Steampunk

[spaceman1999]

Do you like steampunk? What do you like about it and why? I love steam airships.

[EuSouONumero345]

I like steampunk, steampunks are cool.

BTW I have no idea why they're cool so......

[razark]

Do you like steampunk?

No.

What do you like about it...?

Nothing.

... and why?

It all seems so ridiculous. Everything I've seen seems to be modern technology in a wooden case with lots of useless shiny brass bolted to it, literally and figuratively.

Now, if you were to demonstrate an actual working device that uses only steam-age technology to function, I might be interested. But stick your iPad in a wood box with useless dials and pipes? Meh.

[Voidryder]

Spaceman, I too enjoy Steampunk. In fact I write it, though more in the Old West setting than on the Continent or Merry Old England.

I'm afraid what Razark is referring to isn't what written Steampunk is about at all. It isn't just sticking brass and wood on 21st century tech. To be true to the genre you cannot do anything that isn't based upon 19th Century technology. You want a computer, well it must be based upon the workings of Charles Baggage, not Bell Labs. True, there is always some license taken, after all it it is science-fiction and we steampunkers do love our zeppelins, but it is a lot more than just taking a cellphone, sticking it in a wooden box and calling it Alexander's Portable Speaking Device.

Razark, I hope you'll pick up a novel -- Boneshaker by Cherie Priest is a very good one -- and give it a try. But if it isn't your cup of tea, no harm, no foul.

Fly Straight and True!

[razark]

Google image search. "steampunk".

Alright! I'll admit that I haven't actually read any steampunk. But when everyone I know that has proposed steampunk to me is shoveling junk like what I can find in that image search, it really hasn't interested me at all. Like I said, demonstrate that any of that stuff could actually work, and it'd be different. (At least, I'd be able to take it seriously.) Y'all steampunkers like your zepplins, you say. I say fine, show it to me in a way that it doesn't come off as an utterly silly concept. When you say "based upon 19th Century technology", I just can't wrap my head around how any of the technology I've been shown is supposed to function based on an early/mid industrial level; without that, the whole concept fails to coalesce into something I can enjoy.

Of course, it's based on personal preference. You like steampunk. Certain types of sci-fi and fantasy reach me much better. Show me a 1950s Heinlein spaceship, and I'll get drawn in (even if the technology is really pretty silly). Steampunk is just one of the genres that hasn't grabbed me. It's not the only genre I am not a fan of. Cyberpunk, vampires, transhumanism, and superheros also get a "meh" response from me. (Maybe there's a connection between those types that I just haven't recognized. And then again, I have no problem with the works of Jules Verne, even though what he wrote would be steampunk if written today.)

But I will check to local bookstore to see if I can grab a copy of Boneshaker.

Edit: And one spontaneous trip to the bookstore later, I have Boneshaker sitting on my desk.

Edited February 17, 2014 by razark

[bsalis]

Personally I like the style of Dieselpunk more.

I think it could have worked well as an alternative art style for KSP. Think Gattaca, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Iron Sky etc. Imagine a KSC with Art Deco buildings! mebe someone will do a reskin mod one day.

Only problem would be curvy aspect of the style. Not so good with lego style construction.

[peadar1987]

As a visual style, I think it's pretty cool. As a hipster subculture, well:

[Tw1]

Only problem would be curvy aspect of the style. Not so good with lego style construction.

That would be pretty cool, though I imagine it would be hard to achieve the full effect without altering the meshes somehow.

I have not looked at much Dieselpunk (yet), but some of my own ideas for a sci-fi series have aspects of that style.

[minerman30]

I personally favor the "industrial" style myself, such as the Antec DF-85 case.

I have named the futuristic-looking style of blue glowing buttons and lots of curves the "washing machine" style, which I doalike.

[Skyrunner27]

I like the idea of an alternate history involving the implementation of steam. It allures me the same as the other. I am put off some what by the lets put cogs on something and call it steampunk. Here is the list if you haven't seen the other forms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_derivatives#Dieselpunk

[MC.STEEL]

I didnt really like anything other than industial style until i played Dishonored witch grabbed me to love it. I allso didnt like neon coated cyberpunk until i tryed out Nitronic rush And now i am hooked,cant get enough of those two.

But i hate futurist styles that feature only curvy surfaces i dunno why but i dont really want to look at them,i mean sure the occasional curve does lighten up designs and makes them look better but some are just overdosing it and making it look like some sort of organ,YUCK.

(think Sophon ships from Endless space.)

Edited February 18, 2014 by MC.STEEL

[Nikolai]

I grew up as the kid of a children's reference librarian -- so if I was going to read sci-fi, I was going to read the stuff ratified into classic status by time.

Which meant growing up on H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. As such, there's some nostalgia surrounding the overwrought prose and swashbuckling action of Victorian/Edwardian sci-fi for me, and when something steampunk-ish captures that feel, I'm automatically on board for the ride.

I'm also a tinkerer, so if your bit of brass and steam does something, I'm immediately more impressed.

[WhiteWeasel]

Between sci-fi ships, I really love the aesthetic of steampunk ships. Guns of Icarus online and final fantasy XII are my favorites.

A little more magick-punk, but sweet.

Edited February 19, 2014 by WhiteWeasel

[razark]

Razark, I hope you'll pick up a novel -- Boneshaker by Cherie Priest is a very good one -- and give it a try. But if it isn't your cup of tea, no harm, no foul.

Alright, I finished it. Official opinion: it was alright as a story, but it doesn't really pull me in to the world or make me want to follow it up. There were some small details that just didn't make sense about the technology, which kept pulling me out of the world. For example, airships were mentioned as using steam thrusters to maneuver. How much thrust does steam provide, compared to the mass of a steam boiler, water, and fuel? We're back to the iPad in a wood case with useless brass.

(The zombie thing isn't exactly my line, either. Seems to me they were there to make the world gritty and dangerous, but couldn't that have been done with something other than zombies? It felt like the author said "Hey, zombies are a thing that's popular right now, so I'll add zombies!")

[Accelerando]

It's interesting. I like the idea of a Victorian-era society branching in a different direction from that which it took in our own time, especially under a universe with different physical laws. I also like the idea of exploring a technological route alternate to our own, in itself. The most steampunkish thing I have ever read is Karl Schroeder's Virga series, specifically Queen of Candesce  which offers an intriguing hard SF take on steamy, dieselesque worldbuilding.

[Esme]

When all's said and done it's all down to personal taste. I'd love to own a Curta calculator, something I'm sure Mr Babbage would have appreciated, but I'd also love to have a mobile phone in the form of an old candlestick phone (alas, well beyond my ability to create) for the sheer whimsy of it. I've seen some extremely well and artfully done examples of modern tech being artfully concealed in retro casings, including what looked like an old bellows camera housing a modern smartphone. Just adding lots of cogs on things? Doesn't float my boat, but hey, if it makes the owner happy...