About

shinmai

I’m Aapo, but prefer to go by shinmai online. I’m an enby gamedev geek, who loves chiptunes, playing CtFs and Pepsi Max. I’m a programmer, a maker and a creative.
I call myself an “IT generalist”, because I’ve got a wide range of skills allowing me to tackle a lot of different problems, ranging from my bread-and-butter of game programming to things like web development, reverse engineering and video production.

This does mean I’m not any kind of world-class expert in any of these fields, but my ability to pick up new skills quickly and my drive to learn new things constantly is my greatest strength and my area of expertise.
I pick up a new tech, language or tool very quickly, and have a penchant for problem-solving and creative thinking.

Skills

Programming

Besides having been a programmer for the better part of three decades, I’m a professional game programmer, and have been developing games for over a decade.
I’ve got experience with game programming in a number of languages, including Java, C# and JavaScript, and have worked with a number of game engines, including Unity, Godot, LibGDX and Phaser.

I enjoy developing tools and routinely write scripts and small tools for myself to automate tasks and make my life easier.
In my work as a professional game programmer, I’ve also been responsible for implementing a number of tools for use by non-programmers, like artists, producers and game designers.

Before pivoting to game development, I was a freelance web developer, and used to work with PHP, JavaScript, HTML and CSS regularly. I’ve also got experience with Flask, and have developed themes for WordPress using the theme framework Genesis.

Infosec

I’ve been interested in infosec since I was a teenager, and have been reverse engineering crackmes and keygenmes for fun since the early 2000s.
Since 2020 I’ve been regularly participating in CTFs with my solo team buffer owlerflow and was the #1 ranked Finnish CTF team on CTFtime for 2020 as well as 2022. I was also the 120th player to solve the Flare-On 7 challenge in 2020, hosted by Mandiant (formerly Fire-Eye).

My favorite CTF categories are pwn, web and crypto, but I’m also a big fan of the more out ther misc challenges, especially involving things like steganography, forensics and osint.

Media

I’ve been making music since I was a teenager, starting with tracker music and moving to modern style DAWs in the early 2000s. I also produce chip music on the Nintendo Game Boy and the Atari ST home computer.

I’ve been producing motion graphics and video content for over a decade, and have experience in using Adobe After Effects, both for VFX and motion graphics. I’ve also got experience with Blender, and have used it to create 3D models and animations. I also have worked with Adobe Premiere for video editing.

I also like photography, and videography, and regularly do both for fun.

Other

I’ve been making small embedded electronics projects for fun since the late aughts, having worked with Arduino, Raspberry Pi and ESP8266 microcontrollers, among other. I’ve also done a lot of smaller project with plain AVR ATtiny microcontrollers.
I’ve also got experience with soldering and basic electronics, and have made some projects as commission work as well, including things like custom LED lit cake toppers and wearable LED projects. I’ve been 3-D printing since 2014, starting off with a hand-me-down Printrbot Simple, which I restored back to working order myself, learning a lot about FDM 3-D printing in the process. I’ve since upgraded to a Creality CR-6 SE, which I’ve customised to my needs with a replacement motherboard and control LCD, and that runs a custom Marlin firmware build.
I’ve also developed some patches to Marlin to add features I wanted, have contributed to the Marlin project with pull requests as well and written some plug-ins for Cura.

Languages

I’m a native Finnish speaker, speak English fluently, and have a good working knowledge of the language. I also have a good working knowledge of Swedish and German. I have an elementary knowledge of Japanese, and am currently learning Korean.

Personal

I identify as non-binary, and use they/them..themself pronouns. Politically I’m a left-leaning pessimist, and an ardent supporter of LGBTQIA+ rights. I’m a big fan of the open source and free software movements. Fiscally I’m an anti-capitalist, and a supporter of social democracy.
I’m a pacifist, and a strong believer in the power of non-violent resistance, but aknowledge that one can not vote the boot away from one’s neck. I’m agnostic, and believe that freedom of religion is a fundamental human right.
I’m also straight-edge, but support reforming drug laws to make them less prejudice and to remove the hypocritical stigma associated with some recreational drugs like cannabis compared to drugs like alcohol.

I’m an advocate for net neutrality, and a strong supporter of the open internet, and as such a staunch oppoent of web3, crypto, NFTs, and other attempts to feudalize the internet. I also support much stricter regulation of AI tech, and believe we as a society haven’t done nearly enough to consider the ethical and social ramifications of AI tech.

Hobbies and interests

I’m a foodie, and a big fan of cooking, although I’m not very good at it. 😂 I’m also an avid reader, and a strong proponent of the idea that listening to audiobooks is a perfectly valid way to consume literature. I like tabletop roleplaying games, and have DMd a number of campaigns over the years using a variety of systems, including D&D 5e, Monster of the Week and Fate. (Always the DM, never the PC 😅).
I’ve been playing video games since I was a kid, and have a huge collection of games on Steam, GOG, itch.io and other platforms, and am always fighting my way through my backlog.
I have a huge gamedev-crush on Hideo Kojima, and my all-time favourite game is Snatcher on the Sega CD.

I also enjoy anime, even though my tastes are incredibly basic. My favourite anime is probably Fullmetal Alchemist, but I also loved One Piece, Cowboy Bebop, and loved Studio Ghibli’s The Wind Rises. Some more niche faves are Paprika, Tekkonkinkreet and more recently Housing Complex C.

I’m a big fan of chiptunes, but my music tastes are very eclectic, and I listen to a lot of different stuff, and don’t really care about genres. Some of my current favourites include Moderat, So!YoON!, Ten Thousand Free Men & Their Families and Animals As Leaders, but I’m also listen to a lot of K-Pop, Metalcore, post-hardcore, and big band jaz right now.