Creative Guide
Luna Replay allows you to change any visual element in a game to create unlimited variations and video experiences.
This guide highlights some of the most impactful changes you can make, in order to improve performance, but keep in mind, every game is different, and every game will have unique opportunities to be creative!
Resolution
Luna Replay allows you to quickly create videos in any resolution. This means that you can create a single capture on a device of your choice, and have various outputs in any size for ad networks and platforms, without needed to re-record or make concessions in the output.
No development steps are required to unlock this feature. See more information in our guide on video and input scaling.
Language
You can quickly change the language of your video using Luna Replay with no need for editing. Not only does this reduce the time taken to create localised videos, but the quality of the video is maintained. Instead of changing language during the editing phase, the text is changed at the time of recording, and rendered the text natively in a game.
In order to change the language of the video, there are two main options. replay-videos/playground/create-video-set#system-language
System Language - Automatic
Luna supports the use of Unity's SystemLanguage
(API reference).
This means that if your game uses this API, you can change the language using a built-in drop down menu (see more for Unity and Creative Suite controls).
If you use another internal language system, then it is likely you can map this to SystemLanguage
with relative ease.
Text overrides - Manual
If your game doesn't use any internal system to change language based on the user's device, then you can simply use Creative Suite Attributes to manually change the language of the text in your Replay videos.
Camera Angle
Replay allows you to create video captures that can be replayed with an identical sequence of events. One visual change that can have high impact on performance is camera angle.
We recommend creating several pre-arranged camera settings in Unity that can be quickly changed in Creative Suite to show the same gameplay sequence, from a different point of view.
- Example
- Code Sample
[LunaPlaygroundField("Camera Angle", 0, "Camera Settings")]
public CameraAngle camAngle;
public enum CameraAngle
{
Default,
BirdsEyeView
}
void Awake(){
//Awake code
SetCameraAngle();
}
public void SetCameraAngle()
{
if (camAngle == CameraAngle.Default)
{
// Do Nothing
}
else if (camAngle == CameraAngle.BirdsEyeView)
{
// Implement changes to camera position and rotation
// for birds eye view camera
}
}
UI
Adding in UI elements such as a top banner or challenge text can allow you to quickly change the look and feel of your video and the audience you attract.
Adding in a marketing banner is a common use case, which allows you to quickly test captions.
- Example
- Code Sample
[LunaPlaygroundField("Top Banner", 0, "UI")]
public GameObject topBanner;
[LunaPlaygroundField("Banner Text", 1, "UI")]
public String bannerText;
void Awake(){
//Awake code
if(topBanner){
topBanner.SetActive(true);
topBanner.GetComponent<Text>().text = bannerText;
}
}
Colours
Changing the colours of elements in your game can enable you to create a visually new experience, without needing to re-record a capture. The ability to test colour with an identical video also allows you to measure performance and evaluate the market feedback, further influencing your launch process.
Below is a simple example of changing colours in a game.
- Example
- Code Sample
[LunaPlaygroundField("Main Colour", 0, "Character")]
public Color mainColor;
void Awake(){
//Awake code
mainCharacter.GetComponent<Renderer>().material.SetColor("_Color", mainColor);
}
Themes
Similar to colours, themes can have a large impact on your video experience and performance.
With themes, we recommend that you group together similar Colours/Objects/Visual FX to quickly change between them.
- Example
- Code Sample
[LunaPlaygroundField("Themes", 0, "General")]
public GameTheme theme;
public enum GameTheme
{
Default,
Blue
}
void Awake(){
//Awake code
SetTheme();
}
public void SetTheme()
{
if (theme == GameTheme.Default)
{
// Do Nothing
}
else if (theme == GameTheme.Blue)
{
// Implement changes to colours and objects
// for a blue theme
}
}
Characters and Objects
Most games are written in such a way that characters and objects can be easily changed out without needing to rewrite any game logic.
If these objects don't impact the timeline of events in your game i.e. an animation doesn't impact the speed of a character, then they can be changed in a replay with great visual impact.
Example: Wheels
Example: Props
Example: Trails
Visual FX
With Replay, it's extremely easy to add Visual FX such as lighting, particle systems and UI elements to your videos. You will need to set these up in Unity and expose a control using Creative Suite attributes to enable and disable them.
- Example
- Code Sample
[LunaPlaygroundField("End Game Particles", 0, "VFX")]
public GameObject particlesActive;
void Awake(){
//Awake code
if(particlesActive){
particles.SetActive(true);
}
}
Combining Videos
As each replay video created from a capture shares a common timeline and series of events, combining several videos into one sequence is very simple, and can create new experiences for your videos!
In the example below, the character is changing hats.