Hi — I’m @testkun.
This is the first post on this blog, “Nannyakore” (“What even is this?”).
I’m also using it to put why I built this site and who I am in one place.
Why I built this site
Curiosity and wanting “a place of my own”
I’ve written on note, Zenn, and elsewhere. They’re great services, and I’ll keep using them.
Even so, I started a personal blog for three big reasons.
Technical curiosity
Coding with AI in the loop has made building websites dramatically cheaper.
I don’t know much about the web, yet I can build something like this, put it on a server, and ship it.
So: why not try?
That’s what got me building my own blog with Astro, customizing as I went.
I want a record of what I’ve done — something to dig up years from now
I wanted something like a time capsule, plain and simple.
Years later, when I unearth it, maybe the blog can give me that hard-to-name feeling too.
I wanted a home that isn’t too tied to one platform — and I wanted to build it
This ties back to the curiosity above: instead of being locked to a single platform, I wanted my own little isolated corner on the internet.
Who I am — work
🎮 Game developer ≈ generalist | design & art | programming
~8 years at game studios in Japan and abroad → freelance (a.k.a. “unemployed”)
Now I focus on game hardware while poking my nose into all kinds of creative work
At the level of a one-line bio, that’s me.
How I became a technical artist
I joined the industry as a game designer, working as a background artist on a game’s visuals.
Scripting to work more efficiently was my real entry point into programming.
I started writing shaders, studied lighting and rendering, and before I knew it I was a technical artist — bridging artists and engineers.
Roughly:
Someone with both artistic sense and technical knowledge, who handles pipeline setup, tool development, optimization, and more.
I see it as a role that doesn’t sit purely on design or engineering alone.
From Japan to overseas
After building experience as a TA at a well-known Japanese studio, I moved to an overseas studio because I wanted to work abroad.
Even with the same job title, technical artist meant something quite different there than in Japan.
It was less about leaning on pure art or design, and more about heavy programming — building pipelines, tools, AI models, and that sort of thing.
Now
After several years overseas, I wanted to make hardware, not only software, so I went freelance.
These days I center on designing and developing game hardware, while dipping into indie dev, programming, investments, and more.
Self-styled NEET.
Outside of work
Basics and more personal bits are here.
Basics
- From: Tokyo
- Age: Somewhere between my twenties and thirties
- Pets: I want a cat, but I can’t leave one alone — for now I make do with photos and videos
- Favorite foods: Natto, tofu, and rice (I could probably live on just that)
Career path, in brief
- School: I went through stretches of not attending school, but finished high school and went to a game-focused college.
- Employment: I joined a well-known Japanese game studio, then worked at an overseas studio.
- Turning point: I wanted to work on device development and similar, so I left full-time employment.
- Now: Freelance, juggling investments and savings while poking at all kinds of projects.
Things I like
Cats, travel, Japanese food, hot springs and saunas, photography, walking, shrines and temples.
Things I’m not great with
Trypophobia-style patterns.
For some reason, though, things I make in shaders don’t bother me…
What I’ll write about
I run mostly on curiosity, so themes will be all over the place.
Broadly, expect something like this.
Tech & making
- Game development / technical art
- Programming (Python, WebGL, Unreal Engine, etc.)
- AI tools and indie projects
- Device development and electronics
Life, culture, miscellaneous interests
- Art / design
- Investing and asset building
- Everyday observations and interesting finds
- Space, science, history, slightly odd stories
I’m not built to stay in one genre — I’ll dig into whatever catches my interest.
It might look scattered; I’d be glad if you’d skim with a forgiving eye.
Too many topics?
If you thought that — you’re right.
Still, when you look at things from different angles, they often connect in surprising ways.
Basics of design help in a gut-feel way when you’re designing programs.
When you’re stuck on how to express something, a stray philosophical thought might nudge you to try a new element…
It’s hard to put into words, but when I’m expressing or building something, I’m sure it passes through every filter of my own experience.
I want what comes out to stay interesting; I like poking into lots of topics and exploring — so I’m someone who moves on curiosity alone, genre be damned.
I plan to leave that trail in these posts.
What “Nannyakore” means
In daily life I often think “nannyakore” or “nanda kore” — “what even is this?”
When I learn something I didn’t know, notice a mechanism I didn’t expect, or run into something fascinating.
I chose the title to honor that feeling and dig in my own way.
Links
Closing
Thanks for reading this far.
I’d love it if you’d stick with this blog.
If you’re into technical art, game development, programming, or indie projects, I hope I can share at least one thing that helps.
Nothing would make me happier than if something here gave you a nudge or a bit of spark in life.
Have a great day.
