Previous research on real-time deterministic sea wave prediction has generally focused on evaluating the accuracy and efficiency of short-term wave fields within a specific prediction zone. However, for a real-time wave prediction system, it is necessary to provide a continuous description of the ocean wave surface based on short-term prediction segments. In this regard, we have developed algorithms for continuous wave prediction in directional wave fields based on the “practical” prediction zone. The practical prediction zone refers to the time interval available for generating a continuous wave forecast by excluding the reconstructed waves from the prediction zone proposed by Kim et al. (2023). We also introduce and discuss several important time factors, such as the update interval of the spatio-temporal wave dataset, the total computation time, and the length of the practical prediction zone. By gaining a deeper understanding of numerical modeling setups, we have established strategies to reduce computational costs, which are directly related to the accuracy of continuous wave prediction. In particular, the development of these strategies suggests guidance in specifying direction and frequency bandwidths for continuous wave prediction.