Interview of a JetPunker #34 - moonshot

What do I have to do to earn that interview of a JetPunker blog?

I haven't mocked one of my interviewee in a prettu long time.

(Joke, of course, it will be a normal one.)

Almost scared me for a second... But thank you for considering me!

You're welcome, that's a pleasure for me as well! So let’s start this interview! First, could you present yourself on JetPunk quickly for our readers who don’t know you?

Hey world! I’m Ayaan, but I go by moonshot on JetPunk! I’m a 16 year old from Florida, United States. I discovered JetPunk when I was around 10, and then made my first quiz around 13. I’m now ranked in the top 1600 (not the most impressive accomplishment, but I have made many quizzes that I’m extremely proud of.) But I hope to make many more quizzes so my ranking can gradually increase!

Before actually starting, we have to demystify something… Why does some people call you Ayaan, some others Moontre or even Censhit or Lunamierda?

Well I can’t say for certain, but most people call me Ayaan as that’s my real name. So I’d assume that is what’s easiest for most people to remember. But when I changed my JetPunk username to “moonshot,” a certain someone (I wonder who lol) made a French translation- “moontre.” And this certain someone somehow found several other translations to “moontre” as well like “censhit” and “lunamierda” (don’t ask me how- this is some sort of superpower haha.)” Overtime, I guess some people just caught on to these names, and started saying them? I hope that’s a good explanation, lol.

Haha! It is. I really wonder who is the crazy guy who found these quite weird names...

If you are here, that’s partially because in this blog series, we like to focus on every part of JetPunk. You are yourself particularly involved in the minigame section. Could you explain how and why to our dear readers?

For sure! I would occasionally play minigames like the US State Puzzle or Geosnap at first. But I wasn’t all too serious about any minigame at this point. But in mid-2022, another user- Maximirb13, introduced me to Even Split. He showed me that he had made the all-time leaderboards in multiple categories, which was a very impressive accomplishment. This gave me some motivation to make the all-time leaderboards myself.. At first, I wasn’t getting good scores at all. But overtime, my scores improved as I was becoming much faster. And the first time I beat one of user Maximirb13’s scores, let’s just say both of us were shocked. I eventually got 1st place on every all time leaderboard in Even Split soon after that. Although a French user- SilverDog, beat my all-time scores in the country categories.

That's very impressive! And so you are currently trying to get back your first position in the Even Split countries easy leaderboard, right? Do you have good hopes?

Well it is certainly good to be hopeful. But I unfortunately don’t have the time to grind the minigame again as school is becoming busier. But I do play Even Split sometimes, and let’s just say I’ve become really rusty. If I were to be serious about taking back the title, it would require a lot of work and patience.  Hopefully one day I’m able to accomplish this aha. But for now, 2nd place will have to do.

And that's already excellent!

You are not only a minigame player but also a great quizmaker. You have some quizzes with beautiful and well-detailed maps. Was it challenging to get such results? What motivated you to start learning how to create SVG maps?

First of all, I really appreciate the compliment! Making maps can definitely take a lot of time, especially when you are busy with other things. But for my geography on a map quizzes in particular though, you have to make sure every geographic feature is put in the right place. When you account for over 200 of them, these quizzes can easily take up to a month to create. I’m not complaining though, because the end results of these quizzes are some of my proudest achievements aha.

When I first started making JetPunk quizzes, I didn’t understand a thing about making maps. They seemed so complicated and impossible to make. But eventually, curiosity got the best of me. I started looking at several sources- The SVG guide, the QuizMaster’s blog on custom SVG maps, and even the Discord community. Soon after that, I started experimenting with the bezier tool on Inkscape, and that’s how my map-making journey started!! The whole process was a bit tedious at first, but I got much better as time went on. The main thing though was just looking at other people’s maps. I thought to myself, “If other people can create such amazing maps, then so can I.” All it takes is some motivation. :)

That's a great example of dedication and hard work, congrats!

As an accomplished JetPunker, you have also published quite a lot of blogs, including some which met with success. Are you proud of these publications? Do you plan to continue blogging?

I’m not as proud of my blogs as I am with my quizzes if I’m being honest. But one series that I’ve made that I like is the “Stupidest Laws In….” series. I thought it was a really fun and unique idea, especially because I could get other people’s input. Others also helped me make many sequels for the series, so I was glad that it was doing well. My other blogs are just random ideas I get sometimes…ideas I try implementing into blogs. But as I don’t have much time anymore, times where I can make blogs have become rarer. But I will try my best to upload whenever I can, especially in a way that could possibly benefit the JetPunk community.

After all these considerations: do you consider yourself a quizmaker, quiztaker, blogger or mini-game player?

Well obviously, I have been all these things lol. But I definitely consider myself a quizmaker the most. Whenever I’m doing something JetPunk related, it’s usually making a map for a quiz. I go by the motto “create” rather than “take.” I basically want to benefit the community (by creating quizzes) rather than just being an average quiztaker. And honestly, I would rather be a quizmaker than a quiztaker. Making maps is an overall enjoyable and rewarding process (even though it has its cons.)

Like I said before, I’ve taken minigames before too. But I wouldn’t describe myself as just a minigame player because there is way more to JetPunk than just those. I have made blogs as well (as stated before), but not a sizable amount for me to consider as my only JetPunk “profession.”

Very interesting, I can completely relate and I guess that's the case of several of our readers as well.

Since we are talking about quizzes... Which of your creation are you the proudest of?

The quiz I’m proudest of is definitely my “Geography of the British Isles” quiz. That map took over two months to produce, and the end result couldn’t be any better! I can’t take all the credit though, as a couple users (even you!)  helped out. That particular map took absolute ages (like I said) as I had to restart at least 5 times. But I guess that’s just how quizmaking is. I will say, though, if you try your best during the production process of a quiz, the published version will look even better than you imagined!

Very true, and this quiz is an excellent example of this! I'm glad if I helped at least a bit in the creation process.

And what about blogs?

This is a more difficult one, but I’d have to choose one from my “Stupidest Laws” series. In that respect, the blog I’m most proud of is the “50 Semistupid-Stupid British Laws That Exist For Some Reason.” I had collaborated with user Fuse on this blog, and the amount of dumb laws we were able to find were both hilarious and impressive. Hopefully, I can do a continuation of the series with more users in the future!

France version when? 👀

Do you have big projects of quizzes or blogs in preparation?

I do! I’m currently working on my next map quiz- “Geography of The United States.” I do realize other versions of this quiz have been made before, a reason for why I’m trying to make mine as unique as possible. This will also be among my biggest quizzes; the process is both enjoyable and really annoying (if that somehow makes sense lol.) But like I’ve said before, high school can take up a lot of your time, which is why I haven’t been able to work on this map as much as I would like to. However, I will try my best to get the quiz out as soon as possible.

School before JetPunking, of course. But good luck with this big project!

“JetPunk Actuality Question”: Whammies have recently been added to Step 3 (Type In section) in the quiz editor. What do you think about this new feature? Does it give you new ideas of quizzes to create?

I’m not too familiar with the Whammies component as I’ve never used it. But I have seen people implement  Whammies into their quizzes, and it’s a cool feature indeed! I love the idea that you get lives in those quizzes, as this leaves little room for error and also tests your knowledge. However, I’m going to have to think of an original quiz I can make with Whammies. This will definitely be a challenge, but let’s see where my imagination takes me!

What is the most important event in your life as a JetPunker? 

This is definitely a tough question! But I have to say the day I found the JetPunk Discord. Granted, I wasn’t supposed to be on the server at that time. But I do believe this is when my JetPunk journey really took off. Something I didn’t mention earlier is that I only started making maps after other users helped me navigate the sources (QM’s Blog, SVG Guide, etc.) So I mostly have the server to thank for my mapmaking journey. If it weren’t for them, a lot of my maps (even ones I made completely on my own) wouldn’t have been possible to make.

If you had to describe your JetPunk adventure in one word, what would it be?

I would use the word “rollercoaster” to describe my JetPunk adventure. There’s been ups and downs, but I guess that’s a normal thing for sure. There’s days where I’m extremely proud of everything I’ve been able to accomplish. Other days, I remember all the stupid stuff I did in my premature years: being attention seeking on the server, spam taking my own quizzes, and even spam making quizzes. try my best to not do any of this stuff anymore (and if signs of this are prevalent, then I apologize.) Overall though, I’m very happy I get to be part of the JetPunk community!

Unexpected but very original and good one! And would you change something to your JetPunk adventure, if it was possible?

I may or may not have foreshadowed this earlier, but I wish I could have made a  better first impression on the JetPunk community in my earlier years. I was around 13 at this time, so my “immature side” was still very prominent. Especially on the server- I would lie a lot, I would seek attention a lot, and would just be a really annoying kid to be around. I’ve tried my hardest to fix that over the years, even if it hasn’t been prevalent. I will say that being immature is okay in MODERATION, but it shouldn’t define your personality in a way that is affecting the community.

We all do mistakes, especially when we are younger, and yours on JetPunk are definitely part of your past, believe me.

If you had to choose just three JetPunkers for their quizzes, who would they be?

Another tough question! But how can I choose the king of svgs himself- Stewart? His quizzes are always unique and enjoyable. I always look forward to new ones from him when they come out. I believe the “Countries Loading On a World Map” quiz was definitely some of the best manipulation of the site I’ve ever seen!

I would also definitely choose overtired; his interactive quizzes are simply amazing! I especially like his “Guess The Countries/State Being Drawn” quizzes- a really fun twist on the US State and Countries of the World.

The last quizmaker I’d pick would probably be Ravisseur (I call him ravi lol). He also comes up with many unique quizzes. I especially loved the Puzzle Game quizzes he came up with; those were definitely very creative and fun to play!

A classic but very good selection: thank you for it!

And for their blogs?

This one is more difficult to choose as I don’t read many blogs.

But my top choice would probably be you lol. I look forward to your interview blogs the most aha. I always love seeing input from different users about the site and life in general!

Another user i’d pick is Insaniot! Their “Quiz Creation Challenge” blogs are very unique. They also give the reader a way to contribute to the site, something I find important. 

Thank you, I'm glad you like the interviews! And I completely agree, QCCs are very interesting and fun to participate in.

What are your passions in life outside JetPunk?

One of my biggest passions is flying planes! I’ve been taking lessons ever since I was 14, and am now working on my private pilot’s license. Flying has got to be the coolest thing in the world (for me I mean lol), because you get to learn so much about the plane’s controls and how it flies. Flying is also very therapeutic because it makes you forget your problems and worries. Looking down, you see how small everyone is- which made me realize that our problems hold little value compared to the world. Below is a picture I took of a beach town called Clearwater, Florida!

Oh, wow, that's beautiful! Thanks for sharing this picture, and good luck with your pilot's license!

You are active on the JetPunk Discord Server. What does Discord bring to you as a JetPunker?

This is an interesting question. One thing I can say for certain is that the Discord gives me a unique perspective of JetPunk I may not have thought of before (basically people around the world giving input on the site.) But more importantly (and I mentioned this earlier), the server helped shape me as a quizmaker. In the earlier stages, I would ask for a lot of help during the quiz creating process. There was always a person who had an answer to my question, one of the best parts of the server.

What do you hope for JetPunk development in the next few months?

This doesn’t exactly answer the question, but what I hope for JetPunk is that it reaches a wider audience eventually. I believe JetPunk sincerely deserves that, as it has the most unique quiz maker I’ve ever seen. The amount of things that are possible with JetPunk’s quiz creator is truly limitless (I think that should be the site’s motto lol.) It’s all where your imagination takes you!

Do you have a message to pass to the whole JetPunk community (or at least to the few users reading these blogs…)?

You’re responsible for your own success! If you want to achieve something, all you have to do is believe in yourself. But other than that, have fun! I believe that’s one of the most important factors in everything you do.

And to Poirot, I have to say a very big thank you for giving me this opportunity! I truly enjoyed it! :)

You're very welcome, it was a great pleasure for me as well. Thank you for you very interesting questions and sorry for the long delays!