The screensaver is nice enough for its size (4MB), but not for its price. I wouldn't pay 20 bucks for it but then I've never been big on screensavers. It's because it's small and free that I even installed it.

Room for improvement:

Since it apparently takes quite a while for the spider to finish its web there really should be an, in my opinion rather obvious, setting to resume the web from its last position in addition to from scratch and 1/4 or 1/2 way through. That shouldn't be too hard to implement.

A way to mute the music or change its volume without exiting the screensaver would be a helpful feature to add too. Perhaps a popup screen activated by F1 or "O" (options) which would allow you to do so would be a good thing. Or "H" for a help screen telling you which keys would make the change you want. Also a way to force the background to change to another one without exiting would be nice (keys 1 to 5 for instance).

I also had to disable 'Exit on mouse move' when I tested it because apparently the sensitivity is set too high. Normally my mouse would have 'gone to sleep' long before any screensaver would activate but when you forcibly activate it the 'spontaneous' rest activity of my mouse (I assume) makes the screensaver disappear again after 20 or 30 seconds. A user settable sensitivity for the amount of mouse movement (in pixels) that would deactivate the screensaver would help here.

Oh, and according to the laws of physics water drops falling from leaves should accelerate while falling. I wouldn't mind fudging the speed a bit to let's say a quarter of the real speeds to make the drops stay visible longer but a simple linear movement is just wrong for anyone with a solid scientific background. You could even include an option for the occasional rain shower.

I guess that's enough homework for the developers for now.

Ben  –  14 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+27)

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Nice screensaver, & my grandchild will especially love it. Works smoothly, nice spider & ants & beetles. Ladybug is too big & when it flies "close-up" to viewer it gets way too big & looks far too cartoon-y. The bush or part of tree at middle left looks too phony, needs to be fixed or removed. The tree branchs at front are excellent! Could be slowed down a bit, but that's no biggy.
The thing I dislike the most is actually the "add ideas" part! I don't think it's needed at all. Asking for comments may be ok, but the new thingy is unpleasant.
If the suggestions aboved happened, I'd consider buying this one. The decision would be based on price,& truthfully, screensavers just aren't $20 worth of importance to me. I myself would never spend over $5 for one, no matter how great it was. And it would have to be awfully special to be worth $5 to me. I think I have maybe 1 3D screensaver that MIGHT qualify. :)
Astro-Gemini does have some of the best there are, though. Astro-Gemini rocks!

Skye-hook  –  14 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+19)

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The screensaver has some very nice animations. It's fun watching the spider attach his web, the little ants climbing and the bugs flying. I thought some of the textures in the trees looked a little blurry which detracted from the artwork. The leaves were great, but perhaps they looked a little too crisps in comparison? The music was enjoyable but perhaps set a little loud. I had to turn the sound almost off on the latpop to get it at an acceptible volume.

Nice giveaway - thanks all!

Wendy  –  14 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+16)

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hmmm. Well, it is a screensaver. It doesn't have to be perfect and the reality is that after the first few times of seeing a spider appear on your screen, you won't watch it much anyhow.

pros:
-entertaining on first watch
-interesting to watch how a spider makes its web (could be educational)
-the music is nondescript musak-ish. They ought to sell the audio to The Weather Channel.

cons:
-not as realistic as the promo suggests
-the bugs are robotic looking in their movements and turning
-the bugs appear (to me) to be walking on a background rather than looking like they are actually part of it.
-the clock is a weird font and the 12 hour shows Am Pm instead of AM PM (how is that for picky??)

IMHO, worth the download if you have a kid in the house who would like to see it... not worth it if you don't. I agree with the previous commenter, that this would not be worth $20. (I want my flying toasters back.)

friendinme  –  14 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+7)

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it run fine on my win7 x64 ultimate. :)

Hans  –  14 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+6)

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