Steampunk – Slopek pt.3
New Media History
Dr. Edward Slopek
Steampunk is a subgenre of fiction based on an alternate history where steam power is still widely used. It is a world where Charles Babbage’s difference engine was actually built in the 1830’s, making the information era take place before the second industrial revolution. This causes a jump start in technology before electricity was common and the most reliable source of energy was still steam power. Most steampunk novels and comics take place in Victorian era England in a dystopian society.
I find it interesting to see anything converted steampunk or cyberpunk. In most cases the artists take something that we are very familiar with, like a personal computer for example, and convert it to a steam-powered looking device from Victorian England. The new device shares some common qualities with our own time but is still something entirely different. It’s like there was a gadget fad back then like there is now but everything is tweaked. Picture the whole world like that and you’ve got steampunk. A while ago I saw an illustration of Star Wars turned steampunk.
This is an illustration of Darth Vader from the Star Wars series. On Eric Poulton’s website he has a bunch of different characters also drawn in this style. They’re interesting to see because the intricacies and detail in the conversion closely resemble the same repetition seen in the difference engine.
I think it would be fun to re-imagine something like Halo’s “Master Chief” into steampunk fiction. I’ve made a drawing showing this but it’s not the greatest. This is more of a general idea. I’d love to study more Victorian England and make an actual comic based in the style.
I propose the possibility of a mod on the halo game. If all the steampunk styles are applied to physical objects then why not to software as well?
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