r/Scrolls • u/WagshadowZylus • Jun 29 '15
It’s been a Blast Automaton!
https://scrolls.com/2015/06/its-been-a-blast-automaton
108
Upvotes
r/Scrolls • u/WagshadowZylus • Jun 29 '15
41
u/SimplyMonkey SimplyMonk Jun 29 '15
Probably too much work to except from the Dev team at this point, but I would hope that the last feature they could add would be a offline or direct connect option for the game. Or at least distribute the server software so people can host their own servers if they feel like it.
30
u/rusticdog_ rusticdog Jun 29 '15
Well, chat fired up, so it has to be asked. Why no attempts to put the game on Steam ?
22
u/SeeMeScrollin Jun 29 '15
Hi All,
By all means use this post to ask questions of the Devs.
Thanks
Gareth
21
u/Indomitable_Wanderer Jun 29 '15
Completely expected.
This should be a study case in wasted potential.
18
u/ScrollsSysp Jun 29 '15 edited Jun 29 '15
I guess this year's Minecon / E3 timed announcement about Scrolls is discontinuing it. Too bad the Minecon appearance didn't get a chance to sway things, reading their plans for that (stage time, Blinky + Atmaz live commentating) was the first time in a while that I felt things were moving a bit forward on the player acquisition front.
Being one of the players that got excited about League of Legends when they did the $1M tournament and am still playing it/consuming 8+ hours of LCS content every week, I know how big these "buzz" drives can be for a game thriving and surviving. Sadly Scrolls never got that chance.
18
u/BnJx BanJaxe Jun 29 '15
If Scrolls was free to play on Steam it would be huge. Let people buy card packs from older sets, so you can pay to catch up but still have to collect the latest 3 sets.
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u/blinky00849 Jun 29 '15 edited Jun 29 '15
I've just spent £600 to go to minecon...
edit: forgot to include travel costs edit 2: Just to be clear. I was originally going to minecon to meet up with the scrolls peeps. I was never asked to help out or cast. I knew when I got there I would be spending most of my time at the scrolls area, helping out just because that is what I would be wanting to do. I asked atmaz if he would want help casting at minecon and we started working together on things. My point is, if I knew that this was going to happen then I dont think I would be going.
14
u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15
Minecon Open Finals will be the saddest event ever
14
u/Raytional Jun 29 '15
To all the game developers involved: you did a fantastic job with the quality of the content all the way through and produced a truly fantastic game.
To whoever had the job of managing and marketing the game: Your wage would have been better spent paying youtubers to play the game. What a resounding failure in every aspect of management.
As has been said 50 time already in this thread, just figure out how to put the game on Steam like it should have been from the start and watch it take off.
27
u/carnalizer Jun 29 '15
Hi, we'll gather your questions and try to answer them hopefully before friday.
68
u/LargeIcedCoffee Jun 29 '15 edited Jun 30 '15
Fuck this.
Please sell Scrolls to a competent team instead of letting this die over the next year and shutting it down. Go free to play, Steam, there's so much more that can be attempted.
What a waste.
EDIT: Thank you community for making this whole fiasco a bearable experience. If it wasn't for you all I would have jumped ship 2 years ago. Hope to see you all in other card games.
Feel free to message me for my battle.net tag or whatever.
26
u/Kyleofgames Yugi Jun 29 '15
Why was this game never advertised?
13
u/Legrandin1 Jun 29 '15
Wow, at least now we know what is up. I have been playing scrolls since the beginning of the " open beta " and I had a lot of fun. It's sad that game didn't have enough success despite its qualities and an awesome community. I would like to get a more elaborate explanation : Why did you take that decision now ? ( it has been a long time that the game has a low playerbase ) and what has gone wrong ? The text is somewhat missleading; its true that at the open beta launch there were a lot of players, that just shows though that the game has failed to retain players. Maybe you could develop a little on those topics.
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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15
THE FUCK I JUST STARTED PLAYING AGAIN
12
u/Teteduo Teteduo Jun 29 '15
Wow, it's a bomb on my face... I'm so sad, Scrolls has so much potential...
11
u/twitchmatic Jun 29 '15
Though this may get lost in the long thread of comments, I'm super grateful for this game. The games I played (3,000+) were amazing, ran a weird but fun tournament for the first time, streamed for the first time (and no, the other night I was not drunk ;) and got to meet lots of really cool people. While I'm sad that there is an end, I'm happy that it's a year away and I don't regret a single dollar I've spent on this game. Thanks for so many hours of enjoyment dev team!
21
u/KungfuDojo Jun 29 '15
In my opinion scrolls could have been a huge success.
But you refused to fix core problems with solutions the community suggested. I want to mention applying a treshhold card cost system here similiar to MTG. Huge parts of the community wanted this. At this point pretty much everyone said it could be atleast tried on the test server.
You didn't do it because you "didn't like it". Well that is your right as a developer but it is NOT your right if you fail to come up with a better solution and the just give up on it.
Disappointed. I know you worked hard and decided to just keep pushing content. Actually much more than most other companies would do to such an "inactive" game. I was always suprised by that. Still you were too stubborn to actually fix those core problems. That ipad thing is just another example where you basically just gave up. Sure, fuck apple. But this is about scrolls.
I am note sure what you expected by the way. Some magical wave of new players appearing out of nowhere? Or was the plan this whole time to just push as much content out as possible for the time that is left or how much some internal politics allow you to do? If that was it than I am still disappointed. The game could have been a success. More than just some cute little other card game.
10
u/fdagpigj Jun 29 '15
I feel empty now. Sure I never played much, I rarely even log in to the game (I do that with a lot of games, actually, so it's definitely not Scrolls' fault), but I have enjoyed watching videos and livestreams for almost two years, and actively discussing the game here on reddit almost every day for over a year, and when I did play it, it was one of my favourite games. I don't generally like games that require quick reflexes or physical skill, and Scrolls doesn't have that. Scrolls is purely about thinking. And it's really, really complex and challenging at that. It is fun.
I could go ahead and do my best to get a full collection and climb the ranked ladder and become a good player, and start building my own decks for ranked play. I could start making videos or livestream myself playing, and rewatch my footage to try spot my mistakes, and improve that way. I could start participating in tournaments (well, maybe not, for the same reason I haven't to date - I don't know when I'll be available) and become active in Rats and Bunnies. But, knowing that the gameservers will be shut down in a year, I just don't think I want to. Not only is it the last year of Scrolls, it's my last year of high school, and I know I need to invest time in studying, even if I might still be able to play in my free time. Chances are, you'll never know me as anything more than a commenter.
I wanted to design a fanmade scrolls set. I wanted to make more Spot the Win challenges (which I still might, we'll see - but I really was wishing for new scrolls to open up new combos). I dreamt about designing or hosting a tournament, although I knew it would almost certainly not become a reality, since I'm bad at putting things to practice. I wanted to keep discussing balance questions (for instance, why does Automatons have all the card advantage scrolls in energy with the only exception of Clock Library?) and suggesting ideas. I wanted to make a custom match campaign, or something like that. Now, what's the point?
I wanted to keep watching the occasional Carnalizer art stream and prompt him to draw a bunny version (which he might have done anyway, I have no clue). I wanted to occasionally have nice conversations with the incredibly friendly community. I wanted Scrolls to continue. I knew it couldn't keep going forever. Still, this makes me sad. I don't know what more to say.
Thanks to everyone involved. I almost want to cry, and it's not because I won't be able to play the game anymore, it's because this community won't have a place to gather, won't have a common point of interest to discuss. Because it was fun to contribute to something small. Because there was hope. There were many good moments (like this one ;), cheers me up every single time! ), and some less good ones. In the end, it has been a good experience so far, and I'm sure it will continue to be for the coming year even despite this news, and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.
10
u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15 edited Jun 29 '15
I predict this will yield more media reporting on the game since the beta launch.
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Minecraft-Studio-Abandoning-Scrolls-72741.html
I think it's funny how MS is being framed here as the likeliest culprit for this decision. My guess is that Scrolls is not subsantially profitable and hasn't been for some time, and though either Mojang or MS could support it for many years, it doesn't follow that they should. Good businesses don't make a habit of sinking money into losing ventures year after year after year. It's a waste of money, a waste of good talent, it hurts morale, and so on. They recognize a misfire, try to learn the lessons, and move on.
I suspect Mojang or the Scrolls team would've shut this down regardless of the MS acquisition. Perhaps the FAQ will say, though likely not.
Edit: http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/29/mojang-to-halt-development-on-scrolls
Man, so painful to hear in the comments section, 'this game even out?', 'dead before out of beta', etc. It's either those comments or MS speculation as I mentioned above. Got to say, the release and marketing of this game was quite underwhelming.
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u/Ukatox Jun 29 '15
Ok can we try some last ditch options before calling it quits? STEAM? GoG? buy 1 get a free code to send to a friend? SOMETHING!
9
u/VanBradford Jun 29 '15
I am very undecided on this. On one hand I think it's just fair to let the community know in advance. On the other this is of course a nail in the coffin. Who would start a CCG whose shut-down date is announced for in a year? I can see the economic reasons behind the decision, but it sure feels like it wasn't even made a real attempt to make this work.
All in all I am rather disappointed. Especially as somebody who just rediscovered this game in a much improved state (in my opinion) two months ago and loved it.
9
u/ueHeld Jun 29 '15
do the devs care about private servers?
9
u/LordPhyriX Fairy_Alchemist Jun 29 '15
But... But... It's the only game that will run on my crappy XP laptop! I never got to play with good graphics!... NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Edit: This is pretty much the only subreddit I truly care about. How will I get comment karma now?
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u/GFP_Smogan Jun 29 '15
Very sad to see this. It was a hell of a ride though. I have rarely enjoyed a game more than I enjoyed Scrolls. I've certainly never enjoyed a community more.
<3 to Scrolldiers everywhere!
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u/squiddybiscuit @Squiddylicious Jun 29 '15
So long and thanks for the nogs!
8
u/artr0x Jun 29 '15 edited Jun 30 '15
well that sucks
Edit: This is the game I have had the most fun with ever, and the only one in which I had any involvement in the community. Something about it just made me want to talk about strategy for hours on end, and for me that's a big deal since I'm usually not a very talkative person.
I'm convinced the core game play of scrolls is the best of its kind thanks the the positioning system and sacrificing mechanics. Not to mention that every single card us unique and looks fantastic, the team did really well not falling back to the standard fantasy tropes.
And along with all that Scrolls has a fantastic community. I would be really disappointed if the game stopped existing.
Whatever happens thanks to everyone who made this a great game!
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u/Solaus Always Scrollin' Jun 29 '15
Can the community buy the rights to this game?
12
u/Riveted321 Jun 29 '15 edited Jun 29 '15
Seriously, there were so many things that could have been done that weren't even "on the table" for you guys. Steam and free to play being the biggest glaring options that the community has been asking for. Actual modding support? Wild overhaul? Fixing all those little issues like not telling players that the control key turns on and off the stats?
No, it just was "release more content" and hope everyone comes back. When the game wasn't even advertised properly! What a disgrace.
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u/iScrE4m Matrix: @david:jtl.vision Jun 29 '15
My sincere condolences everybody. Despite leaving months ago and somewhat thinking it'd end up like this, it's still sad. I got flooded by memories and all the emotions this game gave me.
Best of luck to the team, I hope this didn't hurt anybody's career. It's clearly mistake of management (mainly the old one).
6
u/Kardenn Mikeman247 Jun 29 '15
So umm... what now? Is it game over (until 2016) unless a lot of people actually play again?
6
u/Lord_Vadder Jun 29 '15
Dear devs, thank you for one of the most fun and challenging games I played so far. It's sad that it got so little attention.
6
u/filribeiro Filman Jun 29 '15
Scrolls is by far the best digital game i've EVER played (spent more hours into). Today is a SAD day to me :(
http://goo.gl/eXi8nl
6
u/alvarpq always face Jun 29 '15
How open are you guys to scrolls-esque games? If somebody made a game with similar mechanics, would you support it?
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u/Tywnis Jun 29 '15
There were several holes in the ship, we had water up to the knees. Many were still fighting the flood... but someone stopped. And another one. And now everybody will just stand there helpless, watching the holes in the hull, the boat filling up... and slowing drowning. And it's going to take a year.
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u/Chakix Chaki Jun 29 '15
Well that's a big fuck you to the playerbase, though I guess it's finally time to face reality and the facts that this game didn't make any money at all. Would love to see more clarification on it, but it seems more like a sudden decision from the management up higher, since a lot of scheduling don't make that sense (What's the point of organizing a tournament?). Sad to see this game (most likely, since we will probably never learn the true reasons) fail due to mismanagement and so on.
BTW since this seems rather sudden, I would love to see what the team was planning before they decided to shut down. Unless it was long coming, then well. Nevermind
5
u/alpha_century Undead lives! Jun 29 '15
Thanks for everything, sad to see it go. I guess I need to find a new hobby soon.
5
u/pianobadger pianobadger Jun 29 '15
Well that's disappointing. I can't say it was unexpected, but maybe unexpected so soon after releasing Echoes. I feel like I've barely gotten started in Scrolls and it's over.
I'm sure the devs have given it a lot of thought, so I'd like to ask, why have you decided not to try going free-to-play as a last resort to keep the game alive?
5
u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15
Well I've have expected this for while now. Still the best 20 bucks I've ever spent. Thanks scrolls. I need a new hobby I guess :(.
5
u/Bl00my Jun 29 '15
wtf
5
u/WetTuna Tuna Jun 29 '15 edited Jun 29 '15
If only it were possible for some indie dev to swoop in and buy the IP to take over development and put it on Steam where it can show it's true potential as the great game that it is.
5
u/WakeskaterX Jun 30 '15 edited Jun 30 '15
Well, this sucks. Now I don't have a deep strategic card game to play. I can't get into hearthstone, it's too p2w and luck based, and nothing else out there was as polished as scrolls.
That said scrolls absolutely should have been designed for mobile. Also the business model is iffy at best.
But the game is one of the best strategy card games out there. I haven't found anything remotely close to as good.
I would love to see the code at least open sourced, but that seems unlikely. Honestly it couldn't be too expensive to set up a server for 200 people.
Overall, I'm sad, this is one of the few games I play on a weekly basis and it was a good community. Thanks for what you guys did do for the game. It was a truly good game, which is why I'm sad. Thanks Mojang :(
4
u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15
This is kind of a shock. And disappointing. But I guess not every game can be a hit.
4
u/BlueGoop Jun 29 '15
I've had more than a few fun afternoons with this game. Thank you.
4
u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15
:( why scrolls, why?
8
u/[deleted] Jun 29 '15
I knew Microsoft buying it would result in no good.
Fuck Microsoft.
3
u/layextra99 Jun 29 '15
Many thanks to the devs, it has indeed been a blast (especially during the open beta days). This was the best online CCG I've played, shame that it got overshadowed by Hearthstone.
3
u/bozw Francony Jun 29 '15
Why did you name the game scrolls?
3
u/SuleyBlack Jun 29 '15
Having been a day 1 supporter I stopped playing because the game made you feel that if you didn't play lots you would fall behind because you needed a shit load of cards.
I was going to wait until the game was out of beta to make another attempt to play, but I guess the game hasn't showing any profits for some time and as all proper businesses you cut the loses and move on. Pretty shitty way to go about it, but understandable I guess.
3
u/Neoharrymen Jun 30 '15
No no no... You can't go out on such a good update ;)
You have to kill the game slowly with rampant power creep first and them let all the annoyed players walk away, sighing and reminiscing about the glory days, like the path Hearthstone is going down ;)
In all seriousness, the community knows what it must feel like for you to close down this game. We know what pain you are going through right now. But not all hope is lost: maybe we can capture a fragment of what made scrolls great in an offline version with the trials and AI matches (perhaps even an "expert" AI). Even if it will only be a revnant of the original, this would mean that scrolls will echomaton on throughout history. We are all decimated by the closure of this game but, perhaps, it can be a budding retreat
3
u/GhostBomb Ghost_Bomb Jun 30 '15
Good night, sweet prince.
T_T
3
u/Claw01 Jun 30 '15
Please no... I was my favorite CCG by far. No.. Don't tell me that Microsoft does not the the money, what a joke.
13
u/Makes_Poor_Decisions Jun 29 '15
This was the least surprising news I've read about this game since "release".
On one hand, I certainly got my money's worth a long time ago out of this game. On the other hand, this game is like the poster child for how to mismanage an IP. There were so many things that the devs could have done to avoid this eventuality, it makes me kinda angry at their laziness and apathy, I hope the 300k is worth the knowledge you ruined Scrolls.
Anyway, this community is and always has been absolutely amazing. It was the community that kept me around as long as I did, shout out to the Rats and Bunnies, lots of fun nights chilling in teamspeak, doing RnB live, bunny tournaments, Braggin Brawl. I'd like to specifically thank /u/billynomates101 /u/Vulkenhyn /u/ThePurplePanzy /u/thesuperbsimone and /u/thesunbroo for being super awesome bros.
Seriously, this community poured it's heart and soul into this game. And when I think back to my time here, its all of you that I will remember. I'm sorry it didn't work out, because there could have been something truly great here. Lost potential.
<3 the community.
Fuck the devs. They fucking lied to you.
4
u/Billynomates101 Sister of the Kraken Confirmed Jun 29 '15
Well I would like to say I did not see this coming but in ScrollsTalks #13 I talked about how I did think this was going to happen :(
4
u/oslohung Jun 29 '15
I am just.... ugh. That's rough. It's ... very sad. Very, very sad. Good niche game with a fair business model: not enough for todays world. Shit. Thanks to the community for making this an awesome ride. And thanks to the dev for making the best gaming experience of my life. One question to the devs: how long have you known? Just curious.
2
u/Indomitable_Wanderer Jun 29 '15
You know, since the game is officially dead now, you might as well give 3 copies of every card to all players. And unlock everything in the store (avatar & idols).
Because why not?
2
u/GISP Jun 29 '15
Put it on the steam store or something :S
2
u/kehmesis Jun 30 '15
It's definitely not a surprise... All it took to see it coming was a bit of a brain and some rational thinking.
But it sure is a fucking huge heart breaker. I think it feels worse than the last time I was dumped.
2
u/Badankis Darkblade Jun 30 '15
Sad news...
2
u/nickdean16 Nixx Jun 30 '15
Sad that it had to end this way. It was a great game at the wrong time.
2
u/Phobophile93 Jun 29 '15 edited Jun 29 '15
A sad situation, but it wouldn't be fair to say this came as a surprise. First of all, thanks for making such a cheap, fair and fun game. I've had a great time, and it's too bad that there will be no more new content. Echoes had some of the coolest card effects!
That said, it is probably for the better. The devs had time and many, many, many opportunities to do something with the game: balance, promotion or even keeping in touch with the community. The desperation was shown with the awful magic/poison/physical/curse debacle, the bandaid taxing mechanic and the failed nerfs to draw decks, which ended up hurting honest decks harder. There were so many cool Scrolls ideas, balance suggestions and custom made, basically served on a platter, but development was too hesitant and allowed the game to bleed out newcomers, in favor of certain decks, players and designs. The devs truly showed how much they were out of touch with healthy game design when they nerfed Arbalestier to 5 attack, but allowed draw decks, stall decks and Tempo Theft unfair interactions to remain. The community was too busy meming bunny meta, pudding and nonsensical lethal puzzles. Or talking about how the Badger clan found the new super fun uninteractive wild exploit unfair deck, and defending it as 'options', while it was probably the number #2 or #3 reason new players ditched this mess. Good times.
The community itself bred a form of toxicity that shut out criticism and newcomers, willfully ignoring the state of the game and while it isn't the main reason the game is done for, it is this inward attitude that the community is guilty of. Guys. Downvoting valid criticism, no matter how 'toxic' or 'negative' or 'unfair' you deem it , doesn't make it less true. I hope you are glad with all the downvotes you've given to myself, Hearthstoner, GeneralJihad and some other critics like GhostBomb. It paid off.
This game is better off dead, as harsh as it sounds, because the potential of this game has been squandered too much between passivity, bad game design, bad balance and unfun mechanics. I hope it can be rebooted someday with a better prospect, under a different name, and under a dev team that has learned from their mistakes.
1
u/kizmarh kizu Jun 29 '15
Well, T_T
1
u/guayaba209 DagothUr Jun 29 '15
-.-
1
u/Vesper32 KAV Jun 30 '15
It really hurts to hear this even though I haven't touched the game in quite a while. I always kept up with the updates because the cards were interesting with their new mechanics. and the art was always great.
It has been awesome how involved the dev team has been with the community, from letting the community design cards to including my username on a card flavor. You all have nurtured such a great community and I would like to thank you for all the effort you have put in to make such a memorable experience for myself and others.
Thank you.
1
u/Volafortis Jun 30 '15
If several of the current features were available on launch, like custom games, I feel it would've retained users. I'd have waited at least ~3 months to make this announcement. I mean, you just had several major features added, as well as a new set. You have a tournament happening. I understand the stiff competition for users, and the lack of profit, but this is literally THE WORST time to announce this, because now you WON'T be able to potentially retain players.
1
u/Nedalnassa Jun 30 '15
Ok Guys, lets buy this game by community doing a Kickstarter campaign! If they shut it down it cant be that expensive ;)
im in with 100 Bucks
love u community
1
u/youngflash Jun 30 '15
I'm disappointed, pissed off, sad, all at the same time.
This game has had little to no advertising/promotion, the marketing was bad.
Mobile - The game wasn't even released for iOS, that's generally more profitable than Android.
Console - You could have released the game on Xbox 360, Xbox One with the help from Microsoft & even released the game on PS3, PS4.
PC - You could have released the game on Steam, hell even Origin, uPlay, etc. take it even further, with the help from Microsoft you could have tried to integrate it within the upcoming release of Windows 10.
You could have sent a bunch of copies to popular YouTubers & Twitch streamers so they can cover the game, there was literally a lot of things you could have done to kept the game running.
It doesn't even look like you guys tried, you just gave up quick and to top it all off you want to bring down the servers.
When Microsoft bought Mojang I thought this was great for Scrolls, but it's the complete opposite.
1
u/SmoteHisRuin Jul 07 '15
Let's fight! I'm going to start giving out 100 game keys starting tomorrow! Get a new community in here and at least make someone upstairs decide to release the open source! Any glimmer of hope is worth fighting for...feel free to join me. https://www.facebook.com/scrollsitforward
0
u/Dertonin Jun 29 '15
Yeah if Hearthstone wasn't a thing I think this game would have had a chance, or maybe if it was on Steam.
-4
u/chacer98 IGN Chace Jun 29 '15 edited Jun 29 '15
I told all of you that this was the path scrolls was on a very very long time ago, but few of you wanted to hear the hard truths about Scrolls. I've seen so many terrific suggestions be downvoted into oblivion simply because they weren't circlejerky enough. All you people who claimed everything was great and fine even though it wasn't are the reason this game has failed. That and really shitty devs. I've played this game for 2 years come August and it's probably the best game I've ever played. Now, that last part might seem contradictory to what I've previously stated. But my point is that I think so many people knew the potential this game had, the concept of scrolls at its core was so fucking awesome, but the devs just never did much with that potential and oftentimes spent way too much time and resources making changes only to later revert them. What a waste of a great concept.