Incredible that we're getting something like this before a plain good old screensaver
I adore this project on its own merits too because using the memory values in an emulated game is something that has fascinated me since Twitch Plays Pokémon integrated their Twitch display!
But jwz (XScreenSaver's creator and maintainer) doesn't give me much hope: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/07/xscreensaver-wayland-and-lo...
Of course, screensavers are still plain fun. That's justification enough to set one if you want.
A general "wayland" protocol for it didn't exist back then, but in this thread we see ext-session-lock exists now, and jwz was recently trying to use it where available: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/07/xscreensaver-wayland-and-lo... so you might see an xscreensaver port soon.
If you think it's embarrassing, you're welcome to contribute a working implementation or pay someone else to do it. Otherwise, I don't see how it's embarrassing.
It's a sort of attitude that isn't really that problematic when one person does it; but becomes problematic if it becomes a popular thing to do.
Anyone here who lived through the 1990s might remember that the ENERGY STAR certification initiative — that today measures all sorts of things — began specifically to grade computer monitors on their ability to be put into a low-power sleep state by software control.
Everyone back then loved the computer personalization aspect of screensavers — I had After Dark installed myself! — and what resulted was an energy-waste tragedy-of-the-commons of a large-enough scale that the EPA had to get involved.
It's fun.
I use steam deck with TV as a media PC and it's OLED, I don't want to lock a media PC nor want to display a static picture on it.