BGaming is a developer of online casino games that are often found at crypto casinos but find their way throughout the gaming ecosystem more as time goes on. All modern instant play casino games are now delivered in the HTL5 format to be played directly in a web browser.
The software development team at BGaming has created an algorithm to compress images in their gambling games that reduce each game’s file size or weight. The most obvious and observable result is that games can now be downloaded and ready to play in about half the time as they did before.
Compressing an image in a graphics file minimizes its size in terms of bytes to the smallest size possible without introducing degradation or letting the overall quality or impact of the image fall below a certain threshold of acceptability. Compressing greatly reduces the file size which in some instances would reduce the amount of space needed for storage but in the case of HTML5 slots, it reduces the time required to download and launch the game.
The overall weight of the BGaming portfolio has been reduced by 55% with all games near that mean by a few points. Consumers/players who will benefit the most from this are those with slower internet connections, those who pay for data as a commodity, and those who may have VPN limitations. Unlike nearly all other online casinos, many operators that carry BGaming titles fully allow visitors to use virtual proxy networks as an added layer of security for Bitcoin gambling.
2x Faster Downloads, No loss in Image Quality
Observers state that there is no noticeable loss in the graphics quality of the processed images. This could be due to the fact that the algorithm is capable of determining the acceptable level of loss for each individual image and processes the compression function based on that data. This flexibility allows the program to heavily compress large areas that might be flat in color or portray some simple texture pattern while leaving highly detailed images as sharp and clear as is needed for quality. Reportedly, the script compresses the images automatically and needs no manual adjustments from image to image, or batch to batch.
Some of the legacy providers with huge game catalogs struggled to get their content converted or recreated in time for the end of support for the former delivery format that was rendered in the now defunct Flash player plugin. Many of the older titles were ham-handedly converted to HTML5 delivery with major artifacts and bloat in the file size that could include entire strings and sections of code no longer needed for the games to function properly. However, a great number of BGaming titles have been created since the conversion and are already lean and light in structural file size so the only thing left to do was make the images weigh less.
The most cumbersome file in its catalog was 38 MB. The script was able to reduce that to less than half its original size. The average game weight in the BGaming portfolio was 16.4 MB, which has now been reduced to 7.3 MB, resulting in over 70% of the company’s games coming in under the 10 MB wire. According to the announcement, “… the quality of graphics for the final user hasn’t changed or compression can’t be seen with the naked eye.”
Fast Loading Games Make Players Happy
BGaming’s Front-end Lead Yury Kuvetski said: “At first glance, the automation of image compression is easy, but none of the ready-made solutions can provide optimizations without losing quality. We’ve chosen the most complicated way and developed our own algorithm to satisfy all our needs and customers’ needs. We have speeded up the loading time of all our games and will continue our work in this direction to provide players with the best possible experience.”
Implementing the innovation should have multiple knock-on effects and benefits for players and operators. Players want their games to download as quickly as possible. And especially for bonus features to begin working as soon as possible after triggering a feature. They also want the games to be stable and not interrupted by slow load times. When the players are happy the operator can be happy and offer greater engagement in gaming to the players.
Alexander, Game Provider Manager at N1 Partners, commented: “As many operators, we also see Africa and Latin America as promising regions, thanks to their economic dynamism and enthusiasm for online gaming. However, opportunities come with a lot of challenges. For example, to join the Nigerian iGaming market, an operator needs to provide the players with lightweight content, which can be quickly loaded and run. BGaming’s portfolio is now optimized to overcome these challenges and deliver high-quality entertainment regardless of the player’s location.”
Source: BGaming to improve games’ loading time with a cutting edge compression algorithm, European Gaming, July 27, 2022