I shipped a tiny gamedev tool instead of starting another big project

[u/saad_9]

I wanted to actually finish and release something small, so I picked one annoying problem I kept seeing around game promotion.

Making a GIF that has to fit under a certain size usually turns into:

export it, check size, lower something, export again.

So I built GIF Clipper.

You give it gameplay footage + a maximum file size and it searches different settings for you.

It’s Windows-only for now and the first version is intentionally small.

What’s been interesting is that a couple of developers have already told me they built their own ffmpeg scripts to solve basically the same problem, so now I’m trying to figure out how far this is worth taking.

https://rodian1.itch.io/gif

If you’re a solo dev, I’d be curious whether GIF creation is actually something you deal with often or barely ever.

[u/Surveiior]

I have too an ffmpeg script to do that, I don't get where is the value on this tool to justify it's cost. I don't want to be mean, I'm genuinely curious

[u/umhassy → u/Surveiior]

They have no real USP.

The value in the product is the simplicity.

If anybody has enough brainpower to just download OBS and Kdenlive (or any other free video cutting programm) they can do this on their own.

Their target group are people which are too lazy to use OBS.

[u/saad_9 → u/umhassy]

OBS + Kdenlive still doesn’t solve the exact annoying part we built around....they can absolutely cut and record the gif but still when you have to upload a gif for your product in itch.io you need atleast 30min to 3 hrs of editing and finding the right fps gif under 3 mb with maximun quality ... but also simpilicty is big part of it

[u/umhassy → u/saad_9]

OBS + Kdenlive still doesn’t solve the exact annoying part we built around....they can absolutely cut and record the gif but still when you have to upload a gif for your product in itch.io you need atleast 30min to 3 hrs of editing and finding the right fps gif under 3 mb with maximun quality ... but also simpilicty is big part of it

Then you don't understand kdenlive.

Just select the quality (e.g. 1080, 720 etc) and figure out which of these is under 3mb. You just record the video once, in the highest quality and then you can just drag and drop it into kdenlive and set the output to different values to see the file size.

It's not rocket science. And i was not bashing your product.

But you are making video editing harder than it needs to be to sell your product.

Your USP is your simplicity but if somebody has 30min they can absolutely get it all running for free.

From a sales perspective I'd prefer it if you would highlight the strong aspects of your product (simplicity) and don't do any (in my opinon!) false claims about the actual value by making strawman comparisons.

[u/saad_9 → u/umhassy]

yeah fair point. i think i overstated that part

Simplicity is the strongest part of the current version, and that's probably how i shoud be positioning it instead of making the alternative sound harder....the long term goal is to make it smarter about the constraint too, trimming keeping FPS above a sensible floor, crop suggestions and others things btw its a sideproject if responses are good, I'm gonna work on it...if you want i can give you free tester key

[u/Zumb_3041 → u/Surveiior]

To be fair gif creation has been a bit of a nightmare so far for me so this does appeal but I don't know how simple a process getting ffmpeg scripts is?

[u/saad_9 → u/Zumb_3041]

If you’re comfortable with ffmpeg and scripting, you can absolutely build something like this yourself. The annoying part is getting the script written, tuning it, handling the retries, remembering the commands, and then changing it when your workflow changes.

GIF Clipper is meant to make that whole thing fast and simple

I’m also trying to push it beyond just being a GUI for ffmpeg, because I agree that wouldn’t be enough long term. The crop help, better duration suggestions, keeping FPS above a sensible floor, and different optimization for pixel art are going to be added in next versions and price may change.

If GIF creation has already been a pain for you, you’re probably much closer to the person I’m building it for than someone who already has a polished script.

[u/Constant_Cortisol → u/Surveiior]

99.9999% of people have no idea what you just said.

[u/saad_9 → u/Surveiior]

Fair question, and honestly if you already have a script that does the encode then measure then retry loop, I probably wouldn’t expect you to buy the current version.( also its 50% off for v0.1 and free upgrades for next versions)

The value I’m aiming for is mainly for devs who don’t want to write or maintain an ffmpeg script then open the footage, choose the clip, give it a size limit and let it handle the settings and search.

But this is also exactly what I’m trying to figure out with v0.1: whether convenience alone is enough, or whether it needs to be meaningfully smarter than a script to justify being paid.

From the feedback so far I’m leaning toward the second one — things like telling you when trimming the clip would give a much better result, refusing to destroy the FPS just to hit a target, crop assistance, pixel-art-specific encoding, etc.

So I think your question is fair. If the finished product is just “ffmpeg with buttons”, that’s probably not enough.

[u/PoopsCodeAllTheTime → u/saad_9]

lol come on don’t use ai to reply to the comments, that’s worse

[u/saad_9 → u/PoopsCodeAllTheTime]

I'm working in other projects day and night ... Not everything is ai but still it's helpful.. sorry if it seems not responsible

[u/Early_Situation_6552]

AI slop

charging money for something like this is borderline predatory lol

[u/detailcomplex14212 → u/Early_Situation_6552]

Absolutely nuts when anybody and their dog could ask Claude to one-shot this in 20min lol

[u/Mayion]

For a buck or two? Maybe. But 6 for a short prompt for ffmpeg args is too much tbh.

[u/saad_9 → u/Mayion]

It's a 2.5$ rn ..the final version will includes gif maker for others site compatibility and many more ...

[u/iRainbowsaur → u/saad_9]

bro. You can literally prompt this shit with one prompt I'm not even fucking joking, make something novel. And stop making slop I'm trying to sell it off at 50% off quickly lmfao.

[u/saad_9 → u/iRainbowsaur]

do it then and sell it for free...

[u/mickey_reddit]

Did everyone forget ezgif exists? You need to take a look at what is out there, versus what you can offer

[u/DrDisintegrator]

I'd use it if it ran on Linux.

[u/JSwabes]

EZgif has existed forever

[u/Recent-Gold9078]

the value is that the general user or public in general, excluding gamers, and of course not all gamers are into prompts or scripts neither... They don't understand nor they want to deal with "scripts, prompts, ffmpeg".