What happens when jackbox.tv goes down?

[Cal]

I would love to buy this game and to play it with my friends, but we have a couple of concerns maybe you guys can help with - or even the devs might reply, which would be awesome.

What happens if jackbox.tv goes down? Is there a way to play it over wi-fi and just connect to the computer that's running the game?

Also, what happens when Jackbox Games eventually shuts down jackbox.tv, like what happened with the YDKJ Netshow and YDKJ 5 - how will we play then?

EDIT: I got the official answer on Twitter here: "If our server went down, you would not be able to play."

[Mr Windblade]

This was my exact first thought. Seems strange to not have any method of playing local multiplayer locally when the game was designed with local multiplayer in mind. I like the idea of using cell phones and room codes, but nearly anything else would be more future-proof.

[Cal]

Originally posted by Mr Windblade:

I like the idea of using cell phones and room codes.

Virtually every smart device I've seen in the last half-decade has wi-fi built in. It wouldn't be difficult to run the website via a small server on the computer, and just type the computer's address into the phone. http://192.168.0.3/ isn't much harder than typing http://jackbox.tv/ after all. And that way you wouldn't have to worry about people randomly typing your room code...

[Burkus]

Haven't bought the game yet but will be at around Christmas time but was visiting the jackbox.tv website in desktop Chrome and it brought up a blank page. Can access it on mobile IE11 but it just gave me this thought and wanted to come here to express concern.

Room codes and mobiles are awesome. It is just the best thing ever. I love it...but what happens if Jackbox 2016 comes out next year and the URL only works for that game, or if the game just stops selling so they stop hosting that domain. Priority No 1 with this game should be LAN support.

[Frosty]

This is why you can just play Fibbage on fibbage.com

[Burkus]

I'm pretty sure fibbage.com can face the exact same problems that the jackbox.tv domain may face.

[Cal]

I got the official answer from the devs that I, honestly, suspected would be true: "If our server went down, you would not be able to play." (reference)

SERIOUS kudos to Jackbox for being so honest with us. Oh well, I shall look forward to more future-proofed offerings in the future :)

[Burkus]

Yeah, so really, if you intend to buy this game, think of it as a 1-2 year subscription to the game so you aren't misled/let down.

I'll still probably buy it and get value out of it but I will still be annoyed the day it stops working. I mean all my other games I have played and got value out of...but the difference with them is I've been able to continue to play them and I will be able to continue.

[KeV]

Originally posted by BurkusCat:

Yeah, so really, if you intend to buy this game, think of it as a 1-2 year subscription to the game so you aren't misled/let down.

And thats why i won't buy it. Just give us the seperate games that i can play with my friends via steam. Done.

Also no local multiplayer. Because thats IMPOSSIBLE in this day and age. I LOVE the YDKJ games since i was young, but this direction is a tragedy

[Brune]

Originally posted by Tigz the First:

I got the official answer from the devs that I, honestly, suspected would be true: "If our server went down, you would not be able to play." (reference)

SERIOUS kudos to Jackbox for being so honest with us. Oh well, I shall look forward to more future-proofed offerings in the future :)

It's the same thing as if steam went offline. You simply wouldn't be able to play your games. You could play in offline mode for maybe a week but you certainly couldn't download games.

[Jackbox Games]

If we go out of business (and we would really rather not!), we will make sure people have a way to continue to play the game without us. The tweet was more referring to us running into server issues now, which would impact the game negatively for our users.

[KestrelPi]

That's good to hear, but why not implement gamepad controls at least for YDKJ which doesn't need the private screen? If anything, it'd put an end to arguments about input lag during the jack attack!

[Mr Windblade]

It's a shame that there isn't a timestamp on player input that the game could match to the question - it would make ping completely irrelevant.

[Not A Banana]

Originally posted by Tigz of Kitties:

I got the official answer from the devs that I, honestly, suspected would be true: "If our server went down, you would not be able to play." (reference)

SERIOUS kudos to Jackbox for being so honest with us. Oh well, I shall look forward to more future-proofed offerings in the future :)

Why the hell wouldn't they just patch in support to host your own site?! Hosting a site is not resource demanding at all.

[F1aw1ess]

jackbox...a bit of lag when answering the questions....everyone had to kinda spam the button....try and fix it?

Me and others have buzzed in with 1 second left and it wouldnt take it due to latency.....for people geting screwed its brutal cause sometimes you have less than 4 seconds

[BeenThereWhiffedThat]

Proprietor spamming the button won't help. Think of each button as a website link.....When a website doesn't load do you spam refresh until it works or do you wait .5 of a second longer for it to load?