Steampunk: Your Thoughts...
- Thread starter PedroSteckecilo
- Start date
Recommended Videos
I prefer cyberpunk in games, only because steampunk is becoming too overused, which is leading to developers only going half way into the culture and not scratching the surface.
However I a if they were both done to the same detail I would choose steampunk
However I a if they were both done to the same detail I would choose steampunk
To me, Steampunk defines a setting in which Engineers are, in a way, gods.
It's a philosophy which breaks with the medieval era of "if it's a heretic, kill it" and moves toward the "why do y, if for the same price we can have this many x?" a certain superstition and tradition has been shed and replaced with rationally trying to solve problems via calculating machines, not the whims of people. If you are doing something with steampunk, don't just slap valves on everything, make it a cultural phenomenon as well, the ire of religious establishment, the industrialization of the farmlands and subsequent movement of under schooled workers moving to the city's, trying to get by. The start of worker unions. Yes, the main attraction to Steampunk is machines, but it's the people that bring it to life.
Btw: I've seen Steamboy come by, Last Exile is also an example.
It's a philosophy which breaks with the medieval era of "if it's a heretic, kill it" and moves toward the "why do y, if for the same price we can have this many x?" a certain superstition and tradition has been shed and replaced with rationally trying to solve problems via calculating machines, not the whims of people. If you are doing something with steampunk, don't just slap valves on everything, make it a cultural phenomenon as well, the ire of religious establishment, the industrialization of the farmlands and subsequent movement of under schooled workers moving to the city's, trying to get by. The start of worker unions. Yes, the main attraction to Steampunk is machines, but it's the people that bring it to life.
Btw: I've seen Steamboy come by, Last Exile is also an example.
Gears, pipes, and brass. Steampunk is the past made present. Everything and anything can be justified with steampunk. It's a world wear the etiquette of days past never left. The aristocrats act like aristocrats, the poor act like the poor. Tech beyond your wildest dreams with people you could imagine you know. And airships lots of airships.
Put on your goggles and get ready to fly.
Put on your goggles and get ready to fly.
People have often dreamed of what the world would be like if the Differential Engine had been adopted and expanded upon. Why they automatically assumed that fashion would freeze sometime 150 years ago and that plastic would never be invented is beyond me. Additionally, the idea of a steam-powered internet is far from romantic and could actually be considered horrifying. But at least in this retro-future, everybody speaks the King's English perfectly and children are beaten regularly enough so as to avoid the creation of l33t sp33k or anything similar.
indeed, my good sir.Agent Larkin said:
I like steampunk designs and stuff like that, although sometimes it seems a little over done, but no very often. take final Fantasy games, FFVII and VIII have steampunk elements that are used perfectly, and go great with the story.
It's just the opposite of the traditional minimalism and clean and simple designs of traditional futuristic sci fi.
Pipes, valves and gears. I love 'm. But it apears the whole steampunk popularity went right by me. Because I didn't know about 'till I heard everybody here complain about it. I just like seeing advanced technology in a late 19th century setting. I'm myself working on a comic-book set in the industial revolution with robots, jetpacks the whole shabang.
i think for a lot of people it's a perfect blend of fantasy and reality. it provides a sense of adventure without us having to give up the comfortable aspects of technology. the aesthetics i think are also a reaction against the slick, minimalist designs we're so used to seeing today.
I rather like the Victorian-era look of it. It combines the aesthetic merits of the Renaissance with our own, and makes for very interesting settings.
However, I think steam-punk can be something more. As I said, the Victorian look is great, but I think some more variety could be made if we try.
However, I think steam-punk can be something more. As I said, the Victorian look is great, but I think some more variety could be made if we try.
I mostly agree with this, though some steampunk works deserve the praise they get.Lordpils said:
I think the suffix "-punk" needs to die an unlamented death because it has been latched onto by the most creatively bereft facet of our society. I have seen all sorts of words put in front of "-punk" in an attempt to create a new sub-genre which is stupidity personified. A sub-genre does not spring from a name being coined but from several independently created works that share traits that allows them to be put together in the same box.
I once saw someone use the term "dieselpunk." I asked what that meant and he could not give an answer. "-punk" must die. Right now.
That all said, steampunk has at least developed a slightly credible meaning of using steam-powered-era technology in applications they never managed to achieve and likely could not achieve. Things like the refrigerator in Back to the Future Part III and the clockwork Tik-Tok of Oz being examples. It can be a refreshing change in how it marries the socio-politic of that era with the technological achievements of the modern or even beyond by bending the possibilities of the technology of the time. But the effect is no longer so refreshing due to overuse. At least for those immersed in it, as steampunk not so widely known. For the mainstream who has not experience steampunk at large, the idea is laughable, like the technology in an episode of Flintstones. The concept is a joke to most people. Impractical, unlikely, and very silly.
Steampunk is silly if you take even a second to consider how plausible it may be. Most steampunk fans don't. But the appeal does not lie in scientific credibility but style. So it's similar to a property styled after groovy 70's TV cop shows. It is style over substance. Any substance in a piece of steampunk is incidental.
I once saw someone use the term "dieselpunk." I asked what that meant and he could not give an answer. "-punk" must die. Right now.
That all said, steampunk has at least developed a slightly credible meaning of using steam-powered-era technology in applications they never managed to achieve and likely could not achieve. Things like the refrigerator in Back to the Future Part III and the clockwork Tik-Tok of Oz being examples. It can be a refreshing change in how it marries the socio-politic of that era with the technological achievements of the modern or even beyond by bending the possibilities of the technology of the time. But the effect is no longer so refreshing due to overuse. At least for those immersed in it, as steampunk not so widely known. For the mainstream who has not experience steampunk at large, the idea is laughable, like the technology in an episode of Flintstones. The concept is a joke to most people. Impractical, unlikely, and very silly.
Steampunk is silly if you take even a second to consider how plausible it may be. Most steampunk fans don't. But the appeal does not lie in scientific credibility but style. So it's similar to a property styled after groovy 70's TV cop shows. It is style over substance. Any substance in a piece of steampunk is incidental.
Well I can answer this, Dieselpunk is a term coined in Pen and Paper Roleplaying games as a derivative/subgenre of Steampunk that revolves around early to mid 20th century technology, usually World War 2 era technology. For example Hellboy is VERY Dieselpunk in it's imagery and style.the antithesis said:
I don't consider this a valid reason for disliking something, remember for a second that there is NO SOUND IN SPACE making something like 99% of Science Fiction wrong on a basic level. The key is not to be realistic but plausible, most Steampunk takes place in a Semi-Fantasy setting and uses an alternate, semi-magical power source that takes the place of steam since, as you said, 90% of Steampunk Technology is totally impossible.the antithesis said: