Punch Out

Punch Out by Bill Stewart..
©1990-92 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the After Dark 2.0 collection.

It's not the most exciting of modules. It does (as they say) what it says on the tin. It does run a little too fast on modern systems but this is less of a detriment for Punch Out than for other modules like Aquatic Realm.

I think this module is best used in conjunction with others in a randomizer as it will punch some holes in whatever graphic it starts with which changes things up a little for the next module.

That all being said, I did enjoy this module when first released. There was something oddly pleasing about watching giant chunks of your desktop float away.




PUNCH OUT (tm) punches holes in your monitor and slides the pieces off the screen in random directions.

Original concept by Bob Schumaker & Chip Morningstar. Sound by Rob Gale.

Cool punch out ideas by José Carlos Colón and Mouse Herrell.

Use the "Shape" drop down list box to select different shapes to be punched.

Use the "Size" slider to vary the size of pieces and the "Speed" slider to vary the speed the punched pieces move.

To hear the sound of each piece being punched out, use the sound control (if sound capability is available).


Works under Windows XP & Vista in greater than 256 colors but runs a little too fast.

Penrose

Penrose by A. Karn and T DiZoglio..
©1992 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the After Dark 2.0 collection.

Penrose is capable of generating some really beautiful patterns. This was definitely one of the more professional looking savers included in the original Windows release. With the various color palettes and a nice collection of patterns, although nothing really moved, it was still one of the prettiest modules available.

Unfortunately, Penrose seems to have a problem on modern systems. I tested this on three different systems and in each case, after drawing a couple of patterns, the module would crash with an out of memory error. So I had no problem generating a pattern for the above screenshot but this is no longer a module that I include in my normal cast.


PENROSE

This program fills the plane of the screen with a non-periodic Penrose tiling consisting of kite- and dart-shaped tiles in a five-fold symmetric pattern. The technique of deflation is used to replace successive generations of tilings with increasingly smaller tiles. See "Penrose Tiles and Trapdoor Ciphers" by Martin Gardner, or the January 1977 Scientific American.

Windows Version: Thomas DiZoglio
Original Macintosh Version: Andy Karn
Meddlers: Jack Eastman and Wes Boyd.
Color consultant: Igor Gasowski.


Works under Windows XP & Vista for a moment then errors out.

Nocturnes

Nocturnes by J. Steinmetz & R. Herrell.
©1990-92 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the After Dark 2.0 collection.

To be honest, I've never thought about Nocturnes much. It's not the most exciting of modules. It does what it does and it does it fine which I guess is saying enough.

The title suggests this is a night scene. This means your screen stays mostly black and the saver only needs to draw eyes. Which I suppose is a night scene in a cartoon. In real life, an animal's eyes will rarely contain multicolored phosphorescent options.

Still, this saver still works great on a modern system and is not bothered by the number of colors you are using. that's something right? Way to go Nocturnes!


NOCTURNES(tm)

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

To hear the crickets, use the sound control (if sound capability is available).

Sound by Rob Gale.


Works under Windows XP & Vista in greater than 256 colors.

Mountains

Mountains by B. Haller & T. Elmore.
©1990-92 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the After Dark 2.0 collection.

I've always like the Mountains module. When first released it was one of my first exposures to the complexity that is possible with a computer. This was like the random baby brother of VistaPro without any of the complexity.

The mountains still look pretty cool today and thankfully, this is one of those modules improved on modern systems as the rendering time is now instant. When After Dark was first released, the mountains would take sometimes take minutes to draw depending on their complexity and the system you were running.


MOUNTAINS(tm) uses fractal mathematics to provide many and varied landscapes for your viewing pleasure.

"View" changes the look of the mountains so that in some cases they don't even look like mountains at all.

"Planet" provides different planet landscapes.

"Complexity" allows you to choose how many iterations the mountains will take to draw. The higher the complexity the longer it takes to draw.

Bring the landscape closer with the "Zoom" slider.

Original design and concept by Ben Haller, Eli Meir and Mouse Herrell.


Works under Windows XP & Vista in greater than 256 colors.

Mondrian

Mondrian by Bill Stewart & Wes Boyd.
©1990-92 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the After Dark 2.0 collection.

To be honest, I'm not sure what to make of this module. It's always seemed to run a bit fast, even on much slower systems but I think that's part of the effect. The effect is kind of cool and a still image seems to look interesting and enough like modern art to qualify as a randomization of modern art done by a computer program written twenty years ago.

In action, I've always found Mondrian a little to hectic even at the slowest speed but I can see where some people might like it for a change of pace now and then. Also, I do wish they had added color to the module to get that classic Mondrian look. This was kind of revisited in a later module but not in the same manner.


MONDRIAN (tm) inverts random parts of your screen, providing screen-saving while still showing the Windows desktop.

The "Speed" slider controls how fast the inversions appear.

Checking "Clear Screen First" will black out the monitor before the inversions appear.


Works under Windows XP & Vista in greater than 256.

Marbles

Marbles by M. Overlin & K. McLeod
©1990-92 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the After Dark 2.0 collection.

One of my favorite modules back in the day, Marbles was a fun module to watch and still holds up (for the most part) today. The physics are a little wonky and it has been replaced by a later version 4.0 module with better graphics, more accurate physics, and customizable options.

This one seems to run on a modern system with the same speed and "accuracy" as it did when first released. Ok, so maybe it's not as realistic a simulation of a ball bouncing through pins as say "Peggle". However, in my opinion, this (along with Flying Toasters) was one of the best modules in the first batch.

Oh, and the smiley face ball was a nice touch.


MARBLES simulates colorful spheres bouncing through an obstacle course of pins and magically stacking at the bottom. As with people, some marbles are more sensitive than others.

Windows version by Mike Overlin, SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.

Concept and Mac version by Kevin McLeod.

Artwork by Igor Gasowski.


Works under Windows XP & Vista in greater than 256.

Magic

Magic by Bill Stewart and Ian MacDonald.
©1990-92 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the After Dark 2.0 collection.

Perhaps a little mundane and boring for the modern screen saver fan, Magic still works great on a modern computer. However, since the decedent of Magic is built into every version of Windows there is little this module can offer of which most users are not already tired.

Still, it's a good module to throw into your Randomizer and it does seem to work well with others when added in a MultiModule configuration.



MAGIC (tm) creates patterns with soothing and hypnotic rhythms that constantly vary.

We emphatically deny that Magic synchs to music, calms your nerves, or is affected by psychic energy from the user.

Use the "Lines" slider to change the number of lines. The maximum number of lines (below Infinite) is 150.

The Line Speed and the Color Speed can each be varied from 1% to 100%.

The mirroring option reflects the pattern either horizontally, vertically, or both ways at once.


Works under Windows XP & Vista in greater than 256.

Lasers

Hard Rain by Bill Stewart.
©1990-92 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the After Dark 2.0 collection.

I know it's just lines on a screen but like the Magic module and other similar savers, there's just something cool about the Lasers module. I do wish it worked a little slower on modern systems so as to approach what feels more like light show speed but the frenetic pace does give an exciting colorful display.

The actual effect of a Laser line being drawn in this way was not something available in a module again until Magic Turtle some years later. Although other modules were able to fill the screen with interesting colored line using a variety of methods, no other modules went for the single origin point like Lasers did.


LASERS (tm)

Mulit-colored lasers that clear your screen and can create interesting patterns.

The number of lasers can be varied from 1-8.

The width of the laser traces can be varied from 1 to 100, as well as Infinite.

To hear the laser sound, use the sound control (if sound capability is available).

Concept by Bill Stewart and Ian MacDonald.
Sound by Rob Gale.


Works under Windows XP & Vista in greater than 256 but can be too fast for some.

Hard Rain

Hard Rain by W. Stewart & T. Elmore.
©1990-92 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the After Dark 2.0 collection.

One of the original line art modules, Hard Rain has not aged well. It runs too fast on modern systems so the ripple effect is lost. Instead of the almost calming image of growing circles lazily appearing on the screen, you get a rapid flash of circles all over the place.

In addition, there have been a small handful of other "rain" based modules released both as official After Dark savers or by hobbyists creating their own modules. These later releases are more than adequate replacements for this Hard Rain module.


HARD RAIN (tm)

Based on original design by James J. Eastman.
See Scientific American, Dec 1987.


Works under Windows XP & Vista in greater than 256 colors but is too fast on modern systems.

Hall of Mirrors

Hall of Mirrors by Alex Zeltser
©1990-92 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the After Dark 2.0 collection.

Not a bad module though this one was more impressive in lower resolutions where the mirrors could take up a much larger portion of the screen. Still, Hall of Mirrors works really well on modern systems when set to a slower speed and has no problem with current resolutions.

It is still kind of neat to see the mirrors start reflecting themselves and then fill up the entire screen to the point where the original image is distorted beyond recognition.


HALL OF MIRRORS (tm) reflects pieces of your screen ad infinitum in a dynamic display.

The "Mirrors" slider lets you adjust the number of mirror-tunnels on the screen at once.

"Mirror size" selects the size of the reflected areas.

"Mirror life" adjusts the lifetime of each reflection.


Works under Windows XP & Vista in greater than 256 colors.