The Daily Click

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Run for you lives! It's a COW AVALANCHE!

Author:

OMC

Submitted:

13th May, 2009

Favourites:

Genre:

Miscellaneous

Downloads:

293

Rated:

70th Place

(4.43 / 5)

Edited By OldManClayton on 5/13/2009

UPDATED! Check below for updates.

Yep, it's true. Many people have died in the mountains of Tibet because of it.

Are screensavers allowed?

Just a random idea. I wanted to make a game out of it, but I challenged myself to a quick screensaver and this is what came out in an hour. The game shall come later, I really should be in bed... Anyway, for some reason the file size is frinkolin huge, I'll look into making it smaller tomorrow. Put the .scr in your C:\Windows directory, set it up, and POUME. Instant fun. 'Tis my current screensaver, and it's so pretty.

A version with panning moo sounds (and my website URL--GRAB IT NOW! EDIT: Snuck it in since the upload failed. Doohoohoohoo) is planned. (I wanted to do it in the first version, but it's late.) Also, I know they get stuck sometimes, they usually sort themselves out.

UPDATE: What's new in this version?

-Shaky screen
-Bouncing dust particles
-Fewer cow hangups
-(Optional) Mooing sound effects
-(Optional) Rumbling sound effects.

Well, a couple features I wanted like a more 3D-ish look where the cows didn't bounce on the line but in the middle of the mountain didn't turn out. Also, I wanted the cows to squash when they bounced, but I couldn't get it to work right and it looked funky anyway. You can download the latest version with the download link, but if you want the non-sound version, pick it up here:
http://www.oldmanclayton.com/klikhost/COW_AVALANCHE_No_Sound.scr
I haven't had time to extensively test it (just made it last night, remember.

) so if you spot any bugs tell me. There may be the occasional weird bounce.

I completely forgot to try to make the sounds pan, I'll fiddle with it later.

I think I may start making random screensavers more often...

Review This Download

http://www.oldmanclayton.com/Klikhost/COW_AVALANCHE_Sound.scr (14.6 mkb )

Posted by Solgryn

13th May, 2009

Rated :

Lol I read ur comment on squeak Robomouse and then saw this, I Loled

Posted by OMC

13th May, 2009

Hopefully I'll find some time to improve it today. Sounds, dust, etc...

Posted by Solgryn

13th May, 2009

Rated :

You could use the phizix engine for the movement? would be nice

Posted by OMC

13th May, 2009

Tried that... o_o I forgot how to make it work.

Posted by Cecilectomy

13th May, 2009

the cows speed is sometimes 0 or really low. so theres just random cows stuck or sluggishly rolling down the hill lol.

if thats fixed i would gladly use this as a screensaver lol. its genius.

Posted by W3R3W00F

13th May, 2009

Rated :

This was amazing. Absolutley amazing.

Posted by OMC

13th May, 2009

Cecil, I'm going to try to work on it today after all my classes and homework. Hopefully I'll fix that.

I'm also going to add a few more things...

Thanks W3R3W00F!
Comment edited by OldManClayton on 5/13/2009

Posted by Poobical

13th May, 2009

Rated :

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Epic!

Posted by Ski

13th May, 2009

Rated :

Awesome, made me lol

... although I was hoping for mooing

Posted by OMC

13th May, 2009

Mooing is next version.

Which should be soon.

Posted by Codemonkey

13th May, 2009

This is awesome!

Why 17 megs though?

Posted by OMC

13th May, 2009

Probably the rotation animations. The sounds aren't that big. Thanks Codemonkey!

Posted by Sumo148

14th May, 2009

Rated :

funny stuff!

Posted by Solgryn

14th May, 2009

Rated :

omc, you can just rotate them runtime?

Posted by OMC

14th May, 2009

I decided to go the old-fashioned animation route. I could try runtime rotating, but for a higher quality it would probably take more processing power.

Oh, if you guys use this and have to leave your computer on overnight, remember to mute it first.

Posted by OMC

14th May, 2009

It's so hilarious to be sitting here reading, and all of a sudden hear a rumbling sound, then mooing cows.

I'm cracking up at my own joke!

Posted by Tomatokid

14th May, 2009

Rated :

LMAO!! This is the most amazingly awesome thing ever!! Please make more random screensavers!!

Posted by Silveraura

14th May, 2009

Haha, this is actually really awesome. Is it possible to make a HWA version of it though, so you can utilize the anti-alias stretching. I'm on a widescreen monitor, and the stretchmarks are pretty bad.

Also, and this is more on the lines of tweaking and perfecting, and since sounds wont be a big deal for most people since they wont use it... this can go unchecked... but:
Theres one specific Moo sound that makes me wince everytime I hear it, because it's so different from the rest. It fits, but it's unique. Maybe you could find a way to lower how often this specific one is randomly played, that way when it does play, it's not too repetitive.
Comment edited by BrandonC on 5/14/2009

Posted by OMC

14th May, 2009

I think I know which one you're talking about. I'll see about lessening its appearance. I'll upload an HWA version, I have a 1024x768 laptop screen so I couldn't test the stretched version.

It may be a little bit though.

Thanks for the comments guys!

I just got home from Dairy Queen and my laptop was mooing at me.

Posted by W3R3W00F

15th May, 2009

Rated :

The irony.

Posted by alastair john jack

15th May, 2009

Rated :

lol, nice work

Posted by AndyUK

15th May, 2009

I don't use screen savers but if i did i would be seriously tempted to switch to this. Funky stuff.

Posted by OMC

15th May, 2009

Haha! Glad everyone likes it.

Posted by Cecilectomy

15th May, 2009

lol at the new dust and moo sounds

the super slow cows that just get stuck on the mountain is fixed but theres still some cows that slowly launch into space lol. it was like a ufo cow.

Posted by MBK

16th May, 2009

Rated :

Moo. It would be better with other farm animals too.
And the cow doesn't react when it bounces off the mountain, nothing happens, he just spins.

I guess I'm just less easily amused, because this wasn't as funny to me as it seems to be to the rest of you. The concept is good though and the dust and shaking effects are neat, and the distance of the cows too, but there's not enough happening.

Maybe it would be better if the view panned down to an ever-growing pile of cows until it gets so high, then the cows could eventually stop falling down the mountain, and the cows in the pile could get up and start walking up the mountain in order to roll down again?

It's still quite good, but I also don't like the size of the file. It's really quite big for a screensaver (17,865 KB).

The biggest screensaver I currently have is only 1,333 KB. (that sparta one), and it has Rag-Doll physics!
The other ones are all under 700 KB.
The smallest screensaver I have is only 245 KB.

Find a way to decrease the file size if you can, and add some more things happening, or reactions from the cows when they collide with the mountain, something, then I'll definitely use it as a screensaver. But if that doesn't happen, I guess I'll stick with what I have for now.

Posted by OMC

16th May, 2009

I think you're wanting too much from it.

If it was any more busy it wouldn't be a good screensaver, and the concept doesn't need other farm animals. It would be way to chaotic. (It already is.)

It's no fun to call it a farm animal avalanche (animalanche), but cowvalanche, now that's fun.

Something I made from a simple concept that I want to keep simple. It doesn't need to be fancy.

Posted by MBK

16th May, 2009

Rated :

Well ... you should have at least made it Calves and then called it a Calf-Alanche!

a vvf alanche ca vvf alanche .. see, it's closer sounding.

c owv alanche sounds different

I'm a nut .. lol.

Posted by OMC

16th May, 2009

Haha, clever! I'll make another version with baby cows or something later.

Posted by MBK

16th May, 2009

Rated :

Kewl. If only the file size wasn't so drastic .... oh well ... Maybe I should use it anyway .. it is good, and maybe my niece (how do you spell that?) and little cousin will laugh at it.

Comment edited by MBK on 5/16/2009

Posted by OMC

16th May, 2009

It is pretty big... but since you already downloaded it...

I'll see about shrinking it later. Maybe.

Posted by nim

16th May, 2009

Rated :

Just doing my part to cement this in the #1 Top Download place.

Posted by Emomiilol

16th May, 2009

Rated :

What a mess! But it's funny and creative =D
Well done!

Posted by OMC

16th May, 2009

Thanks guys!

Posted by W3R3W00F

16th May, 2009

Rated :

LOL! First place- and well deserved!

Posted by Codemonkey

16th May, 2009

It's only a matter of time.

Posted by Kazuma

16th May, 2009

Rated :

It was cute. If you have little kids around, this is probably a good screen saver to have.

It's not worthy of being 1st place with a 5 star rating, though. The other highly-rated things had TONS of work put into them - this looks like it took about 30 minutes at most.

It's nice, but not astounding like the rating says.

Posted by Codemonkey

16th May, 2009

AND BAM HE STRIKES AGAIN!

Posted by OMC

16th May, 2009

I agree that it doesn't deserve first place, but rating it so low just to drop its position seems kind of mean. :\ If it's worth five stars as a screensaver, you shouldn't rate it compared to other games...

I think I'll talk to Clubsoft about having a screensaver category whose ratings are kept separate from games.

Posted by Kazuma

16th May, 2009

Rated :

Codemonkey, bite me.

That would be nice, OldManClayton.

Posted by OMC

16th May, 2009

We'll see what he says!

Posted by Dr. James MD

17th May, 2009

Rated :

That's quite good and I can't believe I downloaded 17mb for something I'm never going to use

(I have my monitor go into standby after a few minutes). Buuut-

I watched it for a couple of minutes and the bottom right corner of the screen didn't have any cows pass is against screensaver rules. Also one cow decided to at first fly verrry slowly down the mountain and then fly back up it!

I think it would be worth looking into which uses less power- software or HWA to help with it's screensaverness.
But its pretty good nonetheless!

Posted by OMC

17th May, 2009

I'll work on it some more sometime this week.

Thanks Dr. James!

Posted by Codemonkey

17th May, 2009

/me bites kazuma.

Posted by AndyUK

17th May, 2009

Excluding everything that isn't a full game from the Top downloads list would be great. Ive said so many times before how it would be unfair for your game to lose out to a Demo or Engine in the GOTW poll. That goes for the top downloads list too is the same.
Any newb could now check this out as the top download and just assume TDC is full of lame screensavers. Not good.

Posted by OMC

17th May, 2009

That's a good point, but apparently there aren't enough screensavers submitted to warrant the work.

I'll expand the request to demos and tutorials.

Comment edited by OldManClayton on 5/17/2009

Posted by Silveraura

17th May, 2009

Don't make a different area all together. Make a different rating class. For example:
Games = Yellow Stars
Applications = Blue Stars
Screensavers = Green Stars
Demos = Red Stars

That way we still have 1 big downloads section, but we have different classifications for rating things, so things aren't unfairly cast against each other.

Posted by OMC

18th May, 2009

That was the plan.

Well, not the colors, but keeping everything together. The colors are a nice idea.

Comment edited by OldManClayton on 5/18/2009

Posted by Rikus

18th May, 2009

Rated :

Screen saver Top Notch! This was so funny, omc is the ruler of all cows!

Posted by OMC

18th May, 2009

Haha, thanks Rikus!

Posted by SortaCore

22nd May, 2009

Rated :

More fun than a starving businessman in a buffet.
I also like the look of eShooter (by Eclektik)
Realism: 85%.

Posted by The Chris Street

19th July, 2009

Screensaver was very good but did have a few flaws.

1. Parts of the screen weren't touched by the cows (mainly the bottom right corner), for a screensaver that really does need to be fixed. I won't be using it as a screensaver solely because of this reason as I dont want to risk any burn-in.

Maybe a simple way to fix this is to periodly jump back and forth between frames in which the mountain is reversed on the new frame.

2. Sometimes cows float horizontally along the top screen without actually bouncing down the mountain.

3. Sometimes the cows actually bounce back UP the mountain... is this supposed to happen?
Comment edited by Chris Street on 7/19/2009

Posted by OMC

25th July, 2009

No it's not, but I'm not sure why it happens or how to prevent it.

I haven't looked at the source for some time now, I should probably get to work on those problems.