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Showing posts with label Dozerfleet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dozerfleet. Show all posts

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Dozerfleet Turns 30

With completion nearing on the articles needed to make the official handbooks for the Anarteq Saga Story Pack Series for The Sims 4, Dozerfleet officially celebrates turning 30 years old today.

No special cake this time. Pumpkin pie will suffice. Things have come a very long way since that 5th grade classroom in Wyoming, Michigan. With power restored to the neighborhoods just a few hours before this post, central Florida is quickly springing back to life. Other areas are still reeling after Milton and Helene.

Monday, November 20, 2023

The Gerosha Chronicles now has its own official coloring book

(Copied from Dozerfleet Labs blog post here.)


Click the above image to learn more.

Assembled in only a week, The Gerosha Chronicles: Assorted Heroes and Villains Coloring Book is a mostly-AI-generated coloring book that lets you imagine different characters and scenes from The Gerosha Chronicles, or color those scenes in for yourself! It's made in the same vein as any Marvel or DC coloring book.

Comic afficionados who love coloring, especially tweens, teens, and young adults, may have a blast with this vivid comic book world. Feel free to check it out for yourself.

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Uncovering lost wiki treasures, Pt 7 - This blog's history

The main blog for Dozerfleet has had several incarnations. It began in February of 2011, on the 11th of that year. It was taken down October 1st of 2011, then given new life on September 8th of 2012 on Tumblr. When Tumblr was abandoned in 2016, this blog returned to Blogger in October of 2020. Its spin-off Labs blog existed fora time before that, beginning in April of 2020.

Before the Labs blog was set up, and DzMD had a proper home, DzMD was known as "Utterly Sims," and existed on Tumblr as well. All of this was an effort to create a sleek, modern interface for sharing Dozerfleet news, and providing download pages for free content for fans. Previously, in the late 2000s, most such things operated out of The Dozerfleet Forum on Proboards. However, the Proboards interface was decidedly in need of a drastic overhaul. The lack of forum members enlisting further ensured that a blog made more sense than a forum.

Other predecessors

In the days before social networking, newsletters were typed up in Microsoft Publisher and physically mailed to someone's home address. During the Cormorant era, this was the only way for the Dozerfleet founder to do such things shy of posting comments to someone else's online forum. Two noteworthy predecessors to the Blog and Forum both would be Yo-Splaz! Newsletter and Dolphinformia, both presses of which were designed specifically with two of the Dozerfleet founder's past love interests in mind.

Carly was the recipient of Yo-Splaz! and Emily of Dolphinformia, though neither one routinely wrote back concerning either publication. Concerning Wilgrace, Facebook contact replaced the traditional system. Political topics were addressed in detail on the Blog, and in short on Facebook and Twitter. As of the 2012 reboot, the blog fell back on dealing with political topics. However, topics were split between ones that the main blog was designed for, and others that were handled by the Dozerfleet founder's personal blog. Following the 2012 elections, the Dozerfleet Database's mention of the Dozerfleet founder's political handlings was designated to be history and archival only.

Wilinski Forest

On Friday, October 26th of 2012, the Dozerfleet founder's personal blog was re-branded as "Wilinski Forest," the place "from which Ivan observes a world in turmoil." These references to names and places and events in ''[[Ride of the Three Bulldozers]]'' allowed for the personal blog to receive a radical facelift. This was done in preparation of Tuesday, November 6th of 2012, at which point Wilinski Forest's content and that of The Dozerfleet Blog would cease their redundancy agreement.

Wilinski Forest, an offshoot project of The Dozerfleet blog and wiki, got to be the location from which the Dozerfleet founder could discuss contents that did not pertain to Dozerfleet operations per se, such as the Stop the Crooked Rainbow Campaign. This new agreement freed up the Dozerfleet Blog to be more clearly and explicitly about project developments.

The benefit of having one blog dedicated to political/social/life commentary and another to project development was not only that it expanded the overall Dozerfleet Web Network significantly; but also that it reduced a lot of burdens on the wiki in terms of trying to remain current. It also created a place for breaking news that eliminated the need for the wiki to have a front page Twitter feed. It was later decommissioned. Partially due to low viewing, and partially due to the logistics of Tumblr.

At present, most content of the sort that would have appeared on Wilinski Forest is now shared on Facebook and / or MeWe, usually in debate groups.

Uncovering lost wiki treasures Pt 6: Dozerfleet's 20th anniversary celebration

The day was October 10th of 2014. The location: Lansing, MI. It had been 20 years to the day that Dozerfleet Productions got its humble official beginning, as an unnamed "collection" back in 1994.

Where it all began

The founder was in the school hallway of Holy Trinity Lutheran School in Wyoming, MI in October of 1994. He was reading The Illyrian Adventure by Lloyd Alexander, following a controversy at the school at the time about whether or not The Giver was appropriate reading material for 5th graders. The dream to create something the likes of Dozerfleet went all the way back to 1987, however, as he was inspired by watching The Empire Strikes Back on VHS. However, starting an actual collection officially of self-created works was a new step. There had been works created before this, such as Defenders of Stick-Man Village and The 2-Headed Turtle in 1993; but there were no serious efforts back then to keep a collection.

The "Collection," now retroactively dubbed "Way Early Comics," quickly grew into "Flamingo Entertainment" by 1996. It was renamed "Cormorant Entertainment" in August of 1997. The inspiration for its current name came in December of 1998, at a skating party in Holt, MI.

Turning 10

However, the brand would not receive its name officially until May 10th of 2006. The brand turned 10 years old on October 10th of 2004, when The Meshalutian Trilogy was still being pursued and Proto Gerosha was on its way to being defined. School busy work compiled with everything else kept the Dozerfleet founder from doing anything serious to celebrate the 10th anniversary, leading to a desire to make up for it with the 20th.

Turning 20

On October 10th of 2014, the 20th Anniversary Celebration commenced. It was only a small celebration, given the work schedule. But a cake was made and enjoyed. Notes were sent to The Dozerfleet Blog of the time, concerning the occasion. Not all news related to the event was good news. Dozerfleet Auto Mk. II, which was a dark blue 1997 Chevrolet Lumina LS, finally became too old and broken to be repaired. It was sent to a scrap yard a few days before the 20th Anniversary Celebration. Around 5:30 PM on October 10th, a farewell to the vehicle was posted on the blog.

Cake

The cake used was a Betty Crocker Extra Moist chocolate cake recipe. It was covered with chocolate frosting that contained several gel dyes that created an extremely-dark, not-quite-black appearance. Gold sugar was sprinkled on meticulously to produce the Dozerfleet logo.

Saturday, August 13, 2022

Titles pushed to next year

In case of the worst

Long-term contigency plannning at Dozerfleet has led to a decision that once the machinomics are complete, it may be a good idea to start utilizing Linux Mint more, and relying less on variations of Windows.

Dozerfleet was founded in Michigan; but has since relocated to Florida. However, Florida is logistically vulnerable. In the event of a doomsday scenario, the state could become uninhabitable, such as if a nuclear attack hit the state.

In case of the worst, North Carolina seems like the most feasible place to escape to.

  • It has land high enough from sea level to provide everything necessary for someone seeking shelter from rogue governments and Chinese nukes hitting from the Caribbean.
  • The climate is reasonable.
  • Off-the-grid living is not beyond the realm of possibility.

However, that will come with the need for some changes when it comes to equipment employed:

  • Back-up power items would be a must.
    • Casual access to AC wall electricity would be a luxury, not something to take for granted.
  • The TV set currently employed as "DozerfleetTV" would double as a PC monitor.
    • The current main PC monitor would be either sold or abandoned in the event of an on-foot migration. There'd be no practical way to carry it.
    • Failing the ability to safely procure storage for the TV, a smaller screen unit would have to be acquired.
    • This much smaller screen would be the new monitor.
  • Once phased out as a necessity, the current Dell Inspiron 3650 operating as Dozerfleet Main would be sold / recycled / abandoned.
  • A laptop to be the new Dozerfleet Portable, preferably a gamer-grade unit Mac that can dual-boot with Linux Mint, would be preferred.
    • The Macbook would be EMP-shielded, if possible.
    • MacOS would only be used to run Origin and Origin games, or to run Affinity Publisher, Affinity Designer, or any other software that cannot be replaced with FOSS.
    • Mint and FOSS would be used to handle every single other scenario.
  • At some point, the Surface Go 2 operating as Dozerfleet Mega Portable would be phased out.
  • The Kindle operating as Dozerfleet Ultra Portable will remain until it physically dies. It is unknown if a replacement Kindle will be available when that day comes. The whole designation may end up being retired.
  • The Dozerfleet Database remaining open will be the top online priority of Dozerfleet operations; updating the blogs will be secondary.
    • Otherwise, online activity would be minimal, outside of use of Google Maps.
    • Dozerfleet Mobile, currently operating from a Google Pixel 4A 5G, would continue until that unit goes defunct. If not immediately replaceable, Motorola walkie-talkies would be a prime means of communication with the few connections that would remain.
    • Facebook, Instagram, and DeviantArt may see weeks or even months go by without updates.

Where this has led for 2022

Many projects that were initially pursued highly ambitiously in 2022 found themselves later pushed back, due to scheduling conflicts with prepping. The need to explore possibilities and contingencies, and gather the necessary gear to be able to stage a migration in the future if it becomes necessary, has led to experimentation with and learning of new systems. Learning the basics of modern macOS setups, as well as learning Linux Mint basics, has also meant learning how to use Virtual Box, and the limitations of a virtual machine environment.

This has also led to Dozerfleet Mega Portable abandoning Windows 11 in favor of Mint. The Dozerfleet founder's mother even got on the bandwagon. Her old laptop, having only 4GB of RAM installed, was too old to run Windows 10 efficiently. It found new life with a new battery, plus an installation of Mint.

All of this, combined with hernia surgery in April, caused major setbacks to Dozerfleet projects. Some will still get made in 2022. Others have been rescheduled for 2023 projected release dates.

Projects still slated for a 2022 release date

  • Blood Over Water Redux
  • Corando's Don't Lose Hope Redux
  • Sorbet
  • Whatever Happened to Gerosha Prime?
  • Whatever Happened to Despair Gerosha?
  • Whatever Happened to Classic Gerosha?
  • Whatever Happened to Comprehensive Gerosha?

Projects moved to 2023

  • Volkonir 2008
  • Re-release of 90 Has No Secant
  • Ciem / Anarteq: Kahoopiliana
  • Sniperbadger: Fall of the Critter Resistance
  • Path of the Ming-Cho
  • Ciem: Inferno
  • Anarteq: Guardian of the Soo
  • Re-release of Ciem (2007)
  • Centipede and Fire Saga Story Pack for Sims 4
  • Sodality: Adaptation Story Pack for Sims 4
  • Feud of Three Worlds Story Pack for Sims 4
  • Experiments and Offspring Story Pack for Sims 4
  • The Battle for Gerosha Story Pack for Sims 4
  • The Gray Champion: Modern Legends Story Pack for Sims 4
  • The Cherinob Saga Story Pack
  • Tales of Extirpon Story Pack for Sims 4
  • Mukade: Reinvention Story Pack for Sims 4
  • Sodality: Determination Story Pack for Sims 4
  • Sodality: Augmentation Story Pack for Sims 4
  • Sodality: Vindication Story Pack for Sims 4
  • Volkonir Story Pack for Sims 4
  • Camelorum Adventures Story Pack for Sims 4

Slated for 2024

  • Ciem: Ash Cloud
  • Anarteq: Tropic Mercenary
  • The Horrorday Gang
  • Phaemer Village Peacekeepers
  • The Tale of Plum Bixie

Slated for 2025

  • Ciem: Caldera
  • Anarteq: Envoy to Lough Melvin
  • Sodality: Instigation
  • Volkonir: Season 1

Slated for 2026

  • Volkonir: Season 2
  • Little Shanghai Hornet
  • They Call Him...Black Rat
  • Mukade: Reinvention

Slated for 2027

  • Volkonir: Rise of Semaphry
  • Camelorum Adventures: Season 1
  • Cherinob
  • The Tragedy of Lord Zeras

Slated for 2028

  • Volkonir and the Knights of Cortascius
  • Camelorum Adventures: Season 2
  • Cherinob 2
  • Feud of Three Worlds

Slated for 2029

  • Cherinob 3
  • Of Angels and Icicles
  • Lohtz
  • Sodality: Instigation
  • Swappernetters: Season 1
  • Camelorum Adventures: Season 3 / Percolation Warriors

Slated for 2030

  • Experiments and Offspring
  • Sodality: Adaptation
  • Swappernetters: Season 2
  • The Bison
  • Grillitan Diner

Slated for 2031

  • The Battle for Gerosha
  • Of Emeralds and Sapphires
  • Sodality: Determination
  • The Bison Reborn
  • The Trapzezoid Kids

Slated for 2032

  • The Gray Champion: Freedom's Apparition
  • Extirpon
  • Sodality: Augmentation
  • The Bison Dilemma
  • The Slushy Show

Slated for 2033

  • The Bison Aquafied: Rise of the Eel Thing
  • The Gray Champion: Chillingworth's Revenge
  • Extirpon 2
  • Pilltar
  • Navyrope

Slated for 2034

  • The Gray Champion: Shaken Dust
  • Extirpon 3
  • Pilltar 2
  • Navyrope 2
  • Sodality: Battle for Metheel Revisit
  • Centipede + 49 Revisit
  • Sodality: Vindication

Slated for 2035

  • Pilltar 3
  • Ciem Tomorrow
  • Camp Jellybean

Canceled / abandoned projects

The following projects have been completely abandoned:

  • Pekins
  • Sodality of Gerosha Founding Elites Character Pack for The Sims 3
  • Sodality of Gerosha Support Staff Character Pack for The Sims 3
  • Sodality of Gerosha Legends Character Pack for The Sims 3
  • Sodality of Florence Character Pack for The Sims 3
  • The Hebbleskin Gang Character Pack for The Sims 3
  • Agents of SCALLOP Character Pack for The Sims 3
  • Task Force Black Rat for The Sims 3
  • The Last Legs Character Pack for The Sims 3
  • Phaletori Character Pack for The Sims 3
  • The Horrorday Gang Character Pack for The Sims 3
  • Anarteq Character Pack for The Sims 3
  • Society of the Icy Finger Character Pack for The Sims 3

Thursday, May 5, 2022

The Grand Ledge house's article now online

For those curious where Dozerfleet operated from 1998 until 2021, the official article about the house is now available for public reading here, at the Dozerfleet Database. It was a home that served its purpose well during those nearly-24 years of being an on-again, off-again home base for the brand.