Linux is slowly becoming a gaming platform and users want something to record their gameplay. There are a few solutions for the Linux platform, but one seems to be better than most of them. It's called SimpleScreenRecorder and it's completely free.

The Windows platform has a very good tool to record gameplay videos and it's called Fraps. Linux users have been asking for something like that particular tool for some time now and a few of the apps already available usually have various limitations.

One brave developer wanted features that he couldn't get and he made his own app. Because this is Linux, if it's worth doing it, then it's worth overdoing it.

Recording the desktop might seem like a trivial thing, and you would be right. Recording a 3D application on that desktop is a different beast entirely and that is why people don't see this kind of apps all over the place. There are all sorts of problems to be solved, like the interaction with the windows manager and the display manager. It can be done, but it doesn't always work perfectly.

SimpleScreenRecorder might look complicated, but it's not

Just until a few years ago it was even difficult to capture a screenshot of an app, with the window borders. Things got progressively easier and now you can find apps for screenshots with ease. The same will happen with screen capture, even if it seems a little big complicated right now.

"SimpleScreenRecorder is a Linux program that I've created to record programs and games. There were already a few programs that could do this, but I wasn't 100% happy with any of them, so I created my own. My original goal was to create a program that was just really simple to use, but as I was writing it I started adding more and more features, and the result is actually a pretty powerful program. It's 'simple' in the sense that it's easier to use than FFMpeg/avconv or VLC, because it has a straightforward user interface," reads the official website.

The developer also explained that the app uses a Qt interface, it's faster than the counterparts, shows the framerate, a preview function has been implemented, and the settings don't really need to be changed from default (although you can).

You can download the source package for this release, or you can check the official website for alternatives for various distros, including Ubuntu, Gentoo, Arch Linux, OpenSuSE, and Fedora.