If your organization is interested in iOS game development, you will want to know more about the Metal 3 update. Game developers that want to build stunning games for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, use this software in the game development process.
If you are interested in building iOS games that will delight audiences on the Apple App Store, Metal 3 can help your iPhone game deliver next-generation graphics and gameplay. Thanks to Metal 3, mobile games no longer have to possess simple game mechanics.
This post will explain what Metal is and the latest mobile game development enhancements in the Metal 3 update. If you want to develop an iOS game, you should strongly consider Metal.
What Is Metal Mobile Game Development?
Metal powers demanding hardware-accelerated graphics on Apple platforms. Metal provides iOS game development teams with a rich shading language, a robust suite of debugging and GPU profiling tools, and tight integration between graphics and compute.
Metal can be used to develop more than mobile games. The tool can be used for multiple platforms in the Apple ecosystem. In addition, there are even compilers for Windows, so game developers can bring their creations to the mac audience.
The main thing that is needed for this is a fast device for development. Special applications for optimizing computer performance can help with this. They can not only speed up its performance and optimize memory, but also help with the detection and removal of malware and problems such as when the sound is not working.
What’s New in Metal 3?
Metal 3 introduces robust features that enable mobile games to fully utilize the resources provided by Apple silicon. As a result, Metal 3 perfectly demonstrates what’s possible when software and hardware are built together.
If you are already familiar with Metal, you’re likely wondering what is new with Metal 3. From a mobile development and game design perspective, here are the latest features of Metal 3 that mobile game creators should get excited about:
- Fast resource load times
- MetalFX upscaling
- Plug-ins for Unity
- API for background download
- Metal performance HUD
- Additional controller frameworks
Fast Resource Load Times
Fast loading times are critical to the User Interface and experience of a game. Metal 3 eliminates the need for a game developer to build a loading infrastructure for asset data. The result is a game that loads fast and runs seamlessly.
MetalFX Upscaling
Metal 3 enables development teams to render complex graphical scenes with fewer frames and deliver performance levels similar to the best game engines. In addition, a game developer can choose a combination of temporal and spatial algorithms to aid performance and get the graphic delivery right.
Plug-Ins for Unity
Unity is a cross-platform game engine often used to build games for iOS. Metal 3 now enables development teams to connect their Unity games to Game Center, core haptics, controller frameworks, and other native iOS features using plug-ins. These extra features can help development teams deliver a dream game for the Apple Arcade and App Store.
API for Background Download
Background downloads improve the User Experience. Not only do background downloads enable simpler management of large app resources, but they allow users to multi-task and play while downloads occur. Metal 3 provides a powerful API to enable background downloads.
Metal Performance HUD
Metal 3 provides a powerful HUD for teams to view real-time performance stats. However, to fully deliver a great User Experience, development teams must be able to monitor gameplay performance to find and address bugs and other issues.
Additional Controller Frameworks
Metal 3 enables development teams to support a host of the most popular game controllers and racing wheels and pedals previously not supported on iOS. By supporting more controllers, more people will be able to play games on their Apple devices the way they were meant to be played.
Other tools like Unreal Engine already supported the vast array of available controllers. This upgrade is a major win for Apple and iOS users.
Final Thoughts
There are other app stores besides Apple’s App Store. However, when it comes to mobile gaming, the Apple App Store generates more sales revenue than any other store in the world. Apple has made a push to capture more of the gaming market with Apple Arcade and the latest Metal update.
If you want to learn more about iOS game development, reach out to an experienced development partner.
