Android games will take up much less space thanks to Google Play’s new texture compression

Google has introduced in the Play Store a texture compression system for games with which it promises reduce the size of downloads as well as improve the consumption and performance of these types of apps: scalable and adaptive texture compression or ATSC (Adaptive Scalable Texture Compression). Developers can now implement it in their games uploaded to Google Play.

Android applications are made up of a huge number of modules, libraries, sounds, icons and also textures, all so that they not only offer good performance, the content must also be displayed correctly. And this is of greater importance in games, especially when it comes to textures, the appearance of 3D objects and characters that are represented on the screen. So, the more complex the game, the larger the volume that the textures occupy and, by extension, the more weight the download will have. And Google has found a way to reduce that space.

Up to 30% less space in Asphalt 9

ATSC compression technology reduces the space required for each game by dint of compress the textures and give the developer a way to separate the different formats in order to adapt the graphic quality to the different devices. ATSC was developed by Jørn Nystad in 2012. And Google just introduced it to the Android app store.

As Google has communicated in its Android developer blog, ATSC texture compression technology is now available in the store for developers to use in games. These titles can be uploaded to the Google Play Store by separating the different texture packs, already compressed, by device type. In this way, the space occupied by the game is significantly reduced while taking advantage of another function: since the textures are separated by the capacity of the mobile or tablet, the Google Play Store will provide the texture pack that best suits the device. Thus it is not necessary to download all the available ones since only the strictly necessary ones will be saved.

ATSC allows to reduce a considerable space in the download of the games, also in the storage of these apps on the device. Also, save mobile data if downloading outside of WiFi. And the performance of the games is improved, their loading speed, the graphics and, not inconsiderable, it also saves battery (always according to Google). In Gameloft’s words, with ATSC compression technology they have saved 30% of the space occupied by Asphalt 9.

Developers looking to implement ATSC can now incorporate it into their games: compression technology is implemented in Dynamic Asset Delivery. This will affect users, especially those who download titles with a high graphic load and don’t have too much space on your Android.

More information | Google

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Android games will take up much less space thanks to Google Play’s new texture compression

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Xataka Android

by
Ivan Linares

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