3d Gaming on Android

[Bryf50]

Why don't developers approach 3d gaming on Android similar to the way they do on the PC? By that I mean develop one version that allows users to set raise or lower the settings to get better performance or visuals based on how powerful their hardware is.

Because there are many different android handset with varying degrees of processing power it would work in the same way PC gaming does. If you have a powerful handset with a great gpu you can pump up the settings and get acceptable frame rates. If you have one with an older cpu and gpu you could lower them to get the fps you want.

 

[Bateluer]

Thats complicated and hard. Customers don't want that. They want simple, easy, install and play.

In all seriousness, the smartphone has different customers than a PC or consoles do. When you buy a console, you're buying it solely to play games. If you build/buy a performance PC, you've at least got the knowledge to know whats powerful and whats not. When most people shop for a smartphone, 3D gaming usually isn't the first thing on their mind. Its a developing market, no doubt, but most people do not purchase a smart phone primarily or secondarily to play games. And the games that are played on them are usually of the casual variety, something to kill time while standing in line or waiting for a movie to start, etc.

I can see such features being implemented in future games though, especially in the most 'hardcore' games. Few though they be.

 

[Aikouka]

Some games do have graphic adjustments. I tried playing Dungeon Defenders on my iPad 2, and a note from the developer said to turn the graphic setting all the way up to max to take advantage of the higher graphic capabilities. If I recall, DD is also an Android game, so maybe it has the same option?

 

[kamikazekyle]

I can't say about Dungeon Defenders, but some games have had/do have various settings. There was a Hydro Thunder-esque boat racing game back in the G1/Mytouch3G days that had variable graphics options. Several other games have detail settings as well.

It's a bit hit-or-miss, though, and really depends on the developer. For Android, I think it's a necessity for games to be viable on multiple handsets. There's just such a giant swath of Android phones nowadays and more coming in the future, it's easier for development to have custom graphical settings. Then add in people with custom ROMs and overclocked phones, and it makes even more sense.

But, like Bateluer said, most people probably wouldn't even really bother looking in the settings menu since they didn't get the phone for gaming or performance specs. They want to download something they see and have it work. Just look at comments on some apps that say "isn't working on my X10" when the first line of the app's description says "won't work on X10".

Perhaps the developers can check the phone vice a quick default settings list for popular and common handsets to ease configuration a bit. Or, a small benchmarking test that runs on first launch to preset defaults for the user's phone. That way you have settings for those that want them, but for people that won't bother or don't know how to, they'll have performance roughly tailored for their particular handset.