The Samsung Developer Conference 2018 has just wrapped up in San Francisco, and Samsung has put forth all plans for its ecosystem of products for the coming year. We got to witness Samsung's foldable smartphone with the Infinity Flex display, as well as Samsung's new One UI with improved one-handed use and system-wide dark theme. Other notable announcements included an API for Bixby allowing for third party service support, new Infinity Displays with notches and now, new and updated APIs for Galaxy GameDev.
The Galaxy GameDev program was originally announced at Samsung Developer Conference 2016, wherein Samsung sought to provide access to a variety of technical and marketing support options to assist developers in creating quality games for Galaxy devices, and by extension, for Android devices.
At SDC 2018, Samsung has announced an enhanced iteration of the Vulkan API, which offers a 10% performance improvement as compared to the OpenGL ES. Samsung has also announced new features for GPUWatch, a tool that aids developers monitor and measure performance between Vulkan and OpenGL ES. GPUWatch now offers overlaid measurement results and real-time information on-screen, similar to a few existing gaming benchmark apps. What differentiates GPUWatch from others is that Samsung's solution does not require any separate installation or a PC connection to initiate the tool, making it easier to use and much more accessible on Galaxy devices.
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Samsung is also working in partnership with Unity to release Adaptive Performance in 2019 to provide heat control API and other optimization tools for developers. Galaxy GameDev will expand to include even more cutting-edge tools such as GameSDK with Android P. However, it isn't immediately clear if Samsung's reference to GameSDK in this context is the AOSP GameSDK (which is in early stages of development) or if it is an entirely separate solution from Samsung.
Samsung's focus on gaming, in conjunction with its Galaxy GameDev program, has had a substantial influence in shaping up the mobile gaming landscape on Android. The launch of Fortnite for Android on the Galaxy Note 9 is one example of this influence. With continued focus towards the mobile gaming experience, we can surely expect more such results in the future.