Jackbox Games is the developer behind some of the best competitive party games on the market, as its famousJackbox Party Packsgive players access to popular games like Quiplash, Fibbage, and Murder Trivia Party. After many years of providing groups and parties with a fun evening of friendly competition, and after countless fan requests, the developer has finally released its one-stop shop forJackbox Party Packs, theJackbox Megapicker.
TheJackbox Megapickeris a free product exclusive to Steam that aims to make the entireJackbox Party Packexperience more simple and seamless than ever before by allowing players to view, sort, filter, and quickly launch theirJackbox Party Packmini-gamesall from one place. It is a response from Jackbox Games to persistent requests from fans who have longed for an easier way to switch betweenParty Packsand locate all the different games they want to play. Game Rant had the chance to discuss the ins and outs of theJackbox Megapickerwith Jackbox Games, joined by engineering director Brad Vah and the vice president of international and business development Andy Kniaz.The following interview transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
The Jackbox Megapicker Has a Variety of Features
Q: Can you tell us more about the various features of theJackbox Megapicker?
Vah:Currently, theJackbox Megapickerhas two primary screens — the home screen and the library screen. The home screen provides an overview of information about favorited games and any sales that we may be running, along with a view of past games, recently played, etc. In the near future, we’ll be expanding the home screen to show things like recommended games and past game galleries (your previousdrawings in Tee K.O.for example).
Q: How can a user’s currently owned Jackbox games be added to theMegapicker? Is this something they need to do manually or does theMegapickerautomatically detect and add them once it’s downloaded?
Vah:TheMegapickerwill automatically detect any Jackbox game a user owns on Steam. If they have the pack that contains the game installed, they’ll be presented with a LAUNCH option. If they don’t have it installed, they’ll be presented with an INSTALL option prior to launch.
Q: I noticed that we can purchase Jackbox games through theMegapicker. Does this simply open a “Jackbox-focused” Steam page in a separate window, or can users still use theMegapickerto filter through the results? Please tell us more about the shopping process, if you’re able to.
Vah:Adding an item to the cart inMegapickerutilizes the Steam overlay to directly add it to theirSteam shoppingcart and use the Steam checkout process. Any title that you do not own in theMegapickerwill give you the option to learn more about it or add it to your Steam cart. Once you checkout via Steam, we’ll be able to detect that and show install or play buttons.
The Jackpox Megapicker Was Developed With the Fans in Mind
Q: How extensive is customization in theMegapicker? Are users able to customize the appearance of theMegapickerthrough skins, themes, etc.? Are they able to organize their games manually or does theMegapickerdo it for them?
Vah:In its current state, users will be able to favorite and unfavorite. We have a lot of upcoming features planned for users to be able to order, rank, hide, or otherwise curate their library and make it their own.
Q: What lengths have you gone to ensure that theMegapickeris intuitive and user-friendly?
Kniaz:The functionality of theMegapickerhas been requested by Jackbox players for years, so the first thing we did was listen to our audience. Players wanted an easy way to filter, find, and run games. They didn’t want to have to load theParty Packsindividually to find the game they wanted to play. Players wanted to be able to see their entire game library at a glance and then sort through those games using a variety of filters. This is the core of theMegapicker, but it is a live product in its early days, so we’ve integrated a “Send Feedback” button so people can tell us what they’d like to see more of and what they’d like improved.
Q: Are there any plans to eventually stop selling Jackbox games individually and instead sell them solely through theMegapicker? If so, how do you plan on phasing out individual Jackbox games currently on the market to direct more attention to theMegapicker?
Kniaz:TheMegapickeris a quality-of-life improvementfor our fans and ties in directly to Steam. At this time, we don’t have any plans to stop supporting our distribution partners. If anything, we strive to be on as many platforms as we can in order to reach a wide audience of players.
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The Jackbox Party Pack
WHERE TO PLAY
For 1-100 players! Your phones or tablets are your controllers! The team behind YOU DON’T KNOW JACK presents FIVE guffaw-inducing party games in one pack!Games include:1) The comedy trivia sensation YOU DON’T NOW JACK 2015 (1-4 players) with hundreds of all-new questions.2) The hilarious bluffing game Fibbage XL (2-8 players), with 50% more questions added to the original hit game Fibbage.3) The bizarre drawing game Drawful (3-8 players) -you draw right there on your phone or tablet (very little/no real skill required).4) The racy-as-you-want-to-be fill-in-the-blank word game Word Spud (2-8 players).5) The wacky-fact-filled Lie Swatter (1-100 players).
