Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Android 13 may help games load faster and offer better performance.
- Game developers may gain more control over shaders.
Android gamers may be in for a pleasant surprise with Android 13, according to newly discovered code in the Android 13 Developer Preview.
According to Mishaal Rahman, the latest preview includes a new method in the GameManager API. The new method, setGameState, will allow a game to pass the platform its state and whether it is currently loading something. That, in turn, could help speed up game loading by prioritizing its CPU usage and offering better overall performance.
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Using the new method, games can tell the system whether they should be interrupted or not. This feature could directly impact loading times by allowing developers to tell the system to boost CPU performance and not let anything interfere when loading resources, assets, and more. Since loading resources is often what slows down a game the most, this upgrade could significantly improve the overall experience, making for more seamless transitions from one scene or sequence to another.
In addition to setting the game state, Android 13 is also poised to bring programmable shaders to games, which would give developers more options than the current RuntimeShaders. This will allow developers to create more advanced graphics and give them fine-tuned control over how their games look.
Provided these features make it into the production version, Android 13 may offer some nice boosts to gaming performance and give developers the ability to make their games look even better.
