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PC Perspective spoke to Dan Baker from Oxide Games about Ashes of the Singularity and the developer seemed pretty happy with Vulkan and what it could mean for Linux.

Skip to 21:40 for the Vulkan section, and Linux/SteamOS is mentioned during it
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For the quick scoop:
The developer mentions how similar DirectX 12 and Vulkan are, and that they have already done some code. Dan says they are so similar he couldn't imagine someone not doing Vulkan if they are doing DirectX 12.

Dan also states how committed Valve are to Vulkan, he couldn't share too much as he has insider knowledge.

They will look to go back to Vulkan once Ashes is out the door which is soon. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Video, Vulkan
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21 comments
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Kimyrielle Mar 12, 2016
Quoting: Mal
Quoting: KimyrielleNot sure why game devs would want to support two rendering paths when one of the already is supporting every single platform they could possibly want to support in the long run

Cough...

UWP...

cough cough...

Tbh, I cannot really see major developers basically submitting whatever business leverage they have to Microsoft and be forever at their mercy, even if that's exactly what MS has in mind. EA wants to keep Origin and Ubisoft wants to keep UPlay because that gives them direct no-middleman access to the market. I don't have a crystal ball, but I cannot see UWP monopolizing gaming anytime soon.
neowiz73 Mar 12, 2016
you guys should check out Star Swarm Stress Test when you get the chance, it was the early version of Ashes of Singularity and it shows how the Nitrous engine was developed originally with the Mantle API in mind. so you know it's already setup for Vulkan more-so than any other engine at this moment. I would wager it will be one the first and most likely one of the best games to showcase much of Vulkan's capabilities. As soon as nvidia and amd get off their butts and get the drivers fully ready.


Last edited by neowiz73 on 12 March 2016 at 4:15 am UTC
Mal Mar 12, 2016
  • Supporter
Quoting: Kimyrielle
Quoting: Mal
Quoting: KimyrielleNot sure why game devs would want to support two rendering paths when one of the already is supporting every single platform they could possibly want to support in the long run

Cough...

UWP...

cough cough...

Tbh, I cannot really see major developers basically submitting whatever business leverage they have to Microsoft and be forever at their mercy, even if that's exactly what MS has in mind. EA wants to keep Origin and Ubisoft wants to keep UPlay because that gives them direct no-middleman access to the market. I don't have a crystal ball, but I cannot see UWP monopolizing gaming anytime soon.

Yeah I think too that pc gaming will do a lot to remain free.

But uwp and direct 12 are already the future of xbox and you can't ignore it as a developer. The fact that they automatically make your game run on win 10 pc is just very very convenient: xbox + pc with a single tech? You can bet it will have success.
Also many publishers (square Enix, sega, etc) don't run a market so they don't care much about being forced to sell via M$. That's why we all look at specific players like riot, blizzard or ea.

Vulkan is the tech if you develop for pc (civilization, total war, etc). But for games that target consoles too directx 12 has a lot of convenience.

That being said: imagine a world where Sony go crazy and open ps to Vulkan. The arguments above would be completely defeated. Many big heads at M$ would immediately arakiri XD
neowiz73 Mar 13, 2016
Quoting: MalThat being said: imagine a world where Sony go crazy and open ps to Vulkan. The arguments above would be completely defeated. Many big heads at M$ would immediately arakiri XD

Sony is on the board of promoters for Vulkan and have already stated they will be updating the PS4 for Vulkan. Also the Nintendo NX that is coming out soon is going to have Vulkan support as well. Oh and don't forget Android will be updated for Vulkan support in their next major update, which should be the Android N release this fall.


Last edited by neowiz73 on 13 March 2016 at 11:05 am UTC
Boldos Mar 13, 2016
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Played the beta.
Unfortunately, the game is nothing "special". I would even go as far as stating that it was a mild disappointment.
It has good graphics, yes. It has an amazing soundtrack, yes.

But from the RTS perspective? You have two factions. For both, you have howertanks. Then, for both, you have bigger howertanks. After that, you have - for both - really big howertanks. Fail to see anything extra or worth it? Well, me too...

Of course, it is beta (there are 0 differences between beta1 and bet2 in gameplay). The singleplayer campaign is not there yet, but I doubt that will be a major game-changer.

All in all, interesting RTS (basically only worth looking at because of [promised] Vulkan+Linux combo ), but nothing really worth the time..... I would say it is actually quite a dull gameplay...

(Dawn of War (both I and II) made way bigger difference in RTS, even Planetary Annihilation is really more interesting and fun than AOTS - and you do not need 2 PCs in parallel to achieve decent FPS results for any of those :))


Last edited by Boldos on 13 March 2016 at 3:59 pm UTC
Quoting: neowiz73
Quoting: MalThat being said: imagine a world where Sony go crazy and open ps to Vulkan. The arguments above would be completely defeated. Many big heads at M$ would immediately arakiri XD

Sony is on the board of promoters for Vulkan and have already stated they will be updating the PS4 for Vulkan. Also the Nintendo NX that is coming out soon is going to have Vulkan support as well. Oh and don't forget Android will be updated for Vulkan support in their next major update, which should be the Android N release this fall.

Can you link to source for Playstation 4 supporting Vulkan? I've only been able to find articles where a game developer is saying the Playstation 4 "should" support Vulkan because it'd be a smart move.
lucinos Mar 13, 2016
It seems to me that the "Ashes of the Singularity" will be a perfect case Vulkan vs DX12. If Vulkan proves to be viable competitor in less than a year even though DX12 had a head start, we will have a strong case.
neowiz73 Mar 13, 2016
Quoting: Madeanaccounttocomment
Quoting: neowiz73
Quoting: MalThat being said: imagine a world where Sony go crazy and open ps to Vulkan. The arguments above would be completely defeated. Many big heads at M$ would immediately arakiri XD

Sony is on the board of promoters for Vulkan and have already stated they will be updating the PS4 for Vulkan. Also the Nintendo NX that is coming out soon is going to have Vulkan support as well. Oh and don't forget Android will be updated for Vulkan support in their next major update, which should be the Android N release this fall.

Can you link to source for Playstation 4 supporting Vulkan? I've only been able to find articles where a game developer is saying the Playstation 4 "should" support Vulkan because it'd be a smart move.

it was mentioned in the various gdc and other conference videos I've seen. but you can check the Khronos group website for the information about Sony and Google being on the Board of Promoters. I'd have to go and google it up again myself, but the information is out there.
Khronos Vulkan webpage: https://www.khronos.org/members/
this shows the benefits of being a Promoter: https://www.khronos.org/members/benefits/

This is one video i've seen recently concerning android vulkan api: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcS6ioC0Gb0


Last edited by neowiz73 on 14 March 2016 at 12:50 am UTC
Mal Mar 15, 2016
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Yes: Sony is a promoter of Vulkan.

Yes: Sony never hinted in any way that it will adopt Vulkan for the ps.
Mal Mar 16, 2016
  • Supporter
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: MalYes: Sony is a promoter of Vulkan.
Are they though? They are promoters of the Khronos Group… I searched the web and Sony’s web sites and couldn’t find any mention of Vulkan.

Right. Dunno how much changes the things in practice though.

Sony is very big. Much bigger than just PS4. Their interest int he technology doesn't necessarily translate in something console related.


The way I see it: in the long run to jump on Vulkan is the win move. In the short run though they'll lose some performance edge on the xbone: their semi native graphic api is on a lower level than Vulkan/DirectX12. Which means it's almost surely faster than the two (and in fact ps4 strongly outperforms xbone on every single title). What they really loses is compatibility of present titles with an eventual PS5.

If they really want to walk this way they need good timing for the switch.
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