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Quote from Glimmar

Glad you like the pack 13thMurder.

I don't find your views insulting in the slightest, everyone is entitled to their opinions and everyone who's interested in the subject has their own idea of what Steampunk is, but I can't really agree with your definition of my pack as being closer to Dieselpunk than Steampunk.

Indeed, I can't agree with your argument that because the pack contains robots, wires and things with lights on, that it implies everything is therefore powered by electricity and so must be categorised as Dieselpunk. You are conveniently ignoring the many instances of steampower, brass cog-controlled textures that run through-out the pack and the fact that electricity, wires and many experiments in new forms of lighting were very much a feature of the late Victorian/Edwardian period. Some aspects of the pack might be considered more Dieselpunk than pure Steampunk, but in truth all genres and themes overlap and if one is going to be in someway original, that process of stretching the boundaries is absolutely necessary.

A number of textures and skins used in the pack are still 'stand-ins' that users have kindly 'donated' to the pack, and you may be confusing these with a more Dieselpunk style (skins like the temporary robot villagers, some of the squid, ghast, etc.) Though excellently realised and far better than the vanilla textures, they are not quite what I envisaged for my theme, which is mostly based on or inspired by the works of China Mieville, considered by some to be one of the foremost contemporary steampunk authors at work today.

All my own textures are absolutely inspired by an alternate Victorian or Edwardian world of arcane technology, which most definately was dabbling with electricity, even if it wasn't fully understood (one only needs to read H G Wells to confirm this), and over time (which I don't have much of at the mo') they will be replaced with artwork more appropriate to my vision. I should also mention the inventive work of Eddison as being a progenitor to literary steampunk, and my first thought whenever I think of him is one of lightbulbs, generators and lightning-esque Frankenstein experiments. I also think of films such as 'the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' and others that consist of ingenious wired-up glowing devices alongside brass cogs and boilers.

Electricity in China Mieville's stories is seen in an arcane/magical vein, and that's how I've tried to realise it in this pack. Mieville also views chemistry (or chimistry) as more akin to a mixture of alchemy, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Victorian scientific experiments and again my work in the pack has that in abundance. My only texture, eg. one that I've made myself that could possibly be considered more Dieselpunk than Steampunk in it's style, is my TNT which I've always felt was a little too modern looking but was a very early attempt at something different. Nowhere have I consciously used a petrol or diesel engine texture.

The 32x scale and constriction of working with block textures in Minecraft does make it somewhat difficult to represent the more decorative style associated with the Victorian period. And because I like to make the terrain textures as useful as possible for epic building, I tend to lean to a more utilitarian style of block that tiles well, but always with a Victorian industrial feel of cast iron, brick, hardwood and stone. My armor, though most of it is made up of placeholders based on the iron armor, is operated by 'chimical', 'arcane electrical' or 'steam/boiler' power, not combustion engine, and is temporarily represented by the ore colors for definition(eg. diamond, gold), therefore slightly confusingly modern looking.

There are brass cogs, steam and cast iron boilers aplenty in all the work I have so far completed. However, I have always believed Steampunk to be a broad church that incorporates all types of futuristic technology as envisaged by Victorian/Edwardian scientists and authors, not just limited to steampower or brass cog controlled contraptions.

I've always found it to be refreshing to be imaginative with a theme and not to be absolutely constricted to a literal definition of a title (even if I conciously chose the title to best convey what my theme is 'mostly' centered around). That way the genre grows rather than stagnates. If one takes the title 'Steam'-punk literally, and only used the science of steam powered technology it would be pretty limiting for the majority of today's best loved Steampunk authors and their fans, neither of which have limited themselves to just cogs and steam power. One only needs to search Google-images under the heading of Steampunk to see the infinite range of gadgets, artwork, constructions and fashion that consists of brass cogs and copper pipes and wires, glowing lights/valves and what appears to be a retro-Victorian (not a more modernish Dieselpunk) use of electricity.

I would admit my title is used in the general sense as I would not wish to be confined to any one of the many subgenres like Dieselpunk that collectively are referred to as Steampunk. Indeed, there are many aspects of Dieselpunk and other retro sci-fi subjects that, if the fancy took me, I would include in the pack, if I thought it helped me realise something better in my own Minecraft builds.

When all is said and done, we all have our own view of how things should look in an alternate Victorian world of science and architecture and this pack is just my quirky retro sci-fi world view. It is constrained of course by Minecraft's elements and blockiness, but it is, in my humble opinion, best labelled as Steampunk. I suppose, like China Mieville who often describes his work as 'weird fiction' rather than Steampunk, I'd similarly describe my work as 'weird textures', though best highlighted and categorised to the casual passerby as 'Steampunk'.

There are many others out there that qualify the use of primitive electrical devices and glowing lights in a Steampunk world, so in parting, here's a couple of quotes that might be of interest:

Definition
Steampunk (noun) – A sub-genre of soft science fiction, typically set in an industrialized historical period, in which anachronistic technology is present.


"Steampunk is a genre which came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s and incorporates elements of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror, and speculative fiction. It involves a setting where steam power is widely used—whether in an alternate history such as Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United States, or in a post-apocalyptic time —that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. This technology includes such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or the contemporary authors Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfeld and China Mieville."
wiki

"Steampunk: An aesthetic movement based around the science fiction of a future that never happened. Recall, if you will, visions of the future that were written a hundred years ago or more. Think Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Mary Shelley, and the like — telling stories featuring technology that didn’t exist at the time, but might someday. Remember that they were writing with no idea of the microchip, or the internet, or (in some cases) the internal combustion engine. Therefore, in their versions of the future, the technology upon which society would eventually come to depend is driven largely by steam power or clockwork. Sometimes electricity is likewise invoked, but it’s often treated as quasi-magical due to the contemporary lack of understanding about how it behaved and what it could do...

...Steampunk could be considered a retro-futuristic neo-Victorian sensibility that is being embraced by fiction, music, games, and fashion. It is ornate and vibrant, and intricate. It believes that functional items can and should be beautiful."
Author Cherie Priest

Sincere good luck with your texture pack take on Steampunk, 13thMurder. It will be just as individual and quirky a world view as mine, and will of course satisfy the desires of those looking for something different. I dare say it will also be better realized than my humble offering, as you seem far more versed and considered in the subject matter than most.