-punk worlds (Part 1)

-punk worlds (Part 1) I've love steampunk and cyberpunk and recently that led me to dieselpunk and others. The nice thing about those words in AI imagery is they conjure up worlds. They are rich suitcase words of retro-futuristic worlds packed with meaning so they can affect characters and provide costuming, decor, background and eras without a lot of descriptions. The well-known words work the best, while the more obscure ones can be a bit iffy. But let's do some exploring by a timeline from the Bronze Age to 1969. Table of Contents: Sandalpunk aka Bronzepunk (Bronze Age, Iron Age) Pairing Sandalpunk and Bronzepunk with ancient civilizations: Atlantis Ancient Egypt Ancient Rome Clockpunk (16th–18th century, no steam, clockwork and gear technology) Steampunk (Victorian era, steam technology) Dieselpunk (1918-WWII or 1950s, diesel technology) Decopunk (same timeframe as Dieselpunk but chrome, clean energy? steam?) Oilpunk (same timeframe as Dieselpunk, oil technology) Petropunk / Petrolpunk (same timeframe as Dieselpunk, petrol technology) Atompunk / Atomicpunk (1945-1969) I'll use a simple prompt and swap out the -punk words to show how the AI fills in the world with these suitcase words packed with meaning. We'll use Grok for our model at first. Simple Prompt (fill in the blank) woman looking out the window into a ---- world Notice that I did not describe what the woman is wearing, her hairstyle, her room or the world outside the window. All of that will be conveyed with the one word. Sandalpunk aka Bronzepunk (uncommon word) Wikipedia says these are the ancient worlds of Atlantis, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome but they didn't collapse but evolved into a retrofuturistic world that kept their identities but have some technologies. Here's where I have a problem with wiki is that all their examples take place back in that world so it's not retrofuturistic. It's just ancient. And a few of the examples use magic for their technology which does not fit into the -punk ethos. More importantly, the AI doesn't recognize it. If you use bronzepunk, it's likely to give you steampunk with a lot of bronze instead of brass or copper. Sandalpunk is likely to give you steampunk in the desert. So as terms, to me, by themselves the words are not that useful. woman looking out the window into a sandalpunk world woman looking out the window into a bronzepunk world Atlantis + Sandalpunk / Bronzepunk Since ancient bronze age and iron age civilizations can vary a lot, I tried pairing the civilization with sandalpunk or bronzepunk and that worked better. I still get some steampunk touches like cogs and clocks but they have a vibe from those ancient civilizations as well. woman looking out the window into a Atlantis sandalpunk world woman looking out the window into a Atlantis bronzepunk world Ancient Egypt + Sandalpunk / Bronzepunk woman looking out the window into a Ancient Egypt sandalpunk world woman looking out the window into a Ancient Egypt bronzepunk world Ancient Rome+ Sandalpunk / Bronzepunk woman looking out the window into a Ancient Rome sandalpunk world woman looking out the window into a Ancient Rome bronzepunk world Clockpunk (uncommon word) Think Da Vinci on steroids. The time is the 16th–18th century, aka the Early Modern Period, and its retro-futuristic technology uses Renaissance science and technology based on clockwork, gears and Da Vinci's machinery designs. This is before steam technology so no steam. I don't think the AI understand "clockpunk" by itself as it tends to go overboard with the cogs and gears. woman looking out the window into a clockpunk world Renaissance + Clockpunk I tried interjecting Renaissance and that worked better woman looking out the window into a Renaissance clockpunk world Da Vincian + Clockpunk Doing "Da Vinci clockpunk world" didn't work that well for me but "Da Vincian clockwork world" was interesting. woman looking out the window into a Da Vincian clockpunk world Da Vincian + Retro-futuristic instead of Clockwork The thing is I found a "Da Vincian retro-futuristic world" more interesting. woman looking out the window into a Da Vincian retro-futuristic world Steampunk (common word) woman looking out the window into a steampunk world If I say "steampunk", you know what I mean and more importantly so does the AI models. A Victorianish era world running on inventive steam and clockwork inventions. Unless spelled out otherwise, the AI will assume clothes, hair, buildings, and room decor are European 1800s with a few airships and other inventions thrown in. Energywise, it is an urban world run on aether, steam and clockworks. It emphasizes machinery over nature. It is a world women can be inventors too. Dieselpunk (common word) woman looking out the window into a dieselpunk world Most AI models understand "dieselpunk." This world runs on diesel. Skies feel more polluted. It is a darker world than the steampunk world, taking place after WWI. For some it ends with WWII, and others it ends in the 1950s. The AI tends to place it between the two world wars. It's very urban without nature. Vibewise, this dieselpunk can go for a 1930s working class industrial Great Depression vibe, the more opulent 1920s Art Deco, or the more film noir pulp fiction vibe of the 1940s-1950s. The AI tends to lean into the 1930s, so if you want a bit more of the 1920s or the 1940s, you may need to add a word or two to offset that 1930s dieselpunk inclination. Decodence is a term created by dieselpunk aficionados to describe the Jazz Age dieselpunk. Or use Art Deco. Because decodence is specialized, it works in just a few models. Art Deco works across the board. Art Deco + Dieselpunk woman looking out the window into a Art Deco dieselpunk world Decodence, when it work, tends to be more subtle than Art Deco. You can see it as a design element but it doesn't tend to be in everything the way Art Deco tends to be. Decodence + Dieselpunk woman looking out the window into a decodence dieselpunk world Here you can see that decodence gave an Art Deco vibe on streamlining those buldings but it did not take over the whole city like the previous picture. To get a later dieselpunk vibe, add film noir, film-noir, pulp fiction, or pulp-fiction. I've found film noir/film-noir tended to add a bluer, more somber palette and more shadows while pulp fiction/pulp-fiction tended to have a little more color. That tends to give a 1940s flavor. Film-noir+ Dieselpunk woman looking out the window into a film-noir dieselpunk world You can also add decades 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s. Because fashion, decor, architecture and industry changed so much during that time, dieselpunk can also vary reflecting the time period. It still carries a darker, grittier, more cynical, more polluted feel than the steampunk world due to its reliance on diesel energy and diesel-powered inventions. Again this is very much an urban world with little to do with nature unless you leave the cities. Pulp-fiction + Dieselpunk woman looking out the window into a pulp-fiction dieselpunk world Neon signs came out in the 1910s, first in Europe and then later spread to the USA. Given the time frame of dieselpunk, neon signs might show up on the streets. If you don't want them just add "no neon" to your prompt. Remember always, results may vary! So see how your favorite models react. Decopunk (uncommon word) Decopunk isn't as well known as dieselpunk. It's basically the same time period as dieselpunk but it emphasizes chrome and a streamlined Art Deco look. Grok seemed to understand it pretty well. It's shiny, bright and unpolluted. It's very urban with little or no nature but it feels like a beautiful world. To me it's like if the world's technologies evolved using clean steam technologies. woman looking out the window into a decopunk world Oilpunk (uncommon word) Technology running on oil instead of diesel. Oilpunk tends to be grittier and dirtier than dieselpunk and tends to fall into the low-life, high-tech retrofuturism. It's very dystopian, very industrial, very urban with little or no nature. There's not much on it as it is a very small subgenre. I am not sure if Grok understood it or was making a guess at it. It seems to fit the description tho. woman looking out the window into a oilpunk world Petropunk or Petrolpunk (uncommon word) It's a more idealized oil-based retro-futuristic world than the oilpunk world. I'd have to test this more as I did a couple image and one was only slighly less dark than the oilpunk vision while the other did seem better but better is relative. I am not convinced grok understood petropunk/petrolpunk or if it was making a best guess effort. woman looking out the window into a petropunk world Atompunk / Atomicpunk (common word) Not as well known as steampunk but as known as dieselpunk, atompunk is the era after dieselpunk from about 1945-1969 using atomic energy. This is the retro-futuristic Jetson's space age vibe. Interesting to me, wikipedia says the 1960s secret agent stuff with the cool inventive gadgets falls into this category so this includes Sean Connery's 007, The Avengers (which I loved), and Man from U.N.C.L.E. woman looking out the window into a atompunk world