Game Developer Robert Barkow Says the Future of Fast-Loading Games Is Here

1 Apr 2022

BROOKLYN, N.Y., April 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — With the anticipated release of the DirectStorage API for Windows, award-winning game developer Robert Barkow believes the future of fast-loading games is here.

The technology is already being used in current next-gen consoles and is part of the Xbox Series X Velocity Architecture, which enables developers to re-imagine how to build their games.

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According to Barkow, the new technology can cut loading times to around two seconds or less. The bad news is that only Windows 11 will see its full potential. Also, there's one big condition too: those speeds are only possible if you have an NVMe M.2 SSD capable of read-write speeds of 5GB/s and up.
According to Barkow, the new technology can cut loading times to around two seconds or less. The bad news is that only Windows 11 will see its full potential. Also, there’s one big condition too: those speeds are only possible if you have an NVMe M.2 SSD capable of read-write speeds of 5GB/s and up.
Robert Barkow is an award-winning game developer and freelance application designer. His talents aren't just focused on one aspect of game development, but on programming, graphic design, audio design, etc.
Robert Barkow is an award-winning game developer and freelance application designer. His talents aren’t just focused on one aspect of game development, but on programming, graphic design, audio design, etc.

"It drastically speeds up loading and decompression of game assets, improves resumption of paused games, and eliminates various I/O bottlenecks within systems. Since game developers have to integrate the API into future games, it’ll be a while before we can experience it," said Barkow.

However, Ruinic is a game currently in development by Barkow that is implementing DirectStorage and is set for release shortly. At a live conference this week through Game Dev League with other game developers, Barkow shared some of its possible benefits.

According to Barkow, the technology can cut loading times to around two seconds or less.

"The bad news is that only Windows 11 will see its full potential. Also, there’s one big condition too: those speeds mentioned are only possible if you have an NVMe M.2 SSD capable of read-write speeds of 5GB/s and up," said Barkow.

That performance is solely in PCI4.0 NVMe M.2 SSDs at this time. As the benchmark shows, the actual DirectStorage File IO speed is impressive. Going from 2,862MB/s without DirectStorage on an NVMe M.2 SSD to 4,829MB/s is a huge leap of improvement.

Barkow said there is quite some time for major groundbreaking improvements, but with the speed of the gaming population adapting to new technologies; should help accelerate the development of future forthcoming improvements.

"It’s still the very early days for DirectStorage we have to remember, but this technology is going to change the future of the game industry by bringing a new era of fast loading and decompression of game assets," said Barkow.

Robert Barkow is an award-winning game developer and freelance application designer. His talents aren’t just focused on one aspect of game development, but on programming, graphic design, audio design, etc. You can find out more about him on his website.

For further information or to schedule an interview contact:
Robert Barkow
Game developer
robertbarkow.com 
Steam
Brooklyn, New York
Phone: (347) 881-3079
Email:
333203@email4pr.com

SOURCE Robert Barkow