Despite the fact that the segment of gaming smartphones has been on the market for a long time, Google itself has never particularly contributed to the transformation of Android into a gaming platform. It is clear that the performance overclocking functions based on the Turbo Boost principle require the direct participation of hardware manufacturers, but, as they say, there would be a desire. After all, even a software upgrade allows you to do a lot of interesting things. Apparently, Google finally understood this, and therefore began to actively develop the gaming direction, either offering developers an effective optimization tool, or a new principle of downloading games to smartphones.
Google changed how games are loaded to Android
The new principle of loading games on Android, which we are talking about, provides for the division of the image into several components. Thanks to this separation, users will be able to launch the game even before it is fully installed. That is, it will be enough to initiate the download, wait for the key data to download and, in fact, start the game, while the remaining components are quietly downloaded in the background. As a result, the user does not even have to restart the game again, since all changes contained in additional files will be applied automatically.
Downloading games to Android
Games will now load in three steps. This will allow them to run before they download.
How games are loaded to Android. New principle:
- First, the installation APK file will be downloaded, which will allow you to run the game;
- Then the first and second additional components will be loaded in parallel with the textures of the game world, music and levels;
- The third add-on will be loaded last, containing cards, videos, easter eggs and other supporting elements.
In addition to split downloads, Google also presented a changed principle for updating games. Now, to download the update, you do not have to contact Google Play, since users will receive an offer to install a new assembly when they enter the game itself. From there, it will be possible to initiate the download, which will not interrupt the gameplay, and then start playing with the applied changes, which will be installed in the background. Well, isn't it beauty?
What do Android, PCs and consoles have in common
Nobody likes to wait. Smartphone users all the more
This loading technique is by no means new. Many studios that release games for desktop platforms and consoles have been using it for a long time to give users the opportunity not to be idle while the download is complete, but to join the game almost immediately after the download starts. After all, most top games today weigh 10, and 20, and even 30 GB each, which means that just downloading, not to mention unpacking and other processes, can take quite a long time.
At Android, fortunately, games weigh many times less, but a superficial approach to mobile gaming plays a big role here. Due to the fact that smartphone users, as a rule, are not used to waiting for a long time, many of them either deliberately refuse heavy games or download them, but do not have time to wait for the download to finish in order to start playing immediately, and postpone the first launch for later. For developers, this is not very good, since in this case users spend less time in the game or, even worse, do not get to it at all due to being busy. As a result, there is no gamer or in-app purchases.
However, you need to remember that you will not be able to activate the download of any game from Google Play and run it on your smartphone right now. In order for the new technique to spread everywhere, it is necessary for developers to accept Google's condition and specifically re-lay out their games. It is clear that they have no other choice, but since this requires not only making changes, but also pre-release testing and debugging, most likely the changes promised by Google will start appearing in games only closer to summer.