Flocks

Flocks by L Wennerstrom, D. Johnson.
©1992-93 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the More After Dark collection.

I have always loved this module. This was released back when the idea of AI on your home computer was still new. It felt like the module was actually doing something other than placing random images or animations on the screen. The idea that these object on the screen were following some sort of behavior pattern and "thinking" about where to move was fascinating to me.

Looking back, the model being used, isn't the most intelligent and many of the choices do not behave like their real life counterparts. And I always wished there were behavior options like being able to change the sensitivity areas or the randomness of movement changes. But this can all be forgiven. This saver brought randomness to new heights. Not only was every running of the module slightly different, where creatures moved was controlled by the creatures themselves.

Oh and yeah, sure, those are "polliwogs". Yeah, right.





FLOCKS (tm)

This module attempts to simulate the flocking of birds, or the schooling of fish, or other "group movement" behaviors. It's based on an algorithm developed by Craig Reynolds and outlined in his paper "Flocks, Herds, and Schools: A Distributed Behavioral Model" in the SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Proceedings, 1987.

Concept and original Mac version by Dave Johnson.
Windows version by:
Leif Wennerstrom
SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.
Richmond, CA


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

Einstein

Einstein by Mark Malamud & Susan Hautala.
©1992-93 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the More After Dark collection.

I have no idea if these calculations are correct. But I like seeing them fly by my screen in some Beautiful Mind like fit of math evisceration. I feel smarter when this screen saver kicks in. Maybe someone will walk by my screen and maybe they will think I know what I'm doing.

The neatness setting is a nice touch. The sound on the other hand did not age well and can be completely muted without detracting from the saver's effect in any way.

Also, this module seems to be based on the same code as the Simpsons "blackboard" module. The text from the later can be found in the .ad file of the former. Makes sense, I just thought that was interesting.


EINSTEIN (tm)

Late one night, in between swigs and swallows of the nectar of the gods (Yoo-hoo(tm)), I mumbled, "Who's at the blackboard?" Later, between bites and nibbles of Mallomars(tm), I muttered, "How many mistakes? A steady hand?" And look where it's got me.

Original Mac version by:
Mark Malamud and Susan Hautala

Windows version by:
Tracy Elmore
SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.
Richmond, CA


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

Dominoes

Dominoes by M. Overlin, P. Beard, I. Gasowski.
©1991-93 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the More After Dark collection.

I've always really liked the Dominoes module. At the time, it was a unique idea to create a screensaver out of game and there was something slightly fascinating about watching a game play out automatically on your screen. Okay, maybe I was easily entertained back then.

A small number of future After Dark modules would play on the theme of a game. It's something I wish was done more. Why not have a chess or checkers game as a module? The After Dark Games release came close as each game could also be used as a screen saver but they didn't capture the simplicity of this old Dominoes module.

Also, as with almost all the More After Dark modules, this runs absolutely fine on modern systems.


DOMINOES (tm)

Plays a game of dominoes so you
don't have to.

Windows version by:
Mike Overlin
SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.
Richmond, CA

Original Mac version by Patrick C. Beard.
Artwork by Igor Gasowski.


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

Confetti Factory

Confetti Factory by P. Lamoreux, P. Young.
©1990-93 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the More After Dark collection.

I love this module and I have absolutely no idea why. Perhaps it's the ducks. Perhaps it's always the ducks. The random nature of the conveyor layout lends itself to that "anything can happen" After Dark module mentality. Of course, "anything" in this case meaning what can happen when randomly colored pixels are dropped onto moving platforms and obey the law of gravity in a pseudo-realistic manner.

I'm not sure if the ducks work at the factory or if the factory stops for duck crossing the same way that hotel in Florida stops everything when the ducks walk through the lobby. Either way, this is was one of my first favorite modules and was immediately placed in my random rotation. Even today it works great on modern systems and can be found on my computer when I'm not.



CONFETTI FACTORY (tm)

Confetti Factory is an artist's conception of a neo-modern, antediluvian, post-industrial workplace.

To see ducks, wait until the end of the workshift.

If you don't like the way the ducks are piling their confetti, use the Caps Lock key to reverse the direction of the conveyor belts.

Original Mac version by
Paul Young

Windows version by:
Paul Lamoreux
SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.
Richmond, CA


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

Boris

Bogglins by M. Overlin, R. Vaterlaus, I. Gasowski.
©1991-93 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the More After Dark collection.

Boris is perhaps the exact opposite of Bogglins. The animation is nicely done, the subject matter is cute, and you can have more than one sprite on the screen at the same time. Boris really represents the direct After Dark was heading after their initial release. The quality level is elevated but the feeling of random possibilities still exists.

It should also be noted, the flavor text given below does inform us that Boris works well in a MultiModule environment. Little did Berkeley Systems know that most users would combine Boris with Mowin' Man to simulate a cat being run over by a lawn mower. In fact, this combination was so popular, it paved the way for an actual (very funny and violent) module release in the Totally Twisted package.



BORIS (tm)

Boris will leap around, scratch the edges of
your screen, and preen.

Boris is a great display to use with
MultiModule. Try Boris and Meadow, for
example.

Windows Version by:
Mike Overlin
SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.
Richmond, CA

Original Mac version by Boris' owner, Rob Vaterlaus

Artwork by Igor Gasowski


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

Bogglins

Bogglins by P. Sasse, D. Auld, A. Karn.
©1992-93 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the More After Dark collection.

Other than "What the heck?" I'm not sure what to think about Bogglins. I mean, it works great under modern Windows and that's wonderful and all but what purpose does this module serve? (I know, it's a screen saver, what is this talk of purpose.)

Perhaps as a precursor to "Totally Twisted", the Bogglin itself is nice and disgusting and I can respect it on that level. But the animation consists of moving around the screen, jiggling, and then exploding.

Other modules in the More After Dark collection have more complex animations so I know the technology existed to make this more "fun". Still, I like that this won a contest. Power to the people and all that.


BOGGLINS (tm)

A Bogglin is sort of a cross between Santa Claus and a pickle. He has apparently just eaten several hundred pounds of something that doesn't agree with him.

This example of Manga (Japanese-style cartooning) was written by Andy Karn, based on animated art submitted by Dann Auld to the 1992 After Dark Contest.

Windows version by:
Paul Sasse
SAPIEN Technologies, Inc.
Richmond, CA

Original Mac version by:
Dann Auld and Andy Karn


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

Zot!

Zot! by Bill Stewart & Jim Stewart.
©1990-92 Berkeley Systems Inc.

Part of the After Dark 2.0 collection.

So we come to the last module in the original Windows release. There was a DOS version of After Dark but it seems those modules exclusive to the DOS release are currently lost to history.

I think Zot! works best when combined with one of the rain modules. By itself, this module runs too fast on modern systems. I know, that's a weird thing to say about a screensaver that emulates lightening. Adding this to a MultiModule can get it to slow down just enough to feel right.

In the interest of full disclosure, I had to manually recreate the above screen as taking a shot of the actual module running proved impossible on a modern system.


ZOT! (tm)

Realistic lightning designed by Jim Stewart.

During the period when this module was being developed, the skies were filled with thunder and lightning each night. These flashes of reality greatly contributed to the realism of this effect.

Original version by Jack Eastman.


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