How to make Godot devlog videos automatically
Godot Guide

How to make Godot devlog videos automatically

By Ziva.sh • November 4, 2026 • 6 min read

The automatic way is Ziva's Devlog, part of the Ziva plugin for Godot. It records your game runs and the editor while you build. After every 3 game runs it automatically makes short vertical videos: 10-15 seconds, 1080x1920, with short captions, ready for TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. Ziva Devlog is on the Ziva Pro ($50/month) and Ultra plans, works on Windows, macOS and Linux, and saves MP4 files that you post yourself. If you want a narrated multi-minute devlog, trailer footage rendered at a fixed frame rate, or clips with your game's sound, another tool fits better; the table shows which.

Ziva.sh publishes this page and makes Ziva. Facts about other tools come from their own pages, checked 4 November 2026.

An example devlog that Ziva recorded automatically while a simple Godot test project was built with it. As you build your own game with Ziva, you get devlogs like this of your own changes. The point is the use case; the gameplay is a quick test and isn't meant to impress. Also on YouTube.

Godot devlog and gameplay clip tools compared

ToolWhat it makesHow footage is capturedAutomatic?Vertical 9:16AudioPrice
Ziva DevlogUp to 3 captioned 10-15 s clips per batch: gameplay, before and after editor shots, timelapseRecords editor-launched runs from inside the game, plus editor stillsYes, after every 3 runs, or Make videos nowYes, 1080x1920 MP4NoZiva: Pro ($50/month) or Ultra ($200/month)
Godot Movie Maker modeA video file of a run (OGV, AVI or PNG sequence)Offline render at a fixed frame rate while the project runsNo, you enable it and set an output fileIf you render at 1080x1920Yes, saved to the fileFree, built into Godot
OBS Studio with Replay BufferScreen or window recordings; the Replay Buffer saves recent play on a hotkeyCaptures your screen or the game windowNo, you record or press the save hotkeyIf you set a 1080x1920 canvasYes, desktop and mic audioOBS Studio: Free and open source
GIF Recorder addonA GIF of the last seconds of play (20 s buffer by default)Rolling buffer of viewport frames, 20 fps and 640 px wide by defaultNo, press F11 to trim and exportFollows your game's aspect ratioNo (GIF)GIF Recorder: Free download, MIT license
Opus ClipShort clips with captions from a longer videoA link or file you uploadYes, after you uploadYes, AI ReframeYes, from your videoOpus Clip: Free plan with watermark; Starter $15/month, Pro $29/month
EklipseHighlight clips from Twitch, Kick and YouTube streamsScans your streams; detection uses gameplay events, audio spikes and chatYes, from your streamsYes, with captionsYes, from your streamEklipse: Premium $24.99/month, Premium Pro $39.99/month
Flockbay Video studioNarrated 2-6 minute 1080p devlogs, plus up to three vertical shortsIts AI plays your Godot game in a copy of the project and films itYou ask for a video; the AI plays, films and editsShorts onlyNarration voices and music bedFlockbay Video studio: One free video, then a paid feature

Movie Maker is for footage you set up, OBS records whatever is on screen, and AI clippers cut recordings you already have. Ziva Devlog covers the gap between them: it records the game while you develop it and makes the clips without you starting a recording or opening an editor.

Is there a Godot plugin that records your game while you build?

Yes. While Devlog is on, Ziva adds a recorder to every game the Godot editor launches, whether you press F5 or Ziva runs a scene or a playtest for you. The game records itself from the inside, so there is no OS screen-recording permission to grant. Nothing is written to your project.godot, and exported builds never include the recorder.

What it captures:

  • The game's own viewport only, not your desktop or other windows, at up to 1280 px wide.
  • 30 fps, or 15 fps on the Compatibility renderer.
  • Stills of the editor, at most one a second and only when something visibly changed. These become before and after shots and a timelapse of the build.

The two Godot-native options work differently. The GIF Recorder addon by Punch Up Games keeps a rolling buffer, 20 seconds by default, and you press F11 to trim and export a GIF. It works in the editor and in exported builds, but you choose each moment and the result is a GIF. Godot's Movie Maker mode renders offline at a fixed frame rate. The Godot docs warn that it "is not designed for capturing real-time footage during gameplay" and point to OBS Studio for that. Neither makes edited, captioned clips.

How to turn on Devlog in Ziva

  1. In the chat header, open ⋮ and choose Devlog videos, then click Start recording.
  2. Keep building. Ziva makes new videos after every 3 game runs, or click Make videos now.
  3. Open a video to edit its captions, then click Save video.

Typing /devlog in the chat opens the same panel. Making a batch takes a few minutes. The Devlog docs have the current steps.

What you get

Each batch is up to 3 videos made from the footage recorded since your last batch. A batch can mix:

  • Gameplay highlights. Ziva scores each run by on-screen motion and keeps the most active stretches.
  • Before and after shots of the editor for the changes you asked Ziva for, labelled BEFORE and AFTER.
  • A timelapse of the editor while you built.

Ziva's AI picks the shots, frames each one for a vertical screen on a blurred backdrop (the whole frame, a square, a crop that follows the action, or a zoom) and writes a short caption per shot, without hashtags or emoji. You can edit any caption and update the video; that re-render runs on your computer. Save video copies the MP4 to Videos/Ziva Devlog (Movies/Ziva Devlog on macOS) and opens the folder.

Every frame is real footage of your game or editor. Devlog does not generate images or video.

Raw recordings stay on your computer and are deleted after 14 days. When videos are made, a few frames and what you asked Ziva for go to Ziva's AI editor. The panel estimates this at about $0.05 of your usage per batch.

How to record Godot gameplay for TikTok or YouTube Shorts

TikTok and YouTube Shorts use 9:16 video, typically 1080x1920. Without Ziva there are two common manual routes.

Movie Maker. Click the movie reel button in the top-right corner of the editor, set Editor > Movie Writer > Movie File to an .ogv or .avi path, and run the project. The output size follows the window, or the viewport if your project uses the viewport stretch mode. The window is clamped to your screen, so for a 1920-pixel-tall video on a 1080p monitor, the docs' route is the viewport stretch mode with Display > Window > Size > Viewport Width and Viewport Height set to 1080 and 1920. They suggest the movie feature tag to apply that only while recording. Godot's built-in writers produce OGV, AVI or PNG, so convert to MP4 with HandBrake or FFmpeg for most platforms. A new aspect ratio also changes what your camera shows, so check the game still reads in portrait.

OBS Studio. Capture the game window, set Base (Canvas) Resolution to 1080x1920 and position the game in the canvas. For moments you did not plan, enable the Replay Buffer in the Output settings and set its save hotkey under Hotkeys. You still trim, reframe and caption the clip in an editor afterwards.

Devlog replaces the recording, picking, cropping and captioning for short clips. It does not change your project settings: your game keeps its own resolution and the 9:16 framing happens in the edit.

How to automate Godot gameplay recording from the command line

If you want a script or CI job to render footage without you at the keyboard, Movie Maker has command-line flags:

godot --path /path/to/your_project --write-movie output.avi --fixed-fps 30 --quit-after 900

--quit-after is the number of frames to render, so 900 frames at 30 fps is 30 seconds. A relative output path is relative to the project folder, not your terminal. Something still has to play the game: a scripted camera path, an AnimationPlayer with Movie Quit On Finish enabled, or recorded input. Stop with get_tree().quit() or the window's close button; the Godot docs warn that Ctrl+C leaves an AVI without duration information. This renders footage; cutting and captioning are still up to you.

Devlog is the other kind of automatic: no script, no scene to stage. It records the play you already do while building and makes the clips from that.

What Devlog does not do

  • No sound: no game audio, music or voiceover. Captions only.
  • Clips are 10-15 seconds. It does not make a narrated multi-minute devlog.
  • It does not post anywhere. You upload the files yourself.
  • Godot only. Unity, Unreal and Isaac Sim are not supported.
  • Pro and Ultra only. It needs a signed-in Ziva account even if you chat with your own Claude, Codex, OpenRouter or local model, because Devlog always uses Ziva's AI editor.
  • Only runs launched from the Godot editor are recorded. Exported builds are not.
  • Resizing the game window stops that run's recording.
  • You can edit captions, but not trim, reorder or reframe shots, or rename videos.
  • Very short runs give no gameplay clip. If there is not enough footage for a 10-second video, play for longer and Ziva retries.

When another tool is better

  • A narrated devlog of several minutes: record and voice it yourself, or use a narrated-devlog tool such as Flockbay's Video studio. Devlog clips work as short posts between episodes.
  • Trailer-quality footage at a fixed frame rate, or above your screen resolution: Movie Maker.
  • Clips with game sound, or footage of anything beyond the Godot game viewport: OBS Studio.
  • Clips from streams you have already done: Eklipse or Opus Clip.

Frequently asked questions

How can I make devlog videos of my Godot game automatically?
Use Ziva's Devlog. In the Ziva plugin for Godot, open the ⋮ menu in the chat header, choose Devlog videos and click Start recording. Ziva records your game runs and the editor while you build and, after every 3 game runs, makes up to 3 vertical videos of 10-15 seconds with short captions. Ziva Devlog is on the Ziva Pro and Ultra plans. The videos have no sound and you post them yourself.
What's the easiest way to record gameplay clips of my Godot game for TikTok or YouTube Shorts?
With Ziva Pro or Ultra, turn on Devlog: it records the runs you launch from the Godot editor and saves 1080x1920 MP4 clips with captions, without changing your project's resolution. Without Ziva, use OBS Studio with a 1080x1920 canvas and its Replay Buffer, or Godot's Movie Maker mode with the viewport set to 1080x1920, then convert the OGV or AVI file to MP4.
Is Godot's Movie Maker mode good for making devlog or trailer clips, or is there something better?
It is good for planned footage such as trailers: it renders offline at a fixed frame rate with perfect frame pacing and can include audio. The Godot docs say it is not designed for capturing real-time footage during gameplay and point to OBS Studio for that. It writes OGV, AVI or PNG files, not MP4, and it does not cut or caption anything. For automatic short clips while you build, Ziva's Devlog (Pro and Ultra) records your runs and makes captioned 10-15 second vertical videos.
Is there a Godot plugin that records my game while I build and turns it into short clips I can post?
Yes. Once you turn it on, Ziva's Devlog records every game run you launch from the Godot editor, plus stills of the editor, from inside the game with no screen-recording permission. After every 3 runs it makes 10-15 second 1080x1920 clips that mix gameplay highlights, before and after shots and a build timelapse, with captions you can edit. It is on Pro and Ultra. Addons such as GIF Recorder save a GIF when you press a hotkey but do not edit clips.
How do I make a devlog video for my indie game without spending hours editing?
Let a tool capture short clips while you build, then decide what needs a longer video. For Godot games, Ziva's Devlog makes captioned 10-15 second vertical videos automatically after every 3 game runs, which you can post as they are or use as footage. A narrated multi-minute devlog still needs a script and narration that you record yourself.
Is there an AI that turns my game's gameplay into short vertical videos with captions automatically?
For a Godot game you are developing, Ziva's Devlog does: it records your runs as you build, finds the most active moments by on-screen motion, frames them for 9:16 and writes short captions, using only real footage of your game and editor. AI clippers such as Eklipse and Opus Clip do this for streams and videos you upload; Eklipse detects highlights from gameplay events, audio spikes and chat.
How do indie game developers make TikToks and Shorts of their game to get Steam wishlists?
Most post short vertical clips of real gameplay often, with captions that make sense without sound, and link the Steam page from their profile. For a Godot game, Ziva's Devlog (Pro and Ultra) makes a batch of up to 3 captioned 10-15 second 1080x1920 clips after every 3 game runs, so you have new posts from each session; you upload them and add the Steam link yourself.
Does Ziva Devlog add music or voiceover, or post the videos for me?
No. Devlog videos have no audio track, only captions burned into the picture, and Ziva does not upload or post them. You save each video as an MP4 to Videos/Ziva Devlog (Movies/Ziva Devlog on macOS) and post it yourself on TikTok, YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels.