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[moi]

See, I differentiate between all forms of "the future the way the past saw it" and specifically that 60s-70s retro future, which for me is very tied into the graphic design aspects of that period; the best TIGS example of this new trend being fish's work, which I think is brilliant.

More examples of that specific kind of retro-future:
- early 90's simplistic CGI; eg. Re:Boot
- buildings and bridges by architect Santiago Calatrava
- Lego (the good old kind where there were lots of small pieces, not like new crap big piece Lego)
- the use of Helvetica
- a mix of curvy things and rectilinearity
- a tangible connection to Modernism (the irony here being that I love retro future, yet despise Modernism)

So yeah, this is basically why steampunk and fallout etc. don't count.  It's pretty obvious that the "retro" they're using doesn't take heavy inspiration from 1960s and 70s.  Or to a lesser extent, the "primitive" computing of the 1980s and early 90s.

I think what you're looking for is 60s and 70s design, not "retro future" then...just sayin'. Phil fish hip-70s aesthetic is "retro" more than retro future (not retrofuture at all).

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I think there are different retro-futures -- there's the retro-future imagined during the 50s (which is what Fallout largely draws from), the retro-future imagined during the 70s (like The Jetsons), the retro-future imagined during the 80s (like Tron), the retro-future imagined during the 19th century, and so on -- it's not a single style, because different eras had different visions of what the future would be like.

[GregWS]

That's exactly what I'm getting at.  My preference is for the 60s/70s imagined future, though I do find the other ones interesting to varrying degrees.  And I think fish's work isn't as retro as may seem at first; yeah, it takes a lot from that, but it isn't work that you would have necessarily seen at that point in history.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I don't even understand how we can evaluate art from a game that isn't released yet -- we've probably seen a tiny fraction of it.

And yes, there's no way you would have seen something like this or this in the 70s, or any-time at all. His art is generally has that 'the future as imagined in the 60s/70s' feel, not 'the 60s/70s' feel.

[moi]

What game are we talking about?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Are we talking about a particular game? I thought we were talking about retro-future aesthetic and how it applies to games -- the last games mentioned were the red alert series and fallout.

[GregWS]

I don't even understand how we can evaluate art from a game that isn't released yet -- we've probably seen a tiny fraction of it.

I'm talking about all the graphic design work fish has posted, not Fez.  I don't think Fez is that retro-future, actually.  At least not in comparison to fish's graphic design work.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Ah, I see, I forgot not only that I was talking about that game but also mistakenly forgot that he has a life outside of Fez, my apologies. :D

Anyway, I do have a retro-future RTS game designed. Actually wynand (the writer for Immortal Defense) designed most of it. I don't to reveal much about it yet in case we actually make it one day, but its name was going to be The Great Society.

[ChevyRay]

[Aik]

I'm a big fan of retrofuturism - but what I'd like to see is some modern futurism that isn't all doomgloom and misery. The view of what the future would be in the 50s is fantastic - full of optimism and imagination. Today's vision of the future is basically 'yeah, kinda like now only with smaller ipods - but we won't be able to afford them, because the economy will have died, the cities will be underwater, those that aren't will be under martial law, and we'll all be sitting around being very unhappy'. Dystopia gets boring after a while.

If people took the 50s mindset and applied it to today's society and technology - that would be nice.


Though it doesn't seem to be up right now, http://www.palaceofculture.org/ has some fantastic art from the 50s on it (by Arthur Radebaugh(?) - the guy who drew the Closer Than We Think comics).

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Well, there's still star trek, sci-fi novels, and so on. A lot of them are positive, even today. I know star trek isn't exactly modern but the next generation and the latter series are more modern, and still very positive about the future.

In general I think it's easy to think the future will be horrible and hellish, and it's easy to think the future will be wonderful and solve all our problems -- most likely it'll be both to a degree -- wonderful in parts, hellish in other parts. Just like the world today is in some aspects is wonderfully superior to 100 or 200 years ago and in other aspects much worse than 100 or 200 years ago.

[Renton]

The way I see it is that the future will be (unless something really horrible happens) quite like what we have now, but with the good and bad parts really polarizing. Like you said, we are, in certain ways, better than what it was like 100 years ago, but worse in some other ways. And it will be like that, only much exaggerated. The good parts will be superb, while the bad parts will be terrible.

[GregWS]

I thought Neuromancer was kinda like that.  A lot of stuff was the same, but the extremes were much more visible.

[JLJac]

William Gibson is obviously on to something.

Also, if you've ever been to England, the movie Children of men is painting a rather interesting picture of the country some thirty years into the future. The whole infertility-thing is of course impossible to know about, but the movie captures the atmosphere of a futuristic England in a really good way.



But now I'm getting off the subject, this certainly isn't retro in any way.

[GregWS]

Holy Shit Guys!!! 

I just came across this Montreal electronic musician who's music is really retro future! http://www.myspace.com/cfcf

Listen to "The Explorers" to really see what I mean! 

[agj]

What's 'future' about Lego and Helvetica, Greg? Also, that music just sounds like '80s electronica, in my opinion. [edit: To be fair,

has a lot of 'future' to it.]

Dystopia gets boring after a while.

There's also that post-dystopic future, after the human race had dwindled and was forced to go back to the simple and slow life. I like that sort of future the best.

[GregWS]

Not future agj, retro future.  That's why the 80's sounding-ness was/is OK.

To be honest, I'm still not totally sure about what fits in this genre and what doesn't, and that music may not.

Specifics:
- Helvetica because it's so strongly tied into the retro-future graphic arts style
- Lego: OK, fine, this is more retro than it is future, but I guess I can see a lot of connections with the graphic aesthetic (keep in mind that I'm talking pre-1990 Lego here too)

Oh, and for the record, I think the British duo hybrid's music is really futuristic (though not retro futuristic).  The songs Kill City, I Know, and Blackout especially!  This would probably be more Gibson-future than dark future though (dark future's music would be Aphex Twin and Amon Tobin!).

[Eclipse]

i think that during those years there was two way of doing scifi, a more realistical one such 2001 a space odissey, and a fantasy one more like Star Wars.
Here two examples of those "subgenres"

DARK STAR




surfing in space is pure '70s style


also, speaking bombs that refuses to listen to orders


Dark Star Astronauts: the pink floydian way to space exploration

Nothing screams retro future like [tron image]

no way!
Nothing screams retro future like...

FLASH GORDON





and surely nobody can forget this man:


:D

[moi]

[Jrsquee]

Bradbury, Asimov, et al.

Totally ace thread!