You can sign up to get a daily email of our articles, see the Mailing List page.
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Jackbox Games emailed in to notify us of something big: they've worked with game porter and FNA developer Ethan "flibitijibibo" Lee to port their engine to Vulkan and SDL2 and you can try it in a Beta for The Jackbox Party Pack 7.

This huge upgrade should make The Jackbox Party Pack 7 (and so hopefully future games too), compatible with Wayland. Jackbox Games mentioned there's now a "linux-beta" branch on Steam for owners to try out:

The new launcher should detect if the Vulkan drivers are installed and run that version otherwise it should fallback on using OpenGL. We currently require 2GB video memory to use the Vulkan renderer, but this is subject to change as we figure out how much we can get away with based on the engine’s memory management. If the PC falls below this it should gracefully fall back to OpenGL.

YouTube Thumbnail
YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view. View cookie preferences.
Accept Cookies & Show   Direct Link

They mentioned that it works well in their testing, but they want more configurations and users to jump in to help and see how it runs now. You can comment your findings on this article or file issues on their support tracker which would be ideal for them.

How to test:

  1. Right click on the game on Steam
  2. Go to Properties
  3. Betas on the left panel
  4. Select "linux-beta" from the dropdown and update

Find The Jackbox Party Pack 7 on Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
13 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
5 comments

const Apr 21, 2021
Big fan of the packs and it's nice to see that they continue to care.
Actually, it's like I owe those guys for keeping me sane in these times, so I'll just buy it now :)
Ehvis Apr 21, 2021
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
I don't really see these games needing the performance that Vulkan could bring. Makes me wonder if their intent might be to go Stadia as well.
const Apr 21, 2021
Quoting: EhvisI don't really see these games needing the performance that Vulkan could bring. Makes me wonder if their intent might be to go Stadia as well.
Well, Vulkan might not be needed, but why not. SDL2 is where I start to care.
Purple Library Guy Apr 21, 2021
Quoting: EhvisI don't really see these games needing the performance that Vulkan could bring. Makes me wonder if their intent might be to go Stadia as well.
I assume it's also about going forward; this is the proof of concept, but it's the engine that got the upgrade. Presumably from now on their games will have Linux almost for free, using up to date tech that won't be getting sidelined any time soon.
const Apr 22, 2021
Quoting: GuestThis is nice, but what their games really need is translations.
Quiplash has an interlashional edition. Me and my friends tried it but just went back to normal Quiplash2 as we found the translation took away on the flair and fun. If someone doesn't understand a question, she/he asks for help. For those games that prompt to write text, we just write german words whenever we are missing the english translation and that doesn't disturb us at all.


Last edited by const on 22 April 2021 at 9:24 am UTC
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.