Hey game developers, are you excited for Android L?
My name is Shanee, and this is what's new for games.
Google I/O was just a few months ago,
and we have announced some cool things
like Android TV, which works with a game controller.
We also played with Cardboard for virtual reality,
which you can assemble on your own from cardboard.
While it would be really cool to talk about bringing games
to TV and virtual reality, I'm going to focus on these topics
here.
If you're familiar with the Google Play game services,
it is interesting to note there are a few changes coming in.
First, we took the Cloud Save feature
and have given it a facelift with Saved Games.
Saved Games offers an improved user experience,
allowing you to upload up to 3 megabytes of game
data with an additional cover image for the user to see,
acting as a bookmark and reminding them
where they left your game.
But that's not all.
We are also adding quests, which you
can use to trigger events in your game.
Quests are a fun way to make your game more
alive and dynamic without having to download a game update.
For example, how about a shiny sword for 50 zombie
heads this weekend?
Awesome.
Simply go to the Developer Console and declare a new quest
and set up a reward for your players.
Use them to engage your players and keep them active.
For more information about the new features,
check out Duncan's video on what's
new in Google Play Games.
The following features are coming up
with the Android L SDK.
You can already find them in the new [INAUDIBLE]
and the Android L preview.
We are adding support for 64-bit architecture.
64-bit hardware has twice the number of registers
and should boost our game's performance.
To compile for it, you need to specify support
for a target platform.
We added explicit support for arm, x86, and mips.
Simply add the target ABIs inside your application
make file, and you are good to go.
A really cool addition for graphic programmers
is the new OpenGL ES 3.1 API and the Android extension pack.
We are really getting to desktop level graphics here.
This can be used to enhance your game's
features and performance.
The biggest changes is in the pipeline
with the addition of three new shadow stages.
Let's take a more determined look,
starting with Tessellation.
Tessellation shadows take geometry and subdivide it,
adding additional triangles allowing
you to increase the level of detail dynamically on the GPU.
[INAUDIBLE] for this video.
Geometry Shadows, on the other hand, take a single vertex
and can output multiple new vertices, making a new mesh
or extending the existing one.
These are great for particles, glass, and even shadows.
And finally, Compute Shadows.
This video by Nvidia shows Compute Shadows
been used for creating complex animations and effects entirely
on the GPU.
You can use Compute Shadows for many things,
from complex physics, high-quantity lights, and even
AI.
The last we've changed the graphics
is the addition of ASTC texture support on the GPU.
This means you can copy the textures by data straight
to the graphics memory, reducing the memory
footprint of your application and the loading times.
Like all compressors, ASTC ports as a texture
and provides a lower-sized output
with some quality differences.
The variety in the difference of the image
shows ASTC is quite high quality, hopefully
in a good exchange between reduced size and speed compared
to image quality loss.
You can set different block footprint for compression.
The larger the block, the smaller the image file.
But more likely, the image differences will be visible.
Finally, we have improvements to the OpenSL audio API.
We have lowered the audio input latency,
offering reduced lag between recording your audio
and outputting it back to the user.
You can finally make that mobile karaoke game you always wanted.
We also added support for multi-channel mixing,
allowing you to send your audio output
to more than two channels.
If you're expecting your game to be played
with a surround system-- for example on Android TV,
maybe-- you should really take a look at that.
Finally, we added support for floating point buffers.
These provide high dynamic range, consistent accuracy,
and more head room.
For more information on floating point in audio,
take a look at Glenn's video, "Will it Float?"
Check out the new NDK 64-bit target from the Android
Developers website to play with the new features.
And don't forget, use Google Play Game Services
to drive engagement in your games.
Thank you for watching.
Now go ahead and make your games even
more fun and visually stunning with the new features
in Android L.