I’m at a stage where I would like to show off my game by creating gifs of gameplay and sharing them in forums and twitter. But the animations/transitions of stuff moving on the screen is so choppy on the simulator that I would be ashamed to show it to anyone. Surely there’s a way to get around this though.
Anybody have any pointers?
Below is a forum thread that talks a bit about best practices when recording PR gameplay:
Personally, I find that on-device recording is the best bet when you’re looking for smooth gameplay video. Android devices running OSes above 5 (I find) have a much more intuitive method for recording the screen. If I must use iOS, I find X-Mirage is pretty seamless:
http://www.x-mirage.com/x-mirage/
YMMV, HTH
Thanks Alex. What app do you use to record on device on Android? It looks like reflector for android only lets you receive screencasts from another device.
Also, as a side note for Corona engineers, it seems like a lot of hassle just to be able to share smooth gameplay with people. If the Corona simulator had better performance I could just use Quicktime to record my screen without resorting to elaborate workarounds…
I just use the screen record function on Android. 90% of my devices are rooted and flashed with custom ROMs (makes it easier to get logcat logs and other misc dev stuff) so it’s possible that this recording function I’m using isn’t exposed in normal Android builds. If you can flash a custom ROM on an Android device, I’d suggest it, as it makes lot of things from a developer standpoint exponentially easier.
As a sidenote: I know I’m biased, but I have a dev machine that I built for ~$300 running Win7 and everything within the sim is smooth. I just don’t record my computer screen because I already have a process for recording on device, and I haven’t had time to research other methods. If you’re seeing choppy performance from all code, including the Corona-supplied sample projects, the issue might not be the sim.
Ah, I didn’t know Android had built in screen recording, but it looks like you need to use ADB: http://www.androidauthority.com/android-customization-screen-recording-adb-599331/.
There are a bunch of apps that allow it, which can be found here: http://www.androidauthority.com/best-screen-recording-apps-600838/
As for performance - It’s great if Corona seems to run fine for you, but there are a bunch of posts complaining about choppy performance both on the simulator and on device. Most of the threads can be found here: https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/45524-choppy-frame-rate-and-choppy-object-movement/. But that’s a topic for a different discussion.
I used to use this option, but I found the time limit to be a bit of a deal-breaker. My custom ROMs don’t have a time limit, but if you don’t have the ability to get one installed, the link below discusses some workarounds for the ADB option:
Regarding the low performance of the sim, getting to the bottom of that issue might also be useful. Like you said, not a topic for this particular thread, but I’m sure the community and Corona engineers might have some additional suggestions if you created another thread.
Do the custom ROMs allow native sound recording or is it limited to the phone’s mic?
It does just record the mic, but I personally don’t find this to be that big of a deal. However, I know it’s possible to record internal audio instead/as well, so a little digging might find that feature.
If you’re looking to simply record a few short GIF’s for sharing take a look at Gif Grabber (http://www.gifgrabber.com/). I use it to record snippets of gameplay from the simulator and it works well for me.
Below is a forum thread that talks a bit about best practices when recording PR gameplay:
Personally, I find that on-device recording is the best bet when you’re looking for smooth gameplay video. Android devices running OSes above 5 (I find) have a much more intuitive method for recording the screen. If I must use iOS, I find X-Mirage is pretty seamless:
http://www.x-mirage.com/x-mirage/
YMMV, HTH
Thanks Alex. What app do you use to record on device on Android? It looks like reflector for android only lets you receive screencasts from another device.
Also, as a side note for Corona engineers, it seems like a lot of hassle just to be able to share smooth gameplay with people. If the Corona simulator had better performance I could just use Quicktime to record my screen without resorting to elaborate workarounds…
I just use the screen record function on Android. 90% of my devices are rooted and flashed with custom ROMs (makes it easier to get logcat logs and other misc dev stuff) so it’s possible that this recording function I’m using isn’t exposed in normal Android builds. If you can flash a custom ROM on an Android device, I’d suggest it, as it makes lot of things from a developer standpoint exponentially easier.
As a sidenote: I know I’m biased, but I have a dev machine that I built for ~$300 running Win7 and everything within the sim is smooth. I just don’t record my computer screen because I already have a process for recording on device, and I haven’t had time to research other methods. If you’re seeing choppy performance from all code, including the Corona-supplied sample projects, the issue might not be the sim.
Ah, I didn’t know Android had built in screen recording, but it looks like you need to use ADB: http://www.androidauthority.com/android-customization-screen-recording-adb-599331/.
There are a bunch of apps that allow it, which can be found here: http://www.androidauthority.com/best-screen-recording-apps-600838/
As for performance - It’s great if Corona seems to run fine for you, but there are a bunch of posts complaining about choppy performance both on the simulator and on device. Most of the threads can be found here: https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/45524-choppy-frame-rate-and-choppy-object-movement/. But that’s a topic for a different discussion.
I used to use this option, but I found the time limit to be a bit of a deal-breaker. My custom ROMs don’t have a time limit, but if you don’t have the ability to get one installed, the link below discusses some workarounds for the ADB option:
Regarding the low performance of the sim, getting to the bottom of that issue might also be useful. Like you said, not a topic for this particular thread, but I’m sure the community and Corona engineers might have some additional suggestions if you created another thread.
Do the custom ROMs allow native sound recording or is it limited to the phone’s mic?
It does just record the mic, but I personally don’t find this to be that big of a deal. However, I know it’s possible to record internal audio instead/as well, so a little digging might find that feature.
If you’re looking to simply record a few short GIF’s for sharing take a look at Gif Grabber (http://www.gifgrabber.com/). I use it to record snippets of gameplay from the simulator and it works well for me.