Oleg PridiukUnity - the cure to Android fragmentation

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Is there a fragmentation actually?

Why do you care?

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Oh that Unity guy…

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Spooky stories about Android

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Spooky stories about Android

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Spooky stories about Android

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Spooky stories about Android• Hardware fragmentation

• CPU• GPU• Screen resolution• DPI

• Software fragmentation• Operating system• Customized firmwares• Cellular operator’s love

• Marketplace restrictions• Regional• App size

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Nah, I’d rather do the iOS stuff

Kamon! You can do it!

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Yes I care about all the zoo!

I am doing freemium games, so I care about the long tail

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Hardware fragmentation• CPU fragmentation

• Clock frequency 600MHz – ~2000MHz• Most devices 1000MHz – 1,2GHz• NEON (SIMD) instructions?• Dual core? / Quad core?

• Unity takes care of it• Detects and utilizes NEON to speed up

computations• Uses multi-threading to scale to dual/quad

core

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Hardware fragmentation• GPU fragmentation

• GPU usually the bottleneck, because of screen resolution

• Also more diverse than CPUs

• Completely different architectures• Tile Based Deferred (TBDR) - PowerVR SGX• Tile Based Rendering - ARM Mali, Qualcomm Adreno• Immediate Mode (IMR) – NVIDIA Tegra, [Adreno 3xx]

• Unity cannot solve these GPU differences entirely• Some special handling exists for the worst cases• We try to hint about potential problems / best practices

where we can

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Hardware fragmentation• Resolution/screen size fragmentation

• 800x480, 854x480, 960x540, 1024x600, 1024x768, 1280x600, 1280x800, 1920x1200

• Flip the above

• Performance is different• Often same hardware has to hold 800x480 and

1280x800• Phones / Tablets / TV-Out

• DPI nightmare• 1280x800 on 10” is very different on 4”

• Solution• Make the game UI (somewhat) resolution independent• Can have impact on game mechanics (input)

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Software fragmentation

Android OS fragmentation• Android 2.1-2.2 (API 7 and 8) – 17.7%

• Worse than Gingerbread, but still doable

• Android 2.3 (Gingerbread, API 9) – 57.5%• Most devices (includes last year tops) use it• Most ‘feature complete’ for gaming

• Android 3.x – 4.x – 24.2%• Most tablets + newer devices

• “Proper” OS still covers ~82% of the market• Earlier than API 9 is hard to support• Earlier than API 7 is next to impossible to support

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Software fragmentation• Unity takes care of OS fragmentation

• Unity prepares the manifest file for you• Unity abstracts some API for you (think input, camera)• Unity switches to NativeActivity at runtime, if possible

• How can you help yourself• Choose the right minimum supported API level• Develop with this minimum API level in mind

• E.g. Unity cannot make Gingerbread OS recognize a joystick

• But generally not a problem for developers using Unity• We solve the problems with different OS version and provide

fallbacks where appropriate

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Software fragmentation• Cellular operators make your life interesting

• App size is limited• By market restrictions, cellops, cache size, etc.• Sometimes very small• And when your game needs to be preinstalled – the space is even smaller

• Customized operator firmware• Software updates are slow/rare• Unique bugs• Modified drivers

• Custom operator policies• Free your imagination• App stores you never heard of

• How can Unity fix it for you• We build device zoos, farms, regression testing rigs• We talk to cellops, OEMs• We fix/workaround what we can on our side

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What have we learned today

Unity users care about the Android fragmentation much-much less and are generally happier. True

story!

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Slide sponsored by our marketings

• Bad Piggies• CSR Racing• The Room• Gears• Emaki• Jelly Defence• Battleheart• Paper Moon• Escape Plan• Airport City• King's Bounty: Legions• Max & the Magic Marker• Marvel Superhero Squad

Online• Star Wars: the Quest for R2-

D2

• Windows• Windows 8 [Metro]• Mac• Web• Flash• iOS• Android• Windows Phone 8• PS3• Xbox 360• Nintendo Wii• Nintendo Wii U• Union

• Roku• Maemo• Smart TV

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Now you’re feeling like a user playing an ads-

supported game.

Imagine if it was feemium or free to play…

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That’s your minimum zoo• Define low-end:

• Adreno 205, API 8 (HTC Desire HD)• Tegra 2, API 12 (ASUS Transformer TF101)• PowerVR SGX, API 7/8 (Samsung Galaxy S)

• Define high-end• HTC One X

• Tegra 3 , also because Sence 3 is…

• Samsung Galaxy S III• JB of Samsung, newest PowerVR

• Kindle Fire HD • Full HD at small screen, custom firmware, custom marketplace

• Samsung Galaxy S II• ARM Mali and very popular, JB supported

• Anything else reported to be selling in tones

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Questions?

Now or never!

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Slide sponsored by our marketings

• Bad Piggies• CSR Racing• The Room• Gears• Emaki• Jelly Defence• Battleheart• Paper Moon• Escape Plan• Airport City• King's Bounty: Legions• Max & the Magic Marker• Marvel Superhero Squad

Online• Star Wars: the Quest for R2-

D2

• Windows• Windows 8 [Metro]• Mac• Web• Flash• iOS• Android• Windows Phone 8• PS3• Xbox 360• Nintendo Wii• Nintendo Wii U• Union

• Roku• Maemo• Smart TV