Jump to Hyperspace Screensaver
Jump to Hyperspace is a free screensaver that pulls the stars around you into long streaks of light, like a ship punching into warp. The speed ramps up over the first few seconds, then holds at full light-speed with occasional white warp flashes. It runs right in your browser with nothing to download, and you press ESC to exit at any time.
How the Jump to Hyperspace screensaver works
The screen starts with a field of stars, each given a random x, y and a depth value z. Every frame the depth is decreased so the star rushes toward you, and its screen position is found by dividing x and y by z — the classic perspective projection that makes near stars spread out and far stars huddle near the center.
Instead of a dot, each star is drawn as a line from its current position to where it was a moment ago. The Streak length control sets how far back that tail reaches, so longer streaks read as faster, more dramatic warp. Stars nearer the camera are drawn brighter and thicker; ones that pass behind you are recycled to a fresh random spot at maximum depth.
The jump deliberately eases in. For roughly the first nine seconds a smoothstep ramp scales the travel speed up from a crawl to full throttle, so it feels like a ship accelerating rather than starting at top speed. The Warp speed control multiplies that final velocity.
When Warp flashes is on, a timer fires every six to eleven seconds and slams a white overlay across the screen that fades out fast — the light-speed lurch. A faint radial glow tinted with your Star color sits behind everything to suggest the tunnel core.
A worked example
With the defaults — Star count 600, Warp speed 14, Streak length 6 — you load the page and the stars first creep outward, then accelerate hard over about nine seconds until they're full streaks tearing past. Every several seconds a warp flash whites out the screen and fades. Drop Star count toward 100 for a sparse field, or push Warp speed to 25 and Streak length to 12 for blinding, ribbon-long trails.
Settings & tips
- Crank Warp speed and Streak length together for the most aggressive light-speed look; lower both for a calmer cruise through the stars.
- Turn off Warp flashes if the periodic white bursts are distracting on a desk display you glance at often.
- Tint Star color (default a pale blue) to recolor both the streaks and the soft core glow behind them — try warm amber for a different ship's-cockpit feel.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the Jump to Hyperspace screensaver free?
- Yes. It is completely free and runs in your web browser with no download, install, or sign-up. Just open the page and the warp jump begins.
- How do I exit the hyperspace screensaver?
- Press the ESC key at any time and the screensaver closes. Moving the mouse or clicking also returns you to the page.
- Why does it start slow before speeding up?
- It's intentional. The speed eases up over about nine seconds so the jump feels like a ship accelerating into warp rather than starting at full light-speed.
- Can I change how long the star streaks are?
- Yes. The Streak length slider controls how far each star's tail stretches, and the Warp speed slider sets the overall velocity. Longer streaks look faster.
- What is the difference between this and a plain starfield?
- A plain starfield flies through stars as points. Jump to Hyperspace stretches each star into a light streak, ramps the speed up like a warp jump, and adds periodic white flashes.