Mojang doesn’t just pump out updates to its insanely popular block-building game Minecraft. The developer is finally about to release its second game.
Scrolls is a collectible card game for the PC that’s due out in beta late next month, according to Polygon. Scrolls mixes in elements of card games like Magic: The Gathering with board games.
“We are aiming for release at the end of April, and it’s looking pretty good,” Mojang cofounder Jakob Porser told Polygon. “We’ve been wanting to release it for a while because we want to have the same sort of development as Minecraft.”
For those that don’t recall, Minecraft went on sale to fans while it was still in its early alpha stages. Mojang then improved the Lego-like title to beta and raised the price. In 2011, it finally released a 1.0 version of Minecraft and raised the price again.
Scrolls could follow that same general release path, with the initial PC release (followed by Mac and possibly Linux) set to debut at a reduced price.
Mojang will include multiple modes in Scrolls. The beta should come packed with a standard multiplayer mode and a fleshed out campaign with a computer-controlled intelligence that is smart enough to play the game.
At the Penny Arcade Expo East gaming conference over the weekend, World of Warcraft developer Blizzard revealed it is working on its own collectible card game, HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft. HearthStone is a free-to-play game that with deep monetization hooks. Players can purchase booster packs to help flesh out their decks.
Mojang is avoiding that type of business model.
“The core gameplay experience we want to keep as far away from monetization as possible,” said Porser.