Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts News

[p]Hey everyone![/p][p][/p][p]It’s finally June - and with it comes a wave of good news from the Scriptorium. Summer is almost here (at least up here in the northern hemisphere), and we’re kicking it off with something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time...:[/p][p][/p][p]You’ll be able to playtest Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts for the first time on June 26th![/p][p]
That’s right - our first public Playtest is happening this very month, and we’re beyond excited to see what you’ll create. Whether you’re aiming for faithful medieval-style manuscripts, weird and wonderful designs of your own, or even custom posters for your next DnD session - the Scriptorium Playtest build will let you do just that. This is your chance to start your career as medieval scribe, but just remember: there’s no wrong way to create. So even if you think you’re not the best at creating stuff – give yourself a chance and you might be pleasantly surprised what’s possible in our game![/p][p][/p][p]You probably have some questions - so here’s a quick breakdown of the most important things related to Playtest:[/p]

• [p]The Playtest will run from June 26th to July 10th for PC players,[/p]
• [p]You’ll be able to play in two modes:[/p]
  • [p]Sandbox Mode - a pure creative mode with no story, just you, a blank parchment, and hundreds of decorative and drawable assets straight from real medieval manuscripts.[/p]
  • [p]Story Mode - where your in-game scribe will take on creative commissions from quirky clients. Expect light narrative, fun challenges, and a bit of medieval silliness coming from their stories.[/p]
• [p]There’s no “best” way to play. We’d love for you to try both modes, of course - but the most valuable feedback for us is the kind that reflects how you’d play naturally. Just dive in and do your thing![/p]

[p]During the Playtest, we’ll also be running Community Challenges - small creative prompts we’ll share every few days. We’ll ask you to create themed pieces and share them with us (mostly via our Discord but feel free to post them everywhere you like), and we’ll highlight some of our favorite designs across social media. We’re still thinking about how to reward the most creative among you (besides social media glory!) - who knows, maybe we will even throw in a few prizes![/p][p][/p][p]To join the fun, hop onto our Discord if you haven’t already - most of the challenges will happen there:[/p][p][/p][p]One more important thing - there will also be an in-game feedback survey in the main menu - if you could spare a few minutes after playing, it would mean a lot to us. This Playtest is a big step in development, and your feedback will help guide what we work on next. You can literally shape the future of Scriptorium, as we’re aiming to read all feedback surveys, so make sure you fill out one![/p][p][/p][p]A lot of you have been asking about this feature so yes, you’ll be able to export your creations as .png files. Feel free to post them online, share them with friends and if you make TikToks, reels, videos – it would make our day. We love seeing what you come up with![/p][p][/p][p]And one last very imporant thing: there’s no limit on how many players will get access. In other words, if you hit the green “Request Access” button on our Steam page, you’ll be invited to play. Everyone’s welcome! And if you have any other questions about upcoming playtests – drop them down below in the comments or on Discord, and you can be sure we will answer all of them![/p][p][/p][p]Alright, playtests topic is done. So… what have we been working on lately besides playtests?[/p][p][/p][p]Honestly - almost all of our energy has gone into making the Playtest build the best it can be. In a way, we’ve shifted our entire focus from the full game to this one specific build, treating it almost like a standalone demo. We’ve been polishing things, fixing bugs, improving in-game systems, and trying to make sure that your first impression of the game is all about its creativity - not technical issues (but you’re more than welcome to let us know about any remaining bugs too!). It’s still a limited slice of the game, but we want it to feel good and complete in its own right.[/p][p][/p][p]Just to be clear though - this isn’t the full game, and we still have a lot of work ahead. Once the Playtest ends and we review your feedback, we’ll take a closer look at what’s left to do. We’ll announce the full release date when we’re confident. Good things take time, and thank you in advance for understanding that![/p][p][/p][p]Some other new stuff we’ve added lately:[/p]

• [p]New parchments and visual post-processing effects to make finished works really pop[/p]
• [p]Animated avatars and more decorative items for your scriptorium[/p]
• [p]Tons of new drawable assets - so many, in fact, that we had to do a round of optimization to keep things running smooth (which we did!)[/p]

[p][/p][p]So what’s next after the Playtest?[/p][p]We’ll be starting work on one of our most-requested features: being able to type text directly into your manuscript. Right now, the only way to “write” is by dragging letters onto the parchment. While it’s fun in its own way, we know it’s not ideal. Adding proper text input is a bit tricky (surprisingly!), but we’re on it. Don’t worry - in the final version, you’ll be able to write exactly how you want.[/p][p][/p][p]To wrap it all up - here are some of our own creations made while testing the Playtest build. We hope they inspire you. Let us know in the comments what you want to make first![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Thanks again for your patience and support - it means the world to us. We can’t wait to see you in your own scriptorium with your trusty quill in hand![/p][p][/p][p]See you on June 26th! [/p][p]Your Yaza Games and Mythwright teams[/p][p] [/p][p]
[/p]

Hey everyone,

Uff... it’s been a while - a few intense weeks since our last development update full of drawing, designing, testing, and writing. But we’re back with the April update from our studio, and there’s plenty we’re excited to share with you.

This post is all about where we are with the development, what’s new, what we’re working on next - and most importantly, how to sign-up to be able to play Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts public playtest in the future!

[h3]📜 Playtests are coming soon![/h3]
Let’s start with the big one - as you know, we announced that we will be doing public playtests a few weeks ago, if you missed this you can still sign up! Just head to our Steam page and click the big green “Request Access” button. That’s it - once we’re ready, you’ll be among the first to grab a quill and design your own medieval manuscripts. You don’t need to do anything else, just wait until we’re ready - we’ll let you all know well in advance when the playtests will start.

…But when can you finally play the playtest build?
The only answer we have is - soon. We’re polishing the build so that your feedback can focus on gameplay adjustments and creativity - not bugs or technical issues. It’s important to us that your first impression of the game centers on its creative side, not technical problems. That said, while we’ve worked hard to make the experience as smooth as possible, it is still an early development build - so you might encounter the occasional hiccup. If you do, feel free to report it - every bit of feedback helps us make the game better.
Also, to clear up something a few of you have asked: yes, you’ll be able to export and share your manuscripts on social media, even in the playtest version. We can’t wait to see what you’ll create!
Okay, let’s move on to what’s changed in the game itself.

[h3]✍️ Making your scribe feel alive[/h3]
Over the past few weeks, we’ve made solid progress in bringing your scribe - i.e. the avatar you’ll embody while crafting manuscripts and designing your scriptorium - to life. Here’s the character customization screen!



It is still in mockup form, but it’s coming together. We’re aiming to make it immersive and personal. We’ve also begun animating different scribes. The first few are already moving, breathing, and ready to help bring your manuscripts to life. Each has their own look and personality, and we’re working on giving you more visual customization options so they truly feel like your scribe.



[h3]🎨 Brand new in-game UI![/h3]
We’ve also spent time properly refining the UI, which until now had mostly placeholder elements. The gif below shows off our latest iteration of the interface frames, color swatches, composition tools, and dialogue bubbles for the clients who’ll commission your work.



As you can see, we’ve deliberately separated the visual style of the UI and the manuscript canvas to reduce distraction and help you focus on the creative side of things.
Dialogue bubbles also use a distinct visual language to highlight the narrative layer of the game, separating it from the purely creative one. Let us know what you think - everything’s still a work in progress, and your feedback matters!

From a technical perspective, this new UI style helps maintain visual clarity, especially when switching between layers of gameplay. Clear contrast between UI components and the manuscript should help reduce eye fatigue and improve usability - especially during longer design sessions. It also makes it easier for us to iterate on modular UI elements, which improves our efficiency when polishing features in the future.

[h3]🌟 Gilding - we're going gold![/h3]
We’re testing something truly special that we’re proud to share with you: medieval gilding! Yes, just like in authentic, historical manuscripts, you’ll soon be able to add gold embellishments to your designs.



Historically, gilding was used to elevate the prestige of a manuscript - often reserved for religious texts, royal commissions, or important ceremonial works. Medieval scribes used real gold leaf, applied meticulously with gesso and brushes, to add shimmering highlights to initials, borders, and symbols. Gilding was often the first decorative step, applied to specially prepared parchment or vellum. Gold’s brilliance was seen as a symbol of divine light, making it especially prized in religious works. We’re aiming to replicate that feeling in-game, as authentically and faithfully as possible.

In the game, gilding will be available for specific decorative elements. We’re still figuring out how it’ll work from a gameplay perspective, but most likely it will require rare resources and come at a higher cost - though the visual impact will be worth it. Imagine an ornate initial letter glowing with golden brilliance, or an emblem illuminated by the candlelight (yes, the gold will shimmer and look different depending on the camera angle!). We hope it adds a satisfying layer of depth to your creations. Please keep in mind that this feature is still early in development, and most likely, we’ll ask for your feedback in one of future playtest sessions!

[h3]🧠 Commissions that tell stories[/h3]
A major design focus has been on commissions - the core quests clients give you that guide your journey and shape the scriptorium you build.
We’re working to ensure that every commission feels meaningful. Some will be purely decorative, others metaphorical or symbolic. A few may even get a bit bizarre or just outright hilarious. Our goal is to have as many of them reflect the personalities of the clients who request them.



And yes, some clients will return for follow-up projects - and in these cases, their stories will evolve along the way. Some of them may even feel familiar… including your favorites from our previous game, Inkulinati (pssst… which is currently on sale on Steam, if you haven’t tried it yet 👀). We’re also working with a few guest creators from YouTube and social media who will appear in the game as special clients with their own commissions created just for you! We’ll share more about that in a future update - you’ll meet many wonderful creators you probably already know from their medieval content on the biggest social media platforms.

And for the sake of clarity - for those of you who prefer to create without taking on client jobs, don’t worry: there will also be a sandbox mode where you can focus entirely on your own creations without interacting with anyone in-game.

[h3]🎉 Join us on Discord![/h3]

Want to hang out with the dev team, suggest manuscript references, or follow our journey more closely? Come join our Discord community! Just scan the QR code below and say hi 👋 Our entire team is there - we’d love to see you there too!

Phew… this turned out longer than expected, but we hope it was worth the read! As you can see, we’re working really hard - and with care - to make sure Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts becomes a place where creativity, storytelling, and medieval artistry come together that you’ll want to return to again and again.

Thanks for being with us on this journey. Let us know what you think - and of course, feel free to drop your questions in the comments below!

- Your Yaza Games and Mythwright teams

Hello everyone,

As we mentioned in our previous Steam News post, we had the honor of participating in this year’s Dames 4 Games Showcase - and what an incredible event it was! Missed it? No worries! You can still catch our special video featuring Asia and Anna, the talented women of Yaza Games. They’ll take you behind the scenes, sharing their creative process and showcasing how their skills and expertise are shaping our upcoming game, Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the video.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We’re also thrilled to announce that Mythwright is joining us as the publisher for Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts! Their publishing expertise and carefully curated portfolio make them the perfect partner to help bring our vision to life. They know medieval games like we know manuscripts. They are the people behind Going Medieval, as well as the upcoming chill swordmaker Bladesong (check it out - similar vibes to us) and the medieval inn simulator Innkeep. See, we told you that this is a publisher that really suits us. With Mythwright by our side, we are sure Scriptorium will be the best game it can be.


You also may have noticed you can now sign-up for our first playtest! In the future, we plan to organise time-limited playtest sessions for those who have signed up, where we will provide you with development versions of the game before the release, asking for feedback on the elements of the game that are currently in development. Currently, we are not ready to give you a specific date when the first playtests will start, but we will let you know as soon as we know what we want to test with you and when. At the moment, all you have to do is sign up (just click the green "Request Access" button on our Steam Page), you don't have to do anything else to join the playtests in the future. Once we know the dates for this, we'll share across all of our social channels and here as well, so make sure you're following us and the game is on your Steam wishlist!

Our FAQ has also been updated with new answers to both old and new questions. Do you have a question that’s on your mind? Check out the new and updated FAQ - the answer might be there. (And if it’s not, just ask us below).

As always, thank you for your support. We’ll be sharing with you our development journey and progress here on Steam as we do. Can’t wait to show you more in the not tooo distant future.


Until next time,

Your Yaza Games AND Mythwright teams

Hello everyone,

We’re excited to say that the incredible women of Yaza Games are taking center stage at this year’s Dames 4 Games Showcase!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
As part of the showcase, we’ve put together a special video highlighting the contributions of our female team members while giving you a sneak peek at our upcoming game, Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts. Join Asia (our Art Director) and Anna (our Game Designer) as they represent Yaza Games with all their might. What will they talk about? Well, that would be a spoiler. Better tune in to the showcase and see for yourself.

Here are the deets:
🎉 Dames 4 Games Showcase
📆 Wednesday, March 5th
⏰ 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET

Mark your calendars - you won’t want to miss this.

And last but not least, make sure to add Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts to your Steam Wishlist so you won’t miss out on any news. And speaking of news, we can share a cool bit of news that happened to us recently.


Speak to you soon,

Your Yaza Games Team

Hello everyone,

Well wouldn’t you know? We are now in the year AD 2025. How crazy is that!? We hope you had a wonderful break and a great start to the year. We’ve certainly rested up, celebrated a bit as well, and now we’re back into the full swing of work-life balance. Today, we wanted to show you more of the development process behind Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts. We've had lots of questions from the community about where we are at with development and when the game will be released. We are working away behind the scenes, as there is still lots of work to be done. The game will not only be a manuscript editor, but a proper medieval scribe experience full of interesting clients, bizarre orders, and challenges centered around your creativity with manuscript creations.

We’ll keep this update short and sweet, but to give you an idea of what’s in progress:

We’re adding more elements to play and decorate with.
Creating a wider variety of tasks and orders that you will get from visiting clients and patrons, and introducing even more unique patrons themselves.
We’re also working on the less glamorous (but equally important!) aspects of the game, like improving gameplay mechanics, adding a save feature, fixing pesky bugs, and enhancing the overall experience and performance.
And finally, to all of you who want a pure manuscript creating sandbox mode, without having to interact with any in-game character - we’re working on that too!

With that said, let’s dive into what we’ve been working on since the last developer blogpost.


[h3]New Elements: The Knights[/h3]

If you caught our last dev blog, you’ll know how we’ve added a slew of elements built around the jobs from the medieval days (last time we included The Bakery and The Farm - check the blog post out!). Today, we’re thrilled to introduce a brand-new profession - The Knights!


Inspired by original medieval manuscripts, these set of elements bring a chivalric flair to your creations. It features majestic horses, different types of detailed knightly armour, a variety of weapons, environmental elements, and even fashionable headpieces for all you medieval trendsetters. And yes, we’ve included the iconic “egg horse” (L'estoire de Merlin, France ca. 1316 (BL, Add 10292, fol. 213r)) requested by many of you medieval enthusiasts - because some classics never go out of style! So all the pieces that you see in that image, you will be able to use, reuse, and re-imagine in any way you like. You’ll be able to treat each element as a layer that you use however you see fit. A knight riding a horse? Easy. Knight riding another knight - also easy (and maybe a bit weird). Knight riding a giant snail?! But of course! You’ll also be able to use each element with any other element you like, move them around on the page, make them smaller, larger, play with the pose, etc etc. All the tools you need to create your very own medieval marginalia masterpieces.


[h3]Enhancements for Your Scriptorium[/h3]

This month, we’ve also been focusing on improving the main hub of the game: your medieval workshop, aka, your scriptorium. As a scribe, your workshop isn’t just a place to create stunning marginalia - it’s also your place for self-expression. Just like the manuscripts that you create, you will also be able to decorate your workshop in a multitude of ways.

Wait, what are those animals doing here?! How did they sneak in!?!

By fulfilling patron orders and earning gold, you’ll be able to customise your scriptorium with different furniture, decorations, and architectural elements. Think walls, floors, sealings, lamps, windows, and more! While we’re keeping some surprises under wraps, above is a little sneak peek at what’s possible.

We hope you liked that little glimpse into what we’ve been up to. Don’t forget to add Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts to your Steam Wishlist so you never miss any news or updates. We’ve got some exciting announcements on the horizon, so make sure you don’t miss out!

We know that most of you haven’t had the chance to play Scriptorium yet, but we’d still love to hear your thoughts based on what you’ve seen so far. If you have suggestions, ideas, or feedback, let us know in the comments below or reach out to us on social media. We’re building this game together, so your input is worth its weight in gold.

And lastly, you can follow us on social media: Facebook, X/Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Discord, and Bluesky. Join us on your favourite platform (or all of them!) to stay up-to-date and share your thoughts

Thanks for your continued support. Love all the comments and words of encouragement we get from you all.


Speak to you soon,

Your Yaza Games Team


https://store.steampowered.com/app/3119540/Scriptorium_Master_of_Manuscripts/