After a long and lengthy legal battle, it seems as if a distributed playable version of Scrolls is finally here. Along with the game’s recent trailer, Mojang has just announced that the game has officially gone alpha (you know, the thing before beta), and a “modest amount of codes” will be distributed shortly — some people are reporting that they got theirs this morning.
In this version, you’ll be able to either play with a preconstructed deck, or build your own — for the purposes of the alpha test, you’ll have access to three of every scroll in the game. This build also has single player and multiplayer capabilities.
Mojang warns that “Scrolls is still missing a lot of features and content,” so don’t be alarmed if you get in and it’s pretty bare-bones.
Ready, Set, Alpha! [Mojang]
- 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.
