Hey, all. My name is Grant Brown; I used to be on this platform a few years ago, but left because of High School and whatnot. (Some of you might’ve known me as @browngr (: )
Since then, I’ve published a book, I’m on track towards graduating a year ahead, I’m a racing driver and training to be a U.S. Marine. However, in an ever-increasing effort to constantly stay busy, I’m considering coming back to indie development, though probably not nearly as dedicated as I was back in middle school hahaha… Still not quite certain if I’ll stick to it, but we’ll see.
All this to say; what’s new? In the community, Flowlab updates, etc.? Best place to look is in the community, so here I am. Thanks, all.
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Also, a quick memento for anyone who remembers: The little piece of nostalgia that convinced me to come back, here’s the original incomplete soundtrack for DASHER: 3015
Man I haven’t seen you in a long time. If you forgot who I was, I was @Mr_Secret/@8-bit_Studio.
You haven’t missed a lot of stuff in my opinion, just Flowjams and new users, like my friend school @Deadly_Stars. So you published a book? What was is its name?
Also had no idea you were in middle school when I met you in my first year of Flowlab, I literally thought you were already in high school.
Yeah, I’ve quickly found that I remember significantly more than I thought I did hahaha
The book I’ve published is called ‘BOAT’, it’s available on Amazon. It’s a novella about a retired fisherman in Astoria, Oregon, twenty years on from the passing of his wife. About the isolation of aging.
And yeah; I tried to keep my age under wraps when I was younger, didn’t feel like I’d be taken seriously. Which, looking back on how I was, I couldn’t possibly imagine why
Can’t seem to find your book but it sounds pretty nice. Also, about hiding the age thing I’ve only hid my age until I got into 6th grade last year but im 13 now. I dont know why but i get this strange nostalgic feeling when an old member returns.
Flowlab is a great place to start game development. When I wanted to become a developer full-time before chasing racing, I had considered the prospect of moving on from it a lot. But for someone more casual, or someone in a younger age demographic, a community like this is really good. I always felt like pushing the limits of what Flowlab had been accustomed to was what I felt the most confident doing, hence why I spent so much time on more mature games like HAKK3R and DASHER: 3015. (Which I intend to translate both of those into books eventually ) I think that’s one of the reasons I love Flowlab so much. You all have a community here with such a wide variety of individuals all collaborating on a common passion at varying levels. I was glad to be a part of it, and I really hope I stick around this time, even if I’m not pushing the engine to its limits like I used to.
It looks so cool! I kind of forgot but did you ever announce yourself disappearing? I don’t remember any topic like it I just have the memory of you vanishing.
Doing racing too? I found that so awesome. I always find these cool things but honestly I really want my future career to be game dev. Glad you’re back, like I said I get this strange nostalgic feeling for when a user I know from my 1st year of flowlab comes back. Just hoping you don’t disappear… again.
haha I wouldn’t get my hopes up. I deploy to bootcamp this coming Autumn/Winter, so I’ll be very busy after that. But from time to time I imagine I’ll start up a new project, keep myself busy with something. But yes; racing is my passion, has been for a long time, but due to growing up in a bad financial situation, and still struggling through it, I’ve had to postpone my endeavours. Starting to get some traction on it, though, and I know I wouldn’t be satisfied if I gave up because of money, so here I am.
And I’m not sure if I ever properly announced leaving Flowlab. I probably wouldn’t have bothered to, because it was already a thriving community. Plus, I always got the feeling that I was a bit too full of myself for my own good, so announcing my dramatic departure would have been a bad final nail in the coffin for me hahaha…
Welcome back to the forums Grant. It’s definitely been quite a while since I last saw you around.
I have a book series myself that’s been in the works for a while now, and I was looking around for possible places to publish. I saw Amazon/Kindle had offered publications online and I was still unsure of it.
So, I was just wanting to ask about how good and trustworthy is Amazon. I don’t get to talk to hardly any other writers in person since I feel it’s kind of a dying skill, and especially those who have published before.
I was very disheartened to see what the publication landscape looks like, now. Funnily enough, I started in your same shoes, too, very doubtful of Amazon, but they’re actually the only legit publisher I’ve found that still exists nowadays. The industry standard is to receive an advance on your book, and the publisher assumes that it will sell well enough for them to make that money. That tried and tested strategy of no-cost publishing doesn’t seem to exist anymore, however. I wager that most of them probably fell through during quarantine. So if you’re like me and don’t have the funding to pay for the production of your own book and have it distributed by a major publishing company, then yeah, Amazon’s probably your best bet. It’s working well for me as a low-income writer. Good to see you’re still around here! (:
I believe you are my favorite user here. I am a modern Car enthusiast. May I ask: What cars have you driven? I’d recommend the Toyota GR corolla, or the GR Yaris, depending on where you are. They’re both fast rally hot-hatches that I just LOVE.
… yep, you’re definitely a cool guy.
I joined… lol. There are a few new flowlab updates and many Flowjams have passed. The community has grown quite a lot as-well. (Since 2021, when I joined.)
I made an Art Station. (Second-most popular topic on here )
(I’m also a new author and have been developing games since 2021.)
hahaha thank you! Right now I’m in junior level categories, but I’m on track toward making my debut with Porsche in the Carrera Cup North America in 2026. I’ve tested SuperKarts and Formula Ford cars to date.
I noticed that, yeah! It looks really cool! Glad to have you on board to the community, lots to see here, now.
here’s the stuff most important i use the most:
new messaging features (can message to last raycast target and more)
collision groups (you can finally make some objects not collide with some other)
proximity, raycast, attachments, joint* offsets
tons of new label updates (multiple labels per object, attached labels, and more)
way better sprite editor
loading screens
60 fps code (usually runs at 30 fps, this is so much smoother now)
way better physic shape overlay
physics joints
spin motor and spin velocity
) I think that’s one of the reasons I love Flowlab so much. You all have a community here with such a wide variety of individuals all collaborating on a common passion at varying levels. I was glad to be a part of it, and I really hope I stick around this time, even if I’m not pushing the engine to its limits like I used to.
)