Needless subcategorisation

Thinking about Steampunk utopias/ dystopias/ window dressing. Dystopian/ dark future steampunk where the streets and lungs are choked with smoke and coated in ash. Smogpunk? I've already claimed Steampulp for the utopian adventure theme.

Playing and loving a lot of Project: Zero Dawn; I wouldn' t call that steampunk. Post apocalypse settings strike me as survivalpunk or tribe-punk. Scrounge-punk? The technology source is part of the apocalypse / survival aspect rather than steampunk style focus? Maybe?

Or thinking further, steampunk strikes me as function and delight combined. Things are built with attention and care to not just their function but their appearance. Modern tech is built to be work, be small, be discrete. Scrounge punk (and maybe kinda solar punk) has its delight in that it works at all and provides what's needed. Steampunk, in this instance, is more of a window dressing; scrounge punk has delight based in the function and ingenuity of retrofit rather than the invention of function. Hmmm.