Steampunk: What is the right way to do it ?

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darth.pixie

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Arcanum. Definitely Arcanum. The first game I even think about when I read the word 'steampunk'
 

thejboy88

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Steampunk stories should be set in realistic worlds. Like a story set in sort of victorian times where such technology might not seem out of place. Then make it so that the technology in question is not over the top, like giant robots, but plausible, like steam powered blims or something.
 

Rhinzual26

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Cowabungaa said:
Blueruler182 said:
Lots and lots and lots and loooooooots of smoke. Or steam, I suppose. Also, rusty machines that look like they're held together by duct tape. And they need to be EVERYWHERE! Oh, and lots of copper. Don't know why, but it has to be rusty copper.

And I don't see an issue with steam powered motorcycle, no more than any other steam powered vehicle. It's gonna get pretty damn hot after a while, so you better have one hell of an insulated seat and codpiece, but otherwise it seems like it's work about as well as anything else in steampunk.
Rusted copper looks like this:

*shudder*

This is the colour of steampunk:

Shiny shiny braaaass...

And you're damn right about a steampowered motorcycle. Steamboy has a steampowered unicycle, and it's even more awesome.
Rhinzual26 said:
Figures my first post would be about this topic. If you ask me, the 'right' way to pull off a Steampunk game is best found in Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. You've got zepplins, older-style guns like revolvers and obviously steampunk-versions of modern weapons, such as a steampunk grenade launcher. You can also create what is an essence a steampunk sniper rifle by combining a marksman rifle with a looking glass. Heck, you can combine a miniature steam engine with some large gears to make a mechanized arachnid pet/temporary follower.
Or an automatic rifle if you're feeling saucy. I could rip through anything with that thing. Well except this one ogre fellow I was forced to get past after I walked in a cave for some cave, therefor ruining my savegame. I was a sad panda that day.
That is the color of rusted copper, it's why the statue of libery looks like that. "Copper and Iron. Rusted Copper over an Iron frame."

I found the Elephant Gun to be hugely useful, and the tranquilizer gun is a downright godsend when in a group because it can do what, fatigue damage in the very low triple digits? Sure you can only fire a few shots at max DEX, but against one ogre, that should be enough to send him into negative fatigue for everyone to murder.
 

kane.malakos

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How has this thread gone on for so long without someone mentioning the Thief series? Thief 2: The Metal Age in particular had a lot of awesome steampunk elements. Giant steam powered robots, enormous technological citadels. It was a great setting.
 

FalloutJack

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Opinions may vary, but I believe the right way to do steampunk - aside from Steam Boy - would be that your world had modern technology of a high level AT FIRST, but then something screwed up and destroyed civilization. You start over, and there's alot of this old tech lying around that doesn't make sense because you've only figured out clockworks, pulleys, steam engines, and so on. So, you examine these things to see what they must be for. And once you realize that, the gears get turning and you say, "Well, I think I can recreate this bit of lost science myself, with the right tools. If I recreate some of the parts of this device and hook it up to my engines, I'll be able to toast my bread and keep food cold to preserve it longer!". So basically, steampunk should be about restoring technological advances using that level of development.
 

Zaik

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Arcanum is the first, and really only, game that comes to my mind if you're looking for a game that did it right, and was actually committed to the idea.
 

Solo-Wing

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Cowabungaa said:
And you're damn right about a steampowered motorcycle. Steamboy has a steampowered unicycle, and it's even more awesome.
No steam powered motorcycle is as epic as this steam powered motorcycle.
 

Rhinzual26

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Zaik said:
Arcanum is the first, and really only, game that comes to my mind if you're looking for a game that did it right, and was actually committed to the idea.
One part that made it so great was not just commitment towards Steampunk, but how Magic and Science in general can't work together, as magic alters physics to achieve a goal, and science uses physics and exploits it to achieve a goal. Large machines and factories create an anti-magic field, whereas powerful mages in close proximity create an anti-technology field. I've seen a couple steampunk and magic games, usually no-name MMOs and such where what could be called a Technologist gets healed by magic. Yet trying to heal a technologist decked out in tech gear with a healing spell does squat.

Sorry I keep going off at lengths about Arcanum, it's just that good and well thought-out.
 

PerkoApple

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SIXVI06-M said:
PerkoApple said:
So what just happened in that video?
I've seen a lot of your posts... and I have this to ask: can you ever make up your own mind? and do you ever work things out for yourself? just wondering, seriously (something worth considering, it will help you in life).

If I had to explain - a guy was getting beaten up gangster style by a heart in a metal suit, then thrown out a window. Lands on a balloon, rips some canvas off it in an attempt to save himself. Almost gets saved by some woman with the power of roses, when she suddenly gets attacked by the same thing that attacked the guy.

Watch the video again, that's pretty much the play-by-play.
It's called sarcasm..or a rhetorical question. I can't believe you just responded with a play by play.

Maybe if you didn't need everything explained you could've figured that out for yourself.
 

dawdarsd

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either the game borderlands(if that's even steampunk)
or the short animated movie codehunters (the movie's awesome and it's close to steampunk)
 

The Madman

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Oh hey, is that a badass Dwarf with a flamethrower? Why yes, yes it is. Games called Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura. Very solid rpg put out by the late great Troika games, in which you played as pretty much anything you wanted in a steampunk era fantasy setting complete with clockwork robots, fireball hurling wizards with shotguns, orcs flying tri-planes to shoot down blimps (That's the intro!), knights in full armour and a brace of pistols, and you're flamethrower wielding Dwarves among other games. It's also as far as I know the only game aside from Fallout 2 where you can become a prostitute... With a flamethrower! Anyway pointless detail for you, but there you go.

So damned awesome.
 

Weilyn

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I really love the steam punk in Atlantis: The Lost Empire, by Disney. The movie in itself was pretty weak, but the visuals were awesome.

Treasure Planet looked extremely cool as well, but I don't really know if it counts.
 

Weilyn

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The Madman said:


Oh hey, is that a badass Dwarf with a flamethrower? Why yes, yes it is. Games called Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura. Very solid rpg put out by the late great Troika games, in which you played as pretty much anything you wanted in a steampunk era fantasy setting complete with clockwork robots, fireball hurling wizards with shotguns, orcs flying tri-planes to shoot down blimps (That's the intro!), knights in full armour and a brace of pistols, and you're flamethrower wielding Dwarves among other games. It's also as far as I know the only game aside from Fallout 2 where you can become a prostitute... With a flamethrower! Anyway pointless detail for you, but there you go.

So damned awesome.
I must play that game.
I have no options. I MUST play it.
 

Flames66

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MercurySteam said:
Two words - Bioshock Infinite:

That looks good. Now if they would make a sandbox with that kind of setting I might actually buy it.

"lease icklm"?
 

kingcom

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Weilyn said:
The Madman said:


Oh hey, is that a badass Dwarf with a flamethrower? Why yes, yes it is. Games called Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura. Very solid rpg put out by the late great Troika games, in which you played as pretty much anything you wanted in a steampunk era fantasy setting complete with clockwork robots, fireball hurling wizards with shotguns, orcs flying tri-planes to shoot down blimps (That's the intro!), knights in full armour and a brace of pistols, and you're flamethrower wielding Dwarves among other games. It's also as far as I know the only game aside from Fallout 2 where you can become a prostitute... With a flamethrower! Anyway pointless detail for you, but there you go.

So damned awesome.
I must play that game.
I have no options. I MUST play it.
The downside? Poor combat system, the way to counter that is to pick up a spell called disintegrate and never have to worry about anything...except armies of dwarves. Damn magic resistance.
 

wizard_joe88

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Weilyn said:
The Madman said:


Oh hey, is that a badass Dwarf with a flamethrower? Why yes, yes it is. Games called Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura. Very solid rpg put out by the late great Troika games, in which you played as pretty much anything you wanted in a steampunk era fantasy setting complete with clockwork robots, fireball hurling wizards with shotguns, orcs flying tri-planes to shoot down blimps (That's the intro!), knights in full armour and a brace of pistols, and you're flamethrower wielding Dwarves among other games. It's also as far as I know the only game aside from Fallout 2 where you can become a prostitute... With a flamethrower! Anyway pointless detail for you, but there you go.

So damned awesome.
I must play that game.
I have no options. I MUST play it.
All i heard was prostitute with a flamethrower and I agree with you
I must play that game(too)!
 

MercurySteam

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Flames66 said:
MercurySteam said:
Two words - Bioshock Infinite:

That looks good. Now if they would make a sandbox with that kind of setting I might actually buy it.

"lease icklm"?
Bioshock games are FPS/RPGs and nothing elese. If you want a sandbox then play Saints Row 2.
 

Erana

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A lot of things brush with the Steampunk look, but one thing so many sources seem to forget is that steampunk is ornate. Every feature in a steampunk world should breathe clockwork; everything should either have a purely smooth surface with a clean, simple surface or be overflowing with all sorts of doo-dads and ornate details.
Natural and earthen tones would be the primarily palette; a thing's beauty should come its physical form. (And possibly the juxtapositions of various metals, raw fabrics or richly colored wood)
In this sense, everything in a steampunk world should be epitomized by a pocket watch.
Victorian clothes can be an exception, especially with women's clothing.

At least, that's pure Steampunk to me. I don't mind variances on the theme, like the Bioshock Infinite's Americana steampunk as long as its visually pleasing. Grand scales typically lend themselves to
 

Flames66

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MercurySteam said:
Bioshock games are FPS/RPGs and nothing elese. If you want a sandbox then play Saints Row 2.
I want a Steampunk sandbox. I'm afraid SR2 is not.