Building games that work on a 2GB phone

When we began Engero Games, the first decision was not the art style or the genre. It was the device: a 2 GB Android phone with a modest GPU, often shared, often on a metered connection.

Constraint first, polish second

Starting from the device forces honest decisions. A game that runs at a stable frame rate on the hardware our players own will feel better than a prettier one that stutters. Frame stability is the foundation everything else sits on.

• Budget the memory before the art, not after.
• Prefer vector and procedural assets to large textures.
• Test on the cheapest device in the room, not the newest.

Respect the player's time and data

Small downloads, quick sessions and no surprise update sizes. A player who loses a round because the phone needed to fetch an asset will not come back.

What looks like a limitation is really a brief. Constraints give the game a shape, and shape is what makes it memorable.