Hey, what's all this, then?
I'm Moritani, also known as "Brick" in the long, long ago. I'm a big fans of all thing tech. I love coding, I love video games, and I love taking things apart and figuring out how they work.
In fact, I made this page by going to another neocities site, clicking "view page source," and copying the relevant bits. Could I have learned the same things from a tutorial or documentation? Yeah. But it wouldn't be as fun!
Of course, I also used the commonly recommended sadgirl layout maker!
A teacher in transition.
You learn through doing, right? So, that's what I challenge myself with. I left my home country for Japan, got a job as a teacher and threw myself into it! I got goood, had a great time, but then... Then I hit a wall. Every time I wanted to try something new or use the knowledge I had gained, I was told not to. Just do things the way they've always been done. I still had creative lessons and I loved my students, but I felt unfulfilled.
I want this to be a positive space, but I must also be honest. I had a family emergency. My father died, and I was pregnant and very sick. What did my school say? "What? You're going on vacation? Now? Without consulting us?"
That was it. The final sign I needed. I had to go back to my passion. All my life, my father had talked about his retirement. He had all these big plans, but he never got to do them. Well, I don't need to retire to do what I love.
Game Art, baby!
This is where the positivity comes back. I love making games. I never really tried to code games before, but since I started, I am having an absolute blast!
Of course, I also got back into game art. And the tools are so much better now! When I learned, there was no Adobe Substance. We made our textures in photoshop! Rendering in Maya took forever and baking was all done in xNormal. Now, though? I can make an entire asset with custom PBR textures and implement it into and engine in less than an hour.
I could literally fgill a book with how amazing Substance Designer is, too. The first time I popped that bad boy open, I was blown away. So easy to use, but so fun, too!
I'm not just my career, though.
This all is starting to feel a bit like a cover letter or sales pitch. Honestly, though. I suck at marketing myself. These are my hobbies. I'm also a dedicated wife and mother. I actually made that octopus up there with a baby sleeping on my lap (anything is possible with a well mapped gaming mouse, lol). I have two little boys that I love spending time with. The oldest is already shaping up to be a nerd who loves gaming, and the baby loves his plush pikachu.
There's something so special about sharing hobbies with your kids. Playing old favorites with my kids, or even having them test my games for me! You wanna find bugs? A 4-year-old can find bugs.
I really want to get my kids into coding. Obviously, reading comes first. But after that? Oh, we're gonna make stuff. If you ever see a dinosaur shrine on here, you'll know who helped make it, lol!
But I also love the real world
You just can't downplay the feeling of getting real world mail. That why I do postcrossing. Sure, the communication starts with an online prompt, but thumbing through postcards and hand-writing a message just feels so deeply personal. I love it. And that personal nature extends offline, too. I get my postcards at offline art events. My favorite is Design Festa, a Japanese event I've been enjoying for over a decade. There is always someone there with the exact kind of art you love.
I guess that's about it for me. I'll update this whenever I feel like it! ChaByeBye!
Want to contact me? Send an email!