After Dark
Revision as of 19:22, 26 March 2018 by TheAlmightyGuru (talk | contribs)
After Dark is a plug-in based screen saver program developed and published by Berkeley Systems for Macintosh in 1989. A Windows 3 version was released in 1992, and several upgrades were released until the last version (4.0) was released in 1996.
I never had After Dark, but a friend of mine did, and I loved watching the various screen savers that it came with. I only had the first release of IdleWild, which wasn't nearly as interesting. Many years later, when DOSBox was effective at running Windows 3, and After Dark was readily available, I finally got to see all of the interesting screensavers with the most multimedia version of Windows 3.
Review
Good
- All of the screen savers take advantage of variable screen resolutions, and most of them use a 256 color palette and sound.
- It has several useful screen saver features like password locking and hot spot activation.
- There is a large variety of screen savers including abstract, whimsical, funny, and serene.
- Most of the screen savers have a fair amount of configuration to them which auto saves, and most of them allow a random element to their settings.
Bad
- The program is fairly resource intensive, slowing down Windows.
Ugly
- Nothing.
Screensavers
Example | Name | Pack | Creators | Description | Opinion |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Artist | 3 | Bob Covey, Jeff Kowalski, Paul Meyer, Maurice Metzger, Bob Bickford | Draws a bitmap using random strokes. | 3 - Quite interesting to watch, but I wish bitmaps could be chosen from folder. | |
Bad Dog! | 3 | Laurence Arcadias, Paul Meyer | A cartoon dog runs around the screen making a mess. | 3 - Pretty funny. | |
Bogglins | More | Paul Sasse, Dann Auld, Andy Karn | Disgusting slimes squirm around the screen making fart noises and exploring. | 1 - Really annoying. | |
Boris | More | Mike Overlin, Rob Vaterlaus, Igor Gasowski | A kitten chases a butterfly and occasionally purrs. | 3 - Very cute and fun to watch. | |
Bugs | 3 | Rob Blair, Kim Payne, Dana Muise | Bugs crawl across the screen. | 2 - Well made, but rather disturbing. | |
Can of Worms | 2 | Tracy Elmore, Jack Eastman | Colorful "worms" spill out from a hole in the screen. | 1 - Interesting, but not that great. | |
Clocks, Clocks Pro | 2, 3 | Bob Bickford, Kim Payne, Dana Muise | A clock face of varying types bounce around the screen. Updated in version 3. | 2 - Functional. | |
ConfettiFactory | More | Paul Lamoreux, Pauol Young | A screen with various boxes and conveyors is slowly covered with "confetti" that piles up. Funny "duck crossing" refreshes the screen. | 3 - I love watching this one slowly accumulate, I only wish it could be set to run longer. | |
Daredevil Dan | 3 | Andrew Armstrong, Dana Muise | A motorcyclist jumps buses, flames, and piranha tanks, occasionally crashing. | 3 - Humorous animations, well made. | |
DOS Shell | 3 | Ed Hall | Drops to DOS and runs random commands. | 2 - A good idea, but does too many nonsense commands. | |
Down the Drain | 2 | Bill Stewart, Jim Stewart, Rob Vaterlaus | The screen swirls down a drain in the center. | 1 - Good idea, but the swirl is kind of blocky. | |
Draw Morph | 3 | E. Inada, J. Dorfman, M. Metzger | Morphs across various vector drawings. | 3 - Several categories, but also a custom builder. Unfortunately, doesn't have a real-time frame delay. | |
Fade Away | 2 | Bill Stewart, Ian MacDonald | Clears the screen with various wipes. | 1 - Effective, but dull. | |
Fish / Fish Pro / Aquatic Realm | 1W, 2, 3 | Jeff Thomas, Dana Muise | Simulates an aquarium, upgraded for version 3. | 3 - Great graphics, nice and soothing to watch. | |
Flying Toasters, Pro | 2, 3 | Jack Eastman, Bill Stewart, Tomoya Ikeda, Paul Meyer, Vann Miller, Bruce Burkhalter, Brian Chen, Bob Bickford, Jarir Maani, Nick Rush | Toasters fly across the screen, upgraded for version 3 | 1 - Funny the first time, annoying every other time. | |
Flying Toilets | 3 | Scott Garcia, Robert Cuenca | Toasters fly across the screen, upgraded for version 3 | 1 - Juvenile. | |
Frost and Fire | 3 | Craig Dickson, Oliver Steele | Generates psychedelic swirling patterns. | 3 - Great looking, but slow on most PCs of the day. | |
GeoBounce | 2 | Ed Hall, Mouse Herrell, Rob Gale | Bounces one of several basic 3D shapes around the screen. | 1 - Nice shading (though it doesn't use a 256 color palette), but the bouncing isn't coded very well. | |
Globe | 2 | Jack Eastman, Wes Boyd, Igor Gasowski | Bounces a rotating globe of the Earth around the screen. | 2 - I like that the texture can be customized, though it would be nice if they included more textures. | |
GraphStat | 2 | Harry Chesley, Wes Boyd]] | Generates nonsense graphics. | 1 - It only does simple line graphs. | |
Gravity | 2 | Bill Stewart, Tracy Elmore, Bryce Fowler | Bouncing balls drop from the top of the screen and leave a trail. | 1 - The balls all have similar paths. | |
Guts | 3 | Wes Cherry, Ferdinand Rios, Mike Overlin | Various objects fly around according to a physics equation leaving behind a trail. | 2 - Good idea, but doesn't use a real-time frame delimiter. | |
Hard Rain | 2 | Bill Stewart, Tracy Elmore, James Eastman | Colorful drops leave ripples that eat away at the screen. | 1 - Lame. | |
Lasers | 2 | Bill Stewart, Ian MacDonald | Colorful lines sweep across the screen. | 1 - Pretty basic. | |
Logo | 3 | James Eastman, Bob Bickford | A user-specified image bounces around the screen. | 1 - Boring, but useful for companies. | |
Magic | 2 | Bill Stewart, Ian MacDonald | Colorful lines dance over the screen. | 2 - Enjoyable to watch. | |
Marbles | 2 | Mike Overlin, Kevin McLeod, Igor Gasowski | Marbles are shot from the top of the screen and bounce off bumpers until the reach the bottom. | 4 - I love the slow accumulation, and still giggle at the smiley face marble. I wish they used 256 colors. | |
Messages | 3 | Bruce Burkhalter, Colin Glassey, Bob Bickford | A user-specified message bounces around the screen. | 1 - Boring, but customizable. | |
160x120px | Mondrain | 2 | Bill Stewart, Wes Boyd | Inverted blocks cover the screen. | 1 - Pretty dull. |
Mountains | 2 | Ben Haller, Eli Meir, Mouse Herrell, T. Elmore | Renders a 3D mountain scape. | 3 - Includes alternate palettes and terrain styles. | |
Mowin' Man | More | Mike Overlin, Glenn Corwin, Bruce Burkhalter, Igor Gasowski | Grass and flowers grow randomly across the screen and are mowed over by a man on a riding tractor. Night falls as well. | 2 - Nicely designed, but dull after awhile. | |
Nirvana | 3 | Andy Karn | Line patterns are drawn with a shifted palette. | 3 - Nicely zen. | |
Nocturnes | 2 | J. Steinmetz, R. Herrell, Rob Gale | Draws eyes in the dark. | 1 - The sound effects are a good touch, but it's pretty dull. | |
Nonsense | 3 | Rob Blair, Bob Bickford | Generates nonsense sentences and randomly displays them. | 1 - The sentences are usually too abstract to be enjoyable. | |
Om Appliances | More | Paul Sasse, Gregory Becker, Andy Karn, Igor Gasowski, Tomoya Ikeda | Refrigerators and washing machines float across the screen making noise. | 1 - Kind of a ripoff of the Flying Toasters, but with more noise. | |
Photon | 3 | Brian Lowry, Vann Miller | Random colorful lines erupt from a center point. | 2 - Pretty, but nothing too impressive. | |
Puzzle | 3 | Bill Stewart, John Rotenstein, Rob Gale | Turns the screen into a slider puzzle. | 1 - Kind of dull. | |
Punch Out | 2 | Bill Stewart, Bob Schumaker, Chip Morningstar, José Carlos Colón, Mouse Herrell | "Holes" are punched out of the screen. | 1 - Pretty dull. | |
Rain | More | Alex Zeltser, Mike Overlin, Anthony Carlisle | Colored rain drops splash and cause ripples that dissipate. | 2 - Kind of zen, but not much to it. | |
Rain Storm | 2 | Tracy Elmore, Patrick Beard | Simulates a rain storm. | 1 - Nice look, but quite primitive. | |
Rat Race | 3 | Andrew Armstrong, Matt Small | Three rats run around a race track. | 2 - Cute animations, but boring to watch. | |
Ray | 3 | Dan Michaeloff | Bounces gem-like objects around the screen. | 2 - Impressive feat at the time, but rather dull today. | |
Rebound | 3 | Rat Kemmer, Bob Bickford, Bruce Burkhalter, Dana Muise | Balls bounce around the screen and off each other. | 1 - Boring, and doesn't run smoothly. | |
Rose | 3 | Ben Haller, Tracy Elmore | Rainbow colored dots spin around the screen like a Spirograph. | 1 - Nice for a few seconds. | |
Satori | 3 | Ben Haller, Tracy Elmore | Draws various blocky plasma patterns and slowly smooths them out. | 3 - Generates some pretty impressive results. | |
Shapes | 2 | Bill Stewart | Draws colorful 2-D primitives. | 1 - Colorful, but boring. | |
SlideShow | 3 | Bob Bickford, Maurice Metzger | Displays images from a user-defined slideshow with various wipes. | 2 - A nice addition to the program. | |
Spheres | 3 | Bruce Burkhalter, W. Stewart, R. Herrell | Draws colorful pseudo 3-D spheres. | 1 - Kind of dull, and buggy along the left side of the screen. | |
Spiral Gyra | 2 | Keith Alphonso, John Casey | Colorful twisted lines are drawn across the screen. | 2 - Pretty, but dull over all. | |
Spotlight | 3 | Bob Schumaker, Chip Morningstar | Spotlights bounce around the screen illuminating areas. | 2 - Interesting, but not that impressive. | |
Stained Glass | 2 | J. Tantra, Wes Boyd | A colorful geometric pattern is drawn on the screen and tiled around it. | 2 - Interesting, but so random it usually just looks like a mess. Should have been given better aesthetics. | |
Starry Night | 1, 2, 3 | Craig Dickson | Draws a nighttime cityscape using individual dots that flicker with the occasional shooting star. Some versions have lightning. | 4 - This one is very serene. I enjoy staring at it. | |
String Theory | 2 | Bill Stewart, James Eastman | Colorful lines bounce across the screen leaving trails. | 1 - Simple and primitive. | |
Swan Lake | 2 | B. Resner, Mike Overlin, Igor Gasowksi | Swans swim around a black pool. | 3 - Another serene one. The swans are well drawn, but their animation is a bit choppy. | |
Tunnel | More | Darin Gurney, Mouse Herrell, Tracy Elmore | A shifting color palette gives the illusion of traveling down a tunnel. | 2 - Colorful, but otherwise primitive. | |
Vertigo | 2 | Tracy Elmore, Jack Eastman | Shapes are drawn randomly on the screen and shift palette. | 1 - Dull. Shapes often draw off-screen. | |
Warp! | 3 | Bruce Burkhalter, Tracy Elmore, Bill Stewart, Jack Eastman | Simulates a black hole swirling stars into it, or ejecting them. | 2 - Nice idea, but a little buggy and doesn't have a real-time frame delimiter. | |
Wrap Around | 2 | Richard Lesh | Draws a curved symmetrical pattern with colorful lines. | 2 - Quite attractive, even if it's simple. | |
You Bet Your Head | 3 | Andrew Armstrong, Jim Merkle, Matt Small, Valerie Singer | Asks random trivia questions on an animated game show. | 2 - Interesting concept, but the questions are pretty unusual. | |
Zooommm! | 3 | Steven Harris, Robert Bickford | Various wireframe shapes speed toward the viewer. | 1 - Kind of dull. | |
Zot! | 2 | Bill Stewart, Jim Stewart | Simulates lightning strikes. | 1 - Nice lightning simulation, but a bit too simple. |
Links
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Dark_(software) - Wikipedia.