Forge offers a simple way to capture and share gameplay video

Forge, a new, free app designed to simplify the process of capturing and sharing gameplay videos, went into open beta today. And even though it's still technically in a pre-release state, I've played with it a bit, and it really works quite well.

The best thing about Forge is that it's easy. It runs in the background, and automatically kicks into gear when a game starts. A popup reminding you of its existence will appear at startup, and after a few seconds it goes away and you get on with your business. Gameplay clips of five to 30 seconds be cut and saved with a simple slider bar, either while you're playing or after you've quit, and then shared through the Forge website, Facebook, Twitter, and/or blogs and websites as embedded HTML.

https://t.co/CpErQ39oTa pic.twitter.com/x66dTzuPvkFebruary 24, 2016

It's clearly not intended to compete with full-blown video creation and editing tools, but as a way to show off highlight moments—like my smooth Race the Sun moves—I honestly can't imagine a simpler system that doesn't involve controlling your PC via telepathy. Both Nvidia and Microsoft offer similar services in the form of the GeForce Experience beta's Share and Xbox app's DVR (neither of these alternatives support telepathy, either).

The only downside to Forge's automation is that games must be on the Forge master list in order to work with it, something I ran up against the first time I tried to show off my mad Race the Sun skills. But a quick note to the development team had it (and Dungelot) added and working within a couple of hours.

"Forge is currently compatible with more than 2,000 games, with more added daily,” the studio said. “We want to ensure a high quality experience across all of our supported games. If a user runs into a game that is not supported they can contact the team at help@forge.gg."

Forge is available now at forge.gg, where you may also peruse a pile of gameplay clips—including at least one of mine in which I don't vaporize myself against a wall ten seconds out of the gate.

Update: The list of supported games is now up on the Forge support site.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.