Use Texture Compression Wisely

On Android, texture compression isn’t optional — it’s essential. Use ETC2 for universal support across modern devices. For mid-to-high-end devices, use ASTC (especially for 3D games). Avoid uncompressed textures like RGBA32 unless absolutely necessary.

Also, resize and crop textures. That 2048×2048 background image doesn’t need to load fully if only a portion is visible.

Minimize Draw Calls

In both Unity and Unreal, too many draw calls slow rendering, especially on mid-tier GPUs.

To reduce draw calls:

• Batch static objects
• Use texture atlases
• Enable GPU instancing in Unity
• Use Hierarchical Instanced Static Meshes in Unreal

Stick to efficient shaders and avoid overdraw-heavy UI layers (like stacking semi-transparent images).

Optimize Asset Loading

Android devices with limited RAM will kill your app if it loads too much at once.

Split your scenes and levels using:

• Addressables in Unity
• Level Streaming in Unreal

Use async loading with progress indicators and show lightweight placeholder UIs during transitions.

Reduce APK Size

Larger APKs = fewer installs and more Play Store rejection issues. Keep your release build clean:

• Remove unused assets
• Strip debug symbols
• Enable Proguard/R8 for code shrinking
• Split builds by architecture (ARMv7, ARM64)

Bonus: Compress audio to Ogg Vorbis and textures using ASTC to further save MBs.

Profile Early, Profile Always

Don’t wait for QA. Use:

• Unity Profiler + Android Logcat
• Unreal Insights + Systrace
• Android GPU Inspector (AGI)

Focus on:

• Frame time
• Garbage collection
• CPU/GPU load balance
• Memory spikes

Create test cases for low-end devices like Samsung A12 or Redmi 9A — they’ll expose bottlenecks fast.

Avoid Garbage Collection (Unity)

Frequent GC spikes freeze the game for milliseconds — deadly for UX.

How to avoid:

• Cache components (no GetComponent() in Update)
• Reuse lists, don’t allocate in loops
• Use object pools for bullets, enemies, VFX
• Avoid string concatenation — use StringBuilder

Handle Resolution Dynamically

Support multiple screen sizes and aspect ratios. Use Canvas Scaler and anchoring (Unity) or Constraint Layouts and DPI detection (native Android).

Allow the game to dynamically reduce resolution or texture LODs on weak devices. Unity has Adaptive Performance; Unreal allows resolution scaling via r.ScreenPercentage.