With Android 12, Google introduced several new features for mobile gamers and developers to take the Android gaming experience to the next level. Featured smartphones, such as the Pixel 6 series, have a new Game Dashboard tool that provides access to useful tools such as a shortcut to screenshots, a screen recorder, a DND switch function and more while you play. Meanwhile, the new Game Mode API allows developers to optimize their games for the best performance or better battery life based on the performance profile chosen by the user. Android 13 continues its efforts to improve mobile gaming with some new additions.
As reported by Espers Mishaal Rahman, Android 13 adds a new method called setGameState to GameManager API that allows games to communicate their current state to the system. This allows games to pass the top level of the game and indicate whether it can be interrupted or not. In addition, Games can also use setGameState to tell the platform if the game loads assets / resources / compilation / etc. The platform can then send a hint about load time to the power HAL to enable the new GAME_LOADING mode and increase CPU performance. However, it will be up to OEMs to specify the CPU performance adjustment they want to enforce when the GAME_LOADING mode is active.
In theory, this should mean you have to stare less at the initial game loading screen. Many Android OEMs are already implementing various optimizations – such as allocating more CPU and GPU resources – to improve game loading.
iQOO’s Multi Turbo engine prioritizes CPU / GPU and other resources to speed up game loading.
Esper reports that Google is considering adding a test to the Vendor Test Suite (VTS) to impose GAME_LOADING mode on all devices launched with Android 13 and later. However, it is unclear at this time whether this claim has been finalized. It is also possible that devices upgrading to Android 13 may not include the new power HAL version and GAME_LOADING mode.
Source: Esper