gives us some insight into recent goings-on at Scrolls HQ, a look at some new upcoming cards, and quite a bit more:

Greetings honourable Scrolls fan!

Sorry about the recent radio silence. It’s not down to laziness, or that we don’t care about you. The team are busier than ever, working their socks off to make Scrolls as good as it can be.The store is high on the agenda right now: Jakob and co. are redesigning the interface, working out what’s going to be on sale, and designing a bunch of new Scrolls. You can see four of those badboys down there.We’ll have more news soon. Don’t forget that you can follow the team on Twitter, and discuss Scrolls on Facebook, if you’re more into that kind of thing.

Speak soon! Have a nice day.

Owen – @bopogamel

New Cards

Gallery: 01-16-2013

It's that time again - update time!  0.79 brings a huge laundry list of goodies to the table for everyone to sink their teeth into.  What changes?  Let's not waste any time, and dive right in!

 Features

• We’ve changed the way we rate your progress. Your existing ELO value is still used for matchmaking, but each player has a separate rating which is displayed in-game. The new rating starts at 0 and builds up to your ELO value as you play ranked games. We haven’t reset anyone’s existing ELO value. It sounds confusing, but you don’t need to worry about it – that’s Jakob’s job. =).
• To compliment the ranking system, we’ve improved the way we search for opponents. Ranked and Quick matches will now try to match you with a similarly skilled opponent before expanding the search range over time.
• Gold rewards have been revamped. The bonus pool has been eliminated, rewards have been tweaked, and you get extra gold for destroying idols.
• We’ve added a new splash screen! Rejoice!

Scrolls

• Blind Rage (Energy) has been added. Target creature deals damage equal to its countdown to adjacent units. Its countdown is then increased by 1. It costs 4 Energy..
• God Hand (Growth) now gives +2 attack instead of +3.
• Quake (Growth) now deals 3 damage to structures and 2 damage to creatures. Cost has been reduced to 6.
• Eternal Statue’s (Growth) health has been reduced to 4.
• Kinfolk Veteran’s (Growth) health has been reduced to 4.
• Proximity charge now summons a copy of itself on a random adjacent tile when it comes into play. It now costs 4.
• Inferno Blast (Energy) has been changed from rarity 1 to rarity 0 (common).

That's right, it's time for another awesome Scrolls update!  Mojang has a huge list of features ready, and here they are:

Features

• The menu UI has been given a major facelift. We’ve reworked the whole damn thing!
• The chat now covers the bottom of the screen when in the Arena. It’s automatically minimised in other screens but can be accessed manually.
• Chat messages are now colour-coded and timestamped.
• Invites to games and trades now show a small notification that can be answered when convenient.
• The trade menu has been tweaked. Now you can see both player’s inventories and offers at all times. Scrolls can be clicked for more information.
• The cost of your Scrolls are greyed out if you can’t afford to play them.
• Your hand is greyed out when it’s not your turn.
• Sound settings can be accessed from the lobby as well as in matches.
• We’ve added new end-turn sound effects.

Scrolls

• Eight new Energy Scrolls added!

Incendiaries
Cost: 3 Energy
Opponent’s Structures takes 3 damage.

Desperation
Cost: 2 Energy
Target creature gets +2 attack until end of turn for each opponent unit on the same row. It is then dealt 1 damage.

Blast Strike
Cost: 2 Energy
When enchanted creature attacks, deal 1 damage to all units adjacent to target.

Plating
Cost: 3 Energy
Enchanted unit disregards next damage taken. Plating is removed afterwards.

Overdrive
Cost: 2 Energy

When Overdrive comes into play, and at the beginning of its following turns, enchanted structure’s countdown is set to 0. At the end of these turns, it is dealt 2 damage.

Iron Whip
Cost: 1 Energy
Target unit takes 1 damage. Its Attack is increased by 1 until end of turn and Countdown decreased by 1.

Rigged

Cost: 3 Energy
Whenever enchanted structure is destroyed in combat, its attacker takes 4 damage.

Redesign
Cost: 2 Energy
Target unit’s Attack and Health switch values.

Other Scrolls Tweaks

• Memorials now have the type ‘Memorial’.
• Fertile Soil now costs 4 (up from 3) and can only be cast on creatures.
• Heritage now costs 3 (up from 1).
• Burn now lets you draw a scroll if you kill a unit with the spell.
• Spark now costs 2 (down from 3).
• Mangy Wolf now costs 4 (up from 3). Flavour text added.
• Obelisk now costs 2 (down from 3).
• Ancestral Totem’s description has been adjusted.
• Shrine’s  description has been adjusted.
• Resonant Helm rules text changed from “increase” to “heal”.

Known issues

• It’s not possible to log in when Avast (anti-virus software) is running with the current version. Sorry Avast users! To get around this problem you can add Scrolls to Avast’s excluded processes list. Here’s how to do it: open the Avast interface, click Real-Time Shields, then click Web Shield. Open Expert Settings followed by Exclusions. Under Processes to Exclude, click Add, then find your Scrolls.exe. Select it and click OK.

Also, Mojang is still looking for awesome screenshots, so be sure to check that out, and bring in the most awesome screenshots ever!  See you on the battlefield!

Those of us with Scrolls keys are rather few and far between, and sometimes, real life conspires to keep those of us with keys from playing together.  Now, it's time to bring everybody together, to play some freakin' SCROLLS!  In the spirit of giving, a number of Alpha keys are being given away as well - Mojang's own Owen Hill had the following to say on the matter:

Owen Hill, Mojang

You already have a Scrolls alpha key? Really? You lucky person. They’re still quite rare you know.

For this reason, the servers are a bit underpopulated. To spice things up we’re organising an evening for everyone to play together, a bit like a big Scrolls happy family. That way, there’s a better chance of you playing against other players with similar experience to you, and you’ll get to challenge Mojangstas for bragging rights.

I’ll also be giving out 100 Scrolls alpha keys the day before the event. That gives new players plenty of time to practice before showing off their skills for the Thursday session. I’ll be posting bundles of 25 codes on the Discussion board of Scrollsfans.com at approximately 11:00, 14:00, 17:00 and 20:00 CEST tomorrow. I’ll also provide a list of the Mojangsta’s usernames so you know who you’re facing.

We’ve decided that Thursday nights at 20:00 CEST would be a good time to meet up online. You can see exactly when that is in your time zone here.

So:
Keep an eye on the forums tomorrow if you don’t already have a key!
Sign in at 20:00 CEST on Thursday evening if you do!
See you on the battlefield, chum(p)!

We look forward to playing with you, be sure to come by, hang out, get a code (if you don't have one), and play some Scrolls with us, and Mojang - see you there!

That's right, it's patch time again!  This round of updates has some very exciting changes, including a promising look at the future of card balancing, mono- and multi-deck tuning, and a whole lot more!  No sense wasting time, so let's jump straight into the change-log:

Notes

• For this patch, we’ve made some major adjustments to the different resource types. This includes a significant number of moved Scrolls. The reasoning behind this is that we want to differentiate the resources more clearly, which could help a mono-resource deck feel unique, or provide incentive to play multi-resource decks. This also means balance will have shifted, but we’re actively looking to compensate resources that are currently lacking in power by adding new Scrolls. In other words: Balance will be slightly off in this version, and we’re looking to improve and fix this for the next version.
• All decks have been reset in order to allow for moving scrolls. However, card libraries have not been reset (nor has gold), so with the exception of a few removed scrolls (Lifestealer, Mire Curse, Bitter Root, Infected Gravelock), players should be able to create decks similar to the ones they had before the patch.
• The preconstructed decks have been modified according to moved Scrolls. Scrolls gained as part of a preconstructed deck are not sellable or tradable. This is a way for us to ensure players don’t get rid of their entire libraries, thus not having enough Scrolls to play and earn new Scrolls.

Features

• Player-to-player trading has been added! You can now trade Scrolls and gold with other players by clicking their name in the chat and choosing “Trade”.
• Sellback of Scrolls has been added.
• The store has been improved. It’s now easier to keep track of Scrolls you’ve bought in one go, and various visual effects have been added.
• Units that are sacrificed or killed by death effects (Violent Dispersal) now properly trigger on-death effects (such as Heritage).
• The deck builder now shows a preview of the unit when a unit Scroll is hovered.
• The server structure has been changed to allow AI instances to run on separate servers. This should allow us to scale up the number of users with access to the game significantly.

Scrolls

• Machine Priest can now move structures to a random unoccipied, adjacent tile instead of healing structures.
• Faith Blessing now heals 4 instead of 3.
• Junkyard now has one less HP, and gives +1 health to all Rat creatures you control.
• Inferno Blast now has an area of four tiles. Cost has been decreased from 6 to 5.
• Decimation now deals only 1 damage to creatures. Cost has been decreased from 5 to 3.
• Unleash Inner Power is now an enchantment instead of a spell (this means it can be removed).
• “Reserve” units have been renamed to “Ducal”, and “Standing” to “Royal” (in order to make it clearer they’re not necessarily better or worse, just different).
• Ducal Infantryman now gives +1 attack on row instead of health.
• Royal Infantryman now affects entire row instead of just units in front of him.
• Ranger’s Bane now costs 2 instead of 3, but deals poison for 3 rounds instead of being permanent.
• Ember Bonds has been moved from Growth to Energy.
• Thunder Surge has been moved from Growth to Energy.
• Frost Wind has been moved from Growth to Order.
• Stag Heart has been renamed to Vengeance Veil and moved from Growth to Order. Art has been updated accordingly.
• Speed has been moved from Energy to Order.
• Crimson Bull has been moved from Energy to Growth, and its art has been updated accordingly.
• Earthquake has been moved from Energy to Growth.
• Lifestealer (Order) has been temporarily removed.
• Mire Curse (Growth) has been temporarily removed.
• Bitter Root (Growth) has been temporarily removed.
• Infected Gravelock (Energy) has been temporarily removed.
• Added Gravelock Outcast (Energy).
• Dryadic Power can now only enchant creatures.
• Honorable General’s ability has been reworked: He now sets adjacent units’ countdowns to 0 whenever his own countdown becomes 0.
• Royal Vanguard now buffs allied units’ attack by 1 until end of turn when his countdown becomes 0.
• Memorials now give their owner 1 Scroll when destroyed.

Miscellaneous

• Added a bunch of flavor texts to current Scrolls.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where multiple songs would play at once.

You heard right, the 0.71 update is out, and ready for testing!  Updating your client is easy, simply start it up, log in, and let it do its thing.  So, what sort of goodies are available for Scrolls?  Well:

• Scrolls have been redesigned! The new scrolls more prominently display their cost, have been updated to show card type and rarity, and look all that much cooler. Expect further UI changes along the way.
• The deck builder has received a major overhaul! This includes new sorting options, a button to automatically layout scrolls on the table, and an easy-to-use scroll preview area. Additionally, scrolls can now be searched by name.
• Game now more clearly displays whose turn it is (with a message at the start of each round).
• When players leave, disconnect, or reconnect to a match, an appropriate message is shown in the in-game chat.
• The arena is now tabbed, and remains active in the deck builder and store. All previously opened tabs are re-opened when a user returns to the arena after playing a match.
• Players can now customize their avatars by clicking the Profile menu button.

 Scrolls

• Kabonk now lets the player draw 1 scroll in addition to dealing 1 damage to a unit.
• Golem Skin’s effect is now permanent, and increases health as well as attack.
• Bunny now attacks if its attack is greater than 0.
• Updated art on Faith’s Blessing.
• Updated art on Potion of Resistance.
• Updated art on all three Automatons.

 Miscellaneous

• AI now has slight pauses between moves and scrolls played, to make it easier to understand what it’s doing.

 Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where users who were in several chat rooms would randomly jump back and forth.
• Reworded Vitality Well to match how the scroll actually works.

There have been some exciting changes to Scrolls lately, particularly with the recent 0.70 patch!  With purchasable cards, improved gameplay features, audio controls, and an absolutely massive changelog, Scrolls is quickly ramping up to untold levels of awesome.  So, what are some of the features that were added?

• Area spells now indicate which tiles will be affected when hovering the board (this includes Inferno Blast, Frost Wind, Decimation and Thunder Surge).
• Added player ratings – these can be seen in the arena and are automatically updated after each match. In the future, ranking will be calculated and used for ranked matches. Players who do not want to play competitively will be able to play unranked matches.
• Added in-game chat. Press enter to open the chat window.
• The lobby chat has been improved. It is now divided into rooms. Players automatically enter the first available “General-X” room on entering the arena, and are then free to move around in listed rooms or create their own rooms. Additionally, a scrollbar has been added to this chat.
• Added volume controls (SFX and music). Only in-game for now – we’ll add an out-of-game settings menu later.
• Added in-game gold, which is earned by playing games. There is some randomness to the amount earned, but it’s based on things like game type, AI difficulty (in case of singleplayer games), game length and whether or not you won the game.
• Added a first iteration of an ingame store, where players can use in-game gold to buy new cards.
• To allow players to unlock new cards when playing, all decks have been reset, and all players have been given the cards contained in three started decks (one Growth, one Energy, and one Order). Players can use the store to get more cards.
• Added game statistics, shown at the end of a match.
• Removed all scrolls and decks from all users. Users will be given 3 starter decks, one of each resource type.

Again, this is just a glimpse (the full change-log can be seen here), and is only the beginning of some exciting changes to come.  Keep an ear to the ground - exciting news isn't far off!

That's right, the Scrolls development team - headed by Jakob Porser - is back in action after a brief vacation!  So, what's in the works now that our favorite developers are front-and-center?  How about...

• Deck Builder overhaul! New sorting options. New search options. Scrolls will be zoomed in on mouse over instead of with a click. Unit scrolls will display the graphic of the summoned unit directly in the Deck Builder.
• In-game chat!
• A store! Playing matches gets you gold. Gold gets you new scrolls!
• Quite a few scroll tweaks!
• Some never before seen scrolls will be added!
• New scroll design! Information about scrolls type and rarity will be added along with better information about buffs/debuffs on the summoned unit.
• Ranking! In the beginning, all multi player matches will affect a players rating, but expect that to change at a later date to allow for friendly matches with nothing “on the line”.
• Bug fixes!

The Scrolls development team released this statement on the status of Scrolls updates:

Just wanted to give some quick info about the state of Scrolls development.

The alpha has been going on a couple of weeks and we have been able to gather some great feedback and bug reports (thanks everyone who has helped us out). We are currently working on fixing these issues while also working on the single player mode. However, this time of year is normally when swedes go on vacation, and Mojangutangs are no different. Because of this, the progress is slower than it normally would be. Most devs will be back in 2-3 weeks from now, and we hope to pick up speed again at that point.

 Meanwhile, a discussion about when we should release Scrolls is going on both in the office and on the official forums at ScrollsFans.com. Although we are still weighing our options, things are leaning towards a release before the game is ready, with a price model similar to that of Minecraft. Meaning you will be able to buy an unfinished version of Scrolls at a reduced price. Expect more info on this during August.

 Lastly, there are many people who wonder if we will send out more alpha codes. As we currently have a pretty long list of things we want to implement and because of the fact that we are currently missing some devs, we will most likely not be posting new codes for at least 2 weeks. We still check the forums though, so please keep posting!

Thats all for now.

-Jakob Porser

 Be sure to check back frequently for more updates, and keep honing your skills!

Quite a few of us here have had a chance to play the Scrolls Alpha - but what if you haven't gotten a code yet?  Curious to see Scrolls in action, from the start of a match to the end?  Here's a chance to do just that!  I play a quick round with the AI to demonstrate the game's mechanics, layout and other features in this demonstration video - can you spot some places where I could've employed a stronger strategy, or used a different tactic for better effect?  Can you spot the hidden secret in the game?  Give it a watch and see!

We have an update on the status of Alpha, from Mojang's lead Scrolls developer, Jakob Porser!

Jakob Porser

As of today, Scrolls will officially go Alpha!
It is a big milestone for us, and we are very happy to share it with you guys. But before we start sending out the codes, I would like to take a minute to explain what you can expect in this alpha.
First off, we will start by sending out quite a modest number of codes. However, as time progresses, we will send out more. So if you do not get one, don’t lose hope!

The code for alpha access will be distributed by e-mail and the recipients will be selected at random from the list of people that signed up for it. We are currently not looking to add more people to this list, so if you are not on it, you will have to wait until the open beta, i’m afraid.

Currently, the alpha includes:

Deck Building
As you start the game, you will have a pre-constructed deck so if you wish, you can start playing right away. However, sooner or later you will probably like to explore the rest of the content in the game, and that’s when you go to the Deck Builder.
The alpha account comes with a full set of scrolls. Meaning you will have 3 of each available scroll in the game. A deck must be at least 40 scrolls big, and you can have no more than 3 of each scroll in it. You can have as many decks as you like and you may use the same scrolls in different decks.

Singleplayer
Although you will not be able to venture the world or go toe to toe against the powerful bosses that inhabits it, the alpha will allow you  to test your strength against an AI opponent.
You will have the option of 3 difficulty settings, each of which has a number of different decks to play against.

Multiplayer
In the Arena section, you can chat with other players as well as challenge them. You can also queue up for a multiplayer match against a random opponent. When playing a multiplayer match, there will be a round timer allowing the players no more then 90 seconds to make their move. It is advised to try out the tutorial and some single player matches before testing your skill against another player.

Scrolls is still missing a lot of features and content that we plan on implementing over the upcoming months. Also keep in mind that we probably will be changing many of the current scrolls in the game during this time.


Lastly, we would like to ask everyone who gets invited to the alpha to report any bugs to us. Information on how to do this will be given in the invitation e-mail.
We would also advise anyone who gets an invite to sign up on the brand new forum at ScrollsFans.com. We will look to this for both bug reports as well as feedback in general, and we would love to have an ongoing dialog with you.

 Keep an eye out in your inbox for your Alpha codes, if you signed up for one.  Hopefully, we will see some of you on the battlefield soon!

UPDATE!

Jakob wanted to add the following about Minecon '11 attendees, and their Scrolls codes:

Jakob Porser

We have been getting a lot of questions from the attendees of Minecon 2011 about our promise to give alpha invites to the visitors. I’m sorry i forgot to talk about this in the initial post about the alpha, but here is what’s up:

As we talked about this internally a couple of weeks ago, we figured we don’t want to be cheap when it comes to some of our most loyal fans, so we decided this: Instead of only giving them the alpha, let’s give them the whole game.

Unfortunately, we can’t give away all these codes right now, as our plan is to steadily increase the number of users to test out our servers.

But we know who you are! You are on our list! And you WILL be getting a copy of Scrolls!

Jakob:  Slightly too good, I have to say! Jon Kågström has been writing the AI and so far we are very happy with it. Not only is it hard to beat, but it can handle any deck you give it, which makes for a very dynamic opponent. We are also very happy to report that it's not a cheating AI. It does not know anything about the scrolls in your hand or which scroll it will get from the library at the start of its next turn.

I am personally a big fan of the damage that certain combinations of scrolls can cause. One such example is the use of "Death Cap Berserk" and "Leeching Ring".

"Leeching Ring" is also a creature enchantment. It will heal its bearer by that creatures original Countdown every time it attacks. So if a creature has a original Countdown of 2 (meaning it will attack every other round) or more, then the "Leeching Ring" will completely negate the negative effect of "Death Cap Berserk".

Now if you REALLY want to put your opponent on his back, try sticking these enchantments on an "Honorable General". A creature with an original Countdown of 3 and whose rules read:

There is currently no tutorial for it, but we are trying to make it as easy as possible by nudging the player in the right direction. When you buy the game, you will have a pre-constructed deck at your disposal and as you play the game you will gain more scrolls that you put in your deck if you want to. So basically, if you never played CCG's before, you won't have to start out by diving into the whole deck building thing. We will also supply the players with some small advice as to what you should think about when customizing/building your deck.

We have also made some changes to the traditional way of gaining resources. Any scroll in your hand can be sacrificed to gain a resource output, so there are none of those frustrating matches where you lose simply because you are unlucky with drawing resources.  We have also done our best to adjust the game play to suit its online environment. Less time waiting for your opponent to make a decision, makes for a more enjoyable experience.

Oh no, I always fail at these questions...

We've been hearing a lot about scrolls lately - now it's time to see more of it!  This gameplay video shows off combat with a medium-difficulty AI opponent, and highlights a number of exciting game concepts.  What begins as a relatively simple battle with only a few wolves in play, quickly becomes an epic battlefield of multi-strategy awesomeness - check it out!