how do I made screensaver?

And no, I don't mean some simple slideshow screensaver of images I have laying around. I'm talking about high-quality, animated screensavers, 2D or 3D. Example being something like the popular "Aquarium" screensaver. One that's nice to watch, perhaps sometimes unpredictable, but more interesting than a random slideshow.

I'm ASSUMING it needs to be written like any program. If so, how difficult would it be? I know a little Java and C++ and given the time i'd be willing to learn what else I need (or just steal somebody else's code) to get the job done.

thx

also I put this here instead of /prog/ because i'm not asking about the programming specifically, just what I need to know to go about making a screensaver.

still should have been directed at prog.

>>1
Almost any language will do. All you need is to rename your .EXE file to .SCR, make it exit on keypress or mousemove, and optionally support certain parameters. You'll need to be able to use the full screen or activate a full screen mode though.

You could go and simply get it done in Python using PyGame. But then the screensaver would have to load Python, PyGame and SDL, create a full screen buffer (not necessarily changing the screen mode), and possibly using 2D acceleration. All this RAM and CPU power for just a screensaver will be a waste. Then again, most screensavers are this wasteful of system resources. So it's all down to you, but I recommend sticking to scrnsave.scr .