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HardSF
This is any kind of illustrated medium - whether it's American,
Japanese, or Martian, hand- or computer-drawn, animation or comics.
- Akira (anime, manga)
- Near-future, biker gangs and gov't-created psychers going rogue.
- Bubblegum Crisis, AD Police, Bubblegum Crash (anime)
- Derivative but well-implemented cyberpunk setting with power-suited
superheroines fighting shapeshifting and occasionally amorphous or
bloodsucking androids created by a corporation that rules the world and
can't be brought down. Tasty mind candy. Great soundtrack. "Revenge
Road" hit a good cpunk nerve, so it wasn't *ALL* shallowness, but
superheroes are a virus that needs to be exterminated - the notion that
some twit in a form-fitting suit with powers you don't have is going to
show up and save your ass encourages apathy and the status quo (and I'm
well aware that I'm just as addicted to that pathetic notion as anyone).
AD Police is far more interesting in actual practice, because it shows
normal people standing up to the forces of decay around them. Leon is a
real hero, because he's just a guy with a gun, cool shades, and an
attitude, and a boomer can kill him as easily as anyone else, but he goes
out there anyway to save other people's lives. Any of us could be Leon -
just get a badge and a gun and join the PD. The Knight Sabers are a
buncha wimps.
- Give Me Liberty (graphic novel)
- Precursor to Underground. Focused on the death of the American
dream through consumerism.
- Hotel Harbor View (graphic novel)
- Depressing, tragic, sexy, the loss of all hope and a final redemption
of sorts. I'm not certain why I see this as a cyberpunk story, but IMO it
is - the spirit is the same, even if it doesn't have the same veneer.
- Masamune Shirow (anime, manga)
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- Appleseed
- Black Magic
- Intense stuff, discussing the nature of human society when we
begin to automate our lives and politics. The anime of Appleseed
is quite good, with a mildly different emphasis. The BM anime is
just a Terminator rehash. Ignore it.
- Dominion
- More light-hearted on the surface but much much darker underneath,
covering environmental themes. The anime discusses individuality
and heritage mostly instead.
- Ghost In The Shell
- What is personality? What is humanity? Who am "I"? What makes
a soul? Visionary, deep, and ultimately very hopeful and cynical at
the same time. The anime and manga are somewhat different, input them
both.
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Links:
+-Mark Damon Hughes: Software Gallery
+-Mark Damon Hughes: Software Gallery Blog
+-@mdhughes on Twitter
+- iPhone Games:
+-Perilar: Role-playing game for the iPhone.
+-Castles: Strategy wargame for the iPhone.
+-DungeonDice: Tabletop RPG dice roller for the iPhone.
+-Nexus Worlds: Multiplayer Online Adventure Game for the iPhone.
+- Computer Games:
+-Java Perilar: Adventures in the Dragon Kingdoms.
+-Hephaestus: Computer RPG construction kit.
+-GameScroll: Simple interactive fiction authoring.
+-Aiee!: "An Interactive Environment Engine" text adventure system.
+-Umbra: Post-apocalpytic computer RPG.
+- Utilities:
+-JICB: Portable ICB client written in Java.
+-ThoughtPad: A tiny note-taking utility.
Site Pages:
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+-SIX WORD RPG!
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