steam punk v.s cyberpunk

[abc123]

which do you prefer i personally like steam punk because well i dont actually now i guess i just like that whole Victorian thing what do you think

[mikeejimbo]

Amusing coincidence: Earlier today I was thinking along these lines. Specifically I was thinking "What if the Steampunk aficionados and Cyberpunk aficionados had a fight? I imagine the Cyberpunk fans would win, unless the Steampunk fans could launch an EMP - but could you build a Steampunk nuke??"

Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be what this thread is about.

[Moff Chumley]

Cyberpunk and subgenres. :smallamused::smallbiggrin:

[Ravens_cry]

Easy. A long ,long time ago, there an actual natural nuclear reactor, because at that time the uranium 235 concentration was enough to to enable it.
I am not making this up. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor)
Now either make it so that is how the world is still, or have some time traveller, time travel being steampunk thanks to HG Wells, bring some forward an voila, you have something that could potentially make a bomb out of. Some say Nuclear power doesn't really fit with steampunk, but I say humbug. Nuclear power as we use it in nuclear power plants to day IS steam power, driving turbines rather then some reciprocating engine, but steam power nonetheless. Also. the mix of nuclear power and the disgustingly lax safety standards of the Victorian era and you have a recipe for disaster. Wonderful, wonderful disaster.
As for the actual topic at hand, I am a bit meh about either. VR, despite cyberpunk driving it into our skulls that it would be the Next Big Thing, is a specialized technology at best. Steampunk has a wonderful look, but really doesn't offer much in the way of new ideas, the driving force of Science Fiction. Like I have said before, it often feels like an aesthetic more then an actual genre; a skin, a surface layer.

[Emperor Ing]

Naturally occuring nukes?! :eek:

On topic, i'm kinda torn on the topic. On one hand, I like the imagery of Techpriests and bionic limbs and stuff, on the other hand, STEAMPUNK!! You can never go wrong with Steampunk. At all.

[Ravens_cry]

Naturally occuring nukes?! :eek:

On topic, i'm kinda torn on the topic. On one hand, I like the imagery of Techpriests and bionic limbs and stuff, on the other hand, STEAMPUNK!! You can never go wrong with Steampunk. At all.
Don't worry, the world is too old for it to happen again, at least on this planet.

[Eldan]

That would actually be an interesting idea for a SciFi story...
You have various interplanetary power blocks, and in the middle, a neutral colony on a fairly neutral planet. Suddenly, the colony is nuked. An investigator has to convince various politicians that it was a natural occurrence...

[mikeejimbo]

Played by Anne Hathaway, and assisted by her ex-cop boyfriend played by Joey Laurence??

[IonDragon]

Cyberpunk. Very, very cyberpunk. I like the steampunk look, and I understand the draw, but I'm much more interested in getting that USB 7.0 implanted behind my ear.

[golentan]

I prefer Steampunk. Cyberpunk tends to fall a little too much into the dystopian side of things, and there's a general feeling in such works in my experience that there are no new frontiers, only squabbling over who gets the old ones. I like the steampunk aesthetic and sense of adventure far more, even if it doesn't have as many "what ifs."

[Moff Chumley]

Read Charles Stross, Accelerando. Not traditional cyber-punk, but the same spirit. Not dystopian at all, though.

[golentan]

Read Charles Stross, Accelerando. Not traditional cyber-punk, but the same spirit. Not dystopian at all, though.

I may do that. A quick search makes it sound interesting.

[IonDragon]

I may do that. A quick search makes it sound interesting.

Neuromancer by William Gibson, considered the father of cyberpunk has several new frontiers as major themes. In fact, the primary focus of his first two books is artificial intelligences emerging and evolving. Unless of course you mean physical exploration. If that's the case, there is a little bit, but it's more of reclaiming old places that have been abandoned. But really, isn't that what most exploration is anyway?

While it's true most cyberpunk tends to feel that technology has reached a stagnant level, William Gibson did most of his writing before the '90s and so from his first book to his third (a mere 10 years or so) technologies have gone from cutting edge to completely obsolete relics.

Here's a peek at the book. (http://lib.ru/GIBSON/neuromancer.txt)

[golentan]

Neuromancer doesn't have new frontiers, it has new growth in the old ones. People aren't pushing out, they're looking inward: that's what cyberspace is. Navel contemplation. Everything there was put there, not found. Now, someone wants to get into another person's head, that's interesting. And I always have had a soft spot for the roguish knave who sneaks into the houses of the mighty for adventure and profit. But... it's something different. It's not something new, or even something lost.

Plus, technology isn't a frontier, it's a tool. And AIs aren't a locale or a tool, they're children. It's fun to help them through their childhood, and it's more fun when they grow up and leave the house and you can feel proud of them, but that's neither here nor there. Yah can't live your life vicariously through them, and yah can't claim credit for their actions.

[IonDragon]

The re-exploration of old frontiers may have been in one of the other books, but I was pretty sure it was in Neuromancer... It was when they went up to the basically empty space station. Not New Zion, the other one. It could have been the remnants of Villa Straylight. Yeah, that's probably what I was thinking of. Was that in Idoru? I'd thought Idoru stayed mostly planet side.

[abc123]

what i wood like to see is a time travel story steam punk in the future and cyberpunk in the past than time travelers from both times try to figure out what happen to cause this

with some comic elements

[Lady Tialait]

It is said that I like Cyberpunk, Playgrounders...I like Cyberpunk...NO! I LOVE Cyberpunk.

Steampunk just falls short for me.

[Cobra_Ikari]

I like steampunk when it is an imaginitive way to recreate current technology or simulate the effects thereof using a much lower level of technology. I quite hate it when it's the current world with gears and pipes slapped on everywhere. And everything does not have to be that sort of antique brass color, either. -_-

Cyberpunk can be interesting, too.

[Eldan]

Well, I was recently on a Steampunk trip when I built a mechanized warhammer fantasy army, but generally, Cyberpunk is cooler. And, well, usually actually has something to say, instead of just being a particular look.

Edit: Though "Terminal World" was good and kinda steampunk-ish.

[Malfunctioned]

I think I quite enjoy both of them the same really.

However in my opinion there is something that supercedes them both.

Dieselpunk. (http://shunyama.web.fc2.com/image/rick75.jpg)

[Erts]

Cyberpunk explores what could be, steampunk explores what could have been. I prefer the future to the past.
Not that there isn't good steampunk that I've read (there is,) but I just love cyberpunk.
Also, I don't like how we glorify the Victorian Era. Not to bring politics into the discussion, but it was a time of exploitation all over the world, repression for all members of society, (putting anti-masturbation devices on the mentally disabled... Good plan), and destruction of many cultures around the world in the name of greed. Sure, it was amazing and romantic how science took such a large role, and yes, things did look pretty cool, but at it's core, the Victorian Era was a pretty miserable place to live in for the average person.

[mikeejimbo]

...the Victorian Era was a pretty miserable place to live in for the average person.

See, that's what puts the 'punk' into 'steampunk'.

[Erts]

See, that's what puts the 'punk' into 'steampunk'.

Well, not in the sense people mean it. They mean punk as "new, fresh, interesting," not "miserable, boring, and short", as life pretty much was.

[Ravens_cry]

Actually, a lot of early punk, especially the first, cyberpunk, was people raging against a big impersonal heavily corporate controlled world 20 minutes into the future. That's where the punk came from, a man (or woman) sticking it to the Man. Of course now it's a bit different, the punk part has lost a lot of it's original meaning, but that's where it started.

[Faulty]

I prefer Steampunk. Cyberpunk tends to fall a little too much into the dystopian side of things, and there's a general feeling in such works in my experience that there are no new frontiers, only squabbling over who gets the old ones. I like the steampunk aesthetic and sense of adventure far more, even if it doesn't have as many "what ifs."

May I suggest Snow Crash to you? It's cyberpunk and has the dystopian elements in there but with a wonderful sense of humour. The main characters are a half-black/half-asian free lance hacker, expert swordsman and ex-mafia employed pizza delivery boy and a skate board riding punk courier who harpoons cars with a magnet to get around, and involves everything from linguistics to Sumerian mythology. Man, I love that book.

[Drakevarg]

Steampunk. Gotta love the clothes. :smallamused:

I.
Want.
A.
Top.
Hat.

[Maximum Zersk]

Personally, I prefer Steampunk to Cyberpunk, but I prefer Clockpunk to Steampunk.

Think about it, just before the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Highwaymen, of Leather Longcoats, and of endless Clockpunk.

Then you mix the two together and add some Alchemypunk and Dieselpunk and you have a recipe for awesomeness.

[IonDragon]

If we start getting into the WAY subgenres, I like genepunk. Because it's my body, and if I want to have walrus tusks and a mane, I should be allowed to. But still mostly cyberpunk. As one of the many who spends most of their time on the computer by choice, I just love the idea of being fully immersed in it. I can't tell you how many times I've been frustrated by the limitations of computer in/outs. Speech and written language are the two slowest methods of communicating data, and the only ways to send information to the computer (practically) are typing, or using something like Dragon, Naturally Speaking that will transcribe your voice into text.

[Morph Bark]

Well, not in the sense people mean it. They mean punk as "new, fresh, interesting," not "miserable, boring, and short", as life pretty much was.

Thanks to homo homini lupus life is nasty, brutish and short anyway.

That being said, I'd love me some super-mixpunk.

[Malfunctioned]

Thanks to homo homini lupus life is nasty, brutish and short anyway.

That being said, I'd love me some super-mixpunk.

See, now I'm resisting the urge to start another short-lived homebrew project. This is time for the Storyteller/NWoD system.

Blankpunk: The Mixing.

You play as citizens of either a Cyber/Diesel/Bio/Steam/Dungeonpunk universe who has been sucked into our own.

No, bad Malfunctioned! Bad! :smalltongue:

[Eldan]

If we start getting into the WAY subgenres, I like genepunk. Because it's my body, and if I want to have walrus tusks and a mane, I should be allowed to. But still mostly cyberpunk. As one of the many who spends most of their time on the computer by choice, I just love the idea of being fully immersed in it. I can't tell you how many times I've been frustrated by the limitations of computer in/outs. Speech and written language are the two slowest methods of communicating data, and the only ways to send information to the computer (practically) are typing, or using something like Dragon, Naturally Speaking that will transcribe your voice into text.

Man. Do I have to quote Zakharov's "Genes are not blueprints" speech again?

Anyway, I'd love some wings. And gills. And fins. Oh, and a few new sensory organs.

[Clarkie]

Cyberpunk has had the better explorations so far but for the pure idea Steampunk wins. Cyberpunk is a little too impersonal, too happy to sit in a dystopia and dehumanise (yeah I know that's the point) everyone involved. Steampunk though is aesthetically awesome and also tends to be a little more sympathetic and warm. Plus I love zeppelins.

[Ravens_cry]

Steampunk is indeed awesome, reciprocating steam power being such a visceral, massive, profound kind of power. Cattle Punk, which I personally just fold into Stempunk, just Out West or other similar frontier, is also awesome if done right. Another appeal is it is based on the era of massive personal achievement in experimental science. Men like Michael Faraday and Sir Humphrey Davy isolating elements and inventing dynamos, it was a heady time.

[absolmorph]

I think I quite enjoy both of them the same really.

However in my opinion there is something that supercedes them both.

Dieselpunk. (http://shunyama.web.fc2.com/image/rick75.jpg)
Okay, I've never really been interested in cyberpunk.
Steampunk has always been aesthetically just... not quite right, I guess, for me.
Dieselpunk. This is something I can sink my teeth into. This pleases me greatly.

[Comet]

Cattle Punk

:biggrin:

Can't we just call it steampunk or even a western or just historical science fiction or something? This Punk Punk thing is really getting all kinds of ridiculous, leastways in my opinion.

I now have the image of a story where the author explores a world where oppressed, rebellious daredevils have to fight for their survival amidst faceless herding corporations all the while pondering the implications of man growing more and more reliant of their cattle until it's not even safe to say whethere we are masters to these animals or if, indeed, the cows have grown to replace the human heart as the driving force of our destiny as a species.

[Ravens_cry]

I do call it steampunk, though technically speaking it actually pre-dates steampunk, while still being after its' 'source' era, with things like Wild Wild West, the original TV series that is. I am actually working on a camapgin setting where all the First Nations people were exported to Mars in Orion style spacecraft after it was found to have a breathable atmosphere, then it was found out why. The Planet had a significant portion of it's mass in gold and other high mass precious metals.
Yes, I know it fails Economics forever.

[IonDragon]

Punk Punk

Which could also be awesome, though you'd have to find some way of making a functional world where everyone tries to shun the norm, and spends way too much of their food money on hair care products. While you're at it, I suppose the 'heros' would have to be people who... prize the status quo?

[mikeejimbo]

Actually, a lot of early punk, especially the first, cyberpunk, was people raging against a big impersonal heavily corporate controlled world 20 minutes into the future. That's where the punk came from, a man (or woman) sticking it to the Man. Of course now it's a bit different, the punk part has lost a lot of it's original meaning, but that's where it started.

That's what I mean, though. The Victorian era was dystopian in a way too.

[absolmorph]

Which could also be awesome, though you'd have to find some way of making a functional world where everyone tries to shun the norm, and spends way too much of their food money on hair care products. While you're at it, I suppose the 'heros' would have to be people who... prize the status quo?
That's a confusing world.

[IonDragon]

That's a confusing world.

You think you're confused? I got all of that from a 2 word description.

[Ravens_cry]

That's what I mean, though. The Victorian era was dystopian in a way too.
To a degree, it was more that it was a time of change, with new industries, and industry itself, changing long held patters of behaviour and economy. I wouldn't call it dystopian, though the working conditions were indeed horrifying. Anyway, the VIctorian Era and Steampunk don't exactly have a 1:1 correspondence, how punkish it is depends on the work.

[Eldan]

Let's invent a few new genres, then, if Punk Punk annoys people :smallwink:

I, personally, am a big fan of Caveman Punk.

[IonDragon]

I, personally, am a big fan of Caveman Punk.

How would you even...

I don't...

...

Microbial Punk. It's told from a germ's eye view.

[Eldan]

It deals with the issue of how living in caves separates man from his roots, removing them from sleeping in grass nests under the open sky, how the invention of the sling and thrown spear dehumanizes hunting and warfare and how fire is giving power to a corrupt upper-class of shamans who selfishly hoard the secret of flintstone.

I recommend Gibson's "Pyromancer" for a classic, or for a more modern take, "Snow Storm", by Neal Stephenson, which deals with the first humans colonizing northern Europe.

[IonDragon]

There was actually a book I read in Freshman year in highschool that was told from a germ's eye view. I can't recall much more than that I'm afraid :smallfrown:

[Lord of the Helms]

I do call it steampunk, though technically speaking it actually pre-dates steampunk, while still being after its' 'source' era, with things like Wild Wild West, the original TV series that is. I am actually working on a camapgin setting where all the First Nations people were exported to Mars in Orion style spacecraft after it was found to have a breathable atmosphere, then it was found out why. The Planet had a significant portion of it's mass in gold and other high mass precious metals.
Yes, I know it fails Economics forever.

Well, it would be bad for the gold since it has relatively little practical use aside from being shiny and corrosion-resistant, but if there's platinum, iridium or palladium (or even silver) around in large quantities, that'd actually make sense assuming that spaceflight is fantastically cheap. Sure, those metals would lose their value as assets/investments, and be so cheap one may wonder if they still retain "respect" as jewellery, but it'd open up a lot of possibilities on putting them to various possible practical uses if they're not so rare anymore.

[Morph Bark]

See, now I'm resisting the urge to start another short-lived homebrew project. This is time for the Storyteller/NWoD system.

Blankpunk: The Mixing.

You play as citizens of either a Cyber/Diesel/Bio/Steam/Dungeonpunk universe who has been sucked into our own.

No, bad Malfunctioned! Bad! :smalltongue:

I don't even know half the fluff of nWoD and none of the crunch and I'd wanna learn to play that. :smalltongue:

[Nameless]

Well... Steampunk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPH1OoTobtk)... But then again, Cyberpunk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymTwKLrYps8)... Hard choice is hard.
... Wait! That's Cybergoth... HAHA! Steampunk wins!

Because that's how I roll... :smallcool:

[Fjolnir]

can't we all just read The Difference Engine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Difference_Engine) and be friends?

[mikeejimbo]

Let's invent a few new genres, then, if Punk Punk annoys people :smallwink:

I, personally, am a big fan of Caveman Punk.

You mean stonepunk?

I have heard of that.

[IonDragon]

You mean stonepunk?

I have heard of that.

Wouldn't that make the characters rocks?

[Eldan]

You mean stonepunk?

I have heard of that.

Goddamit, world, what is wrong with you?! Stop actually making things I intend as parody!

[Erts]

I'm going for Frontierpunk, Edopunk (this one would be awesome), Napoleopunk, and Romanpunk.

[Psyren]

This thread made me realize I still don't know how hacking in Bioshock works. Who knew boiling water could form allegiances?

[Eldan]

So... Officepunk? Because that would make my current job at least remotely cool. I have to start wearing trenchcoats and pretend there's a conspiracy involved in our vegetation nutritient content data.

[Erts]

So... Officepunk? Because that would make my current job at least remotely cool. I have to start wearing trenchcoats and pretend there's a conspiracy involved in our vegetation nutritient content data.

You see endless cubicles stretch out forever. You live in a small space, live in your cubicle, and each individual office building is equivocation to a city. You wake up at 8 to start work after eating a cheap white bagel and getting cups of coffee from your office's Starbucks spring, do the same job till 12:00 for your lunch break till 12:15, and work till 7. You eat a TV dinner while gathering around a blurry old TV with your office mates, and then go to bed in a itchy mattress. Days stretch on, and begin to fuse together. But one man has a plan... A plan to shake his entire building to it's core... To mix up the bosses coffee.

[Comet]

So... Officepunk? Because that would make my current job at least remotely cool. I have to start wearing trenchcoats and pretend there's a conspiracy involved in our vegetation nutritient content data.

That's pretty much what the suits/salarymen do in regular ol' cyberpunk. Especially the barely noticeable worker ants that make any megacorp go round. The higher ups have slightly more interesting lives, but even they pretty much spend their rare free time indulging in booze, drugs or interactive media to escape the monotony of their lives.

Realistic, isn't it? Now, we just need one brave soul to get razorblades sewn into his hands and start a rebellion against the Man!
And that shows us why I prefer Cyberpunk to, say, shinypunk or whatever trendy fashion outlet one could have. This stuff has actual relevance, even if it is a bit over the top.

Continuing on that note, Kitchen Punk. One man's journey to show the faceless megarestaurants what real cooking is all about. By whatever means necessary. Which is more important, human lives or the perfect cuisine? Only the daring will find out. Cooking on the edge!

[Eldan]

That's been done. They call it Iron Chef.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

I'm going for Frontierpunk, Edopunk (this one would be awesome), Napoleopunk, and Romanpunk.

Samurai Champloo?

[Comet]

That's been done. They call it Iron Chef.

I was going to say Cooking Mama. But that works too, sure.

[Erts]

Samurai Champloo?

Doesn't have the technical aspect, but it does have the the great story and incredible characters.

[abc123]

I think I quite enjoy both of them the same really.

However in my opinion there is something that supercedes them both.

Dieselpunk. (http://shunyama.web.fc2.com/image/rick75.jpg)
it's alright but i do prefer steam punk

[mikeejimbo]

Realistic, isn't it? Now, we just need one brave soul to get razorblades sewn into his hands and start a rebellion against the Man!
And that shows us why I prefer Cyberpunk to, say, shinypunk or whatever trendy fashion outlet one could have. This stuff has actual relevance, even if it is a bit over the top.

See, with the rate of change in the Victorian era being what it was, I think that Steampunk is just as relevant, (albeit possibly on a more metaphorical level) and has a far cooler aesthetic.

[turkishproverb]

Can I choose Cattlepunk?

[Erts]

Can I choose Cattlepunk?

I think Frontierpunk sounds better.

[Kris Strife]

Hamster wheel punk.

Gerbils will work in a pinch. :smallbiggrin:

[turkishproverb]

The worst part is that now I'm picturing that.

[abc123]

giant purple dinosaur punk with hamsters

[IonDragon]

Hamster wheel punk.

Giant Space Hamster power star ship level? (http://lost.spelljammer.org/ShatteredFractine/critters/monsters/hamsterg.html)

[Fri]

Cattlepunk (http://writertavern.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/ruminant-and-revolver/)

[Kris Strife]

Giant Space Hamster power star ship level? (http://lost.spelljammer.org/ShatteredFractine/critters/monsters/hamsterg.html)

Just regular hamsters or gerbils. :smalltongue:

I would love to see a setting seriously based around the exploitation of small rodents for technological progress.

[Eldan]

Warhammer's Skaven? Though they are also Rodents themselves. Still, they use gigantic rolling Hamster Wheels to power lightning cannons.

[abc123]

Just regular hamsters or gerbils. :smalltongue:

I would love to see a setting seriously based around the exploitation of small rodents for technological progress.

a genetically modified mixture
of both

[Brewdude]

Just regular hamsters or gerbils. :smalltongue:

I would love to see a setting seriously based around the exploitation of small rodents for technological progress.

You mean something like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfJnqbudMzs

[Comet]

Cattlepunk (http://writertavern.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/ruminant-and-revolver/)

That is awesome and totally what the word "Cattlepunk" should actually mean, even if the silly people at Google claim otherwise.

[Pocketa]

Cyberpunk because it has the potential to happen whereas steampunk needs to remain something that wasn't and can't be seeing as it involves changing the past, something we currently can't do but maybe could in the future.


And now I've confused myself.

Cyberpunk for potential.
Some steampunk (strick NeoVictorian) aesthetic.

Future>Past

[Androgeus]

Chronopunk, technology is powered by removing time from places? (I'm not enough of an analyst to work out how this would affect the society)

[turkishproverb]

Cyberpunk because it has the potential to happen whereas steampunk needs to remain something that wasn't and can't be seeing as it involves changing the past, something we currently can't do but maybe could in the future.


And now I've confused myself.

Cyberpunk for potential.
Some steampunk (strick NeoVictorian) aesthetic.

Future>Past

Steam punk is, basically by definition, alternate history. YOu do get to change the "past".

[Kane]

So... which do I like more, Bioshock or System Shock 2?

The answer to that is the later, unequivocally, I must confess. (Graphics are nice, but very little can compare to S-SH-S-SHODAN)

Unless it's... Well, two styles of steampunk I will make exceptions for.

Rise of Legends, the Vinche faction's schtick was 'steampunk all up in this', (or perhaps diesel punk. Hard to tell.)

They looked awesome. Period.

Second, if you try taking victorian steampunk and moving it to the Ottoman Empire, or Arabia. That style I have found very little of, but what there is is win concentrated to the point of toxicity.

Otherwise I'm going to have to go with cyberpunk.
I-i-insect! Are yo-you afraid? What is it that you f-fear-fear? (fear?)

[BRC]

So... which do I like more, Bioshock or System Shock 2?

The answer to that is the later, unequivocally, I must confess. (Graphics are nice, but very little can compare to S-SH-S-SHODAN)

Unless it's... Well, two styles of steampunk I will make exceptions for.

Rise of Legends, the Vinche faction's schtick was 'steampunk all up in this', (or perhaps diesel punk. Hard to tell.)

They looked awesome. Period.

Second, if you try taking victorian steampunk and moving it to the Ottoman Empire, or Arabia. That style I have found very little of, but what there is is win concentrated to the point of toxicity.

Otherwise I'm going to have to go with cyberpunk.
I-i-insect! Are yo-you afraid? What is it that you f-fear-fear? (fear?)
The second book in Scott Westerfield Leviathan series is set in a Steampunk (Well, Dieselpunk) Istambul (Not Constantinople). The Sultan keeps the piece with robotic war elephants, cannons on their backs and machine guns in their trunks.

[Comet]

So... which do I like more, Bioshock or System Shock 2?


Funnily enough, Bioshock is not steampunk and the System Shocks aren't quite cyberpunk, even less so with the second game. Just thought I'd point that out :smalltongue:

[Kane]

The second book in Scott Westerfield Leviathan series is set in a Steampunk (Well, Dieselpunk) Istambul (Not Constantinople). The Sultan keeps the piece with robotic war elephants, cannons on their backs and machine guns in their trunks.

Yeah, I'd seen that. Going to have to get my hands on that book at a some point. I'm not a huge fan, but I can't resist the clankers. If only they weren't the designated badguys.


Funnily enough, Bioshock is not steampunk and the System Shocks aren't quite cyberpunk, even less so with the second game. Just thought I'd point that out :smalltongue:

While I'll concede that Bioshock isn't quite steampunk, parts of it seem like an offshoot of that vein. I mean, come on, steam-powered turrets?

And I'm pretty sure SS2 is a cyberpunk setting to match any other; Megacorps, cybernetics, hacking, etc. Admittedly, in game, you don't get to see too much of it, but the setting is.

Could be wrong, though.

[Comet]

And I'm pretty sure SS2 is a cyberpunk setting to match any other; Megacorps, cybernetics, hacking, etc. Admittedly, in game, you don't get to see too much of it, but the setting is.


Yeah, the setting at large is cyberpunk for sure. The visuals are spot on for the genre, too. But besides that, there are some stuff like psychic powers and aliens that drive it a bit away from the traditional sense of the genre. Not by an awful lot, but still enough to make it something different in my mind.

Bioshock, too, is kind of its own thing. Art deco stylings instead of victorian aesthetics. Plus the drive of society and the central conflict in the game is based on biological technology and the "perfect human", instead of machinery and human ingenuity like in steampunk.

Both games skirt the lines of certain genres without really going along with them full on. Which is also a large part of what makes them awesome.

[TheArsenal]

Try watching Treasure Planet, its got an awesome mix of both.

[abc123]

Try watching Treasure Planet, its got an mix of both.

awesome movie classic pirates in future space age setting
just awesome

[Threeshades]

I prefer Dinopunk. That is where the awesome lies.

Flintstones all the way :smallbiggrin:

[TheArsenal]

I prefer Dinopunk. That is where the awesome lies.

Flintstones all the way :smallbiggrin:

God I was just hit by the idea:

Slave,Cyber,Ninja,Steam,Dance Punk!

[Satyr]

{Scrubbed}

[Concrete]

Cyber or diesel.
Steampunk is a little too optimistic for my tastes.

[turkishproverb]

Steampunk is a little too optimistic for my tastes.

Really? I can only think of one or two really "Optimistic" pieces of steampunk I've ever seen/read/heard. And The only one that's really good is Steamboy.

[IcarusWings]

This (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176818) beats everything :smallbiggrin:

[Concrete]

Really? I can only think of one or two really "Optimistic" pieces of steampunk I've ever seen/read/heard. And The only one that's really good is Steamboy.

I see it in such a way that the very subject is optimistic.
There is progress, enlightenment. Whereas Cyberpunk is decay, a future where technology has not only failed to set us free, but is used to suppress our very humanity, Steampunk is the past, it is progress. Sure, the progress is not always nice, but it is growth, it has potential...
It's more hopeful.

[Comet]

I see it in such a way that the very subject is optimistic.
There is progress, enlightenment. Whereas Cyberpunk is decay, a future where technology has not only failed to set us free, but is used to suppress our very humanity, Steampunk is the past, it is progress. Sure, the progress is not always nice, but it is growth, it has potential...
It's more hopeful.

To be fair, the pessimistic sort of cyberpunk of the 80's is, today, very outdated. Modern fiction has moved pretty firmly into the realm of Post-Cyberpunk, where the marriage of man and machine takes the front seat over the small man's fight against the Man behind the machine. It's a bit more shiny and neat, all in all.

I do agree, though, that Steampunk is most of the time very optimistic. In my experience, when someone goes 'dude, steampunk is awesome', they are most likely talking about men in top hats going on exciting, impossible adventures on their steamboat/balloon/submarine Empyrean Goldhawk Thunderous.