March 2. 2005 - gaelwinds.com newspaper

1. What kind of education do you have? (high school, college, e.t.c.) What type of computer/programming/engineering courses have you taken?

Gymnasium, Abitur 2002....equivalent to a high school A-Level as far as I know...
I had a computer science course for 3 years at school, but I was never good at it...just like my teacher.
Well I am no programmer, and I will never be. Those who left the course with good marks are those, who could program before the course ;)
For the riddle it was good enough that I know how to use a computer pretty good. Which is probably why you are asking this.
And I'm no genius and I'm not super smart. What I am doing here is just a creative performance. The players, who are able to solve this, are geniuses, I am not. I swear!

2. Why did you create not pr0n?

Because I'm an addict to making creative things! And I'm a game designer for years, used to doing totally different things with every project.
The idea came from playing another online riddle, which didn't really do it to me...
I was just thinking "this could be better, and I would change this and this etc...", then I just started my own thing, and you know the result by now.

3. What was the initial goal of not pr0n?

To make an enjoyable game, that people have fun with, nothing but that... :)
No subtle, hidden messages to improve the world. ;)
But in the end it really helps people learning stuff, mostly about the computer. Also some turn into music or chemistry geniuses....,
but this was not intended at all. It just happened.

4. Did you run into any trouble creating the Riddle? How did you solve it?

There were no serious problems.
Just about some htm-change-levels, where people skipped 3 or 4 levels in some places...due to major luck.
No serious problems that couldn't be fixed. 1 of 10000 sometimes skips 10 levels, but this is extremely lucky, and nothing to worry about for me. And before skipping levels, the guys go back and solve it properly. That's why they are there ;)

5. How do you feel about the success of not pr0n?

Totally surprised, overwhelmed and amazed!
I just made this thing for a hand full of people, no big intentions. Just a crazy little idea in my mind, just like my last project (which is still active; www.www.deathball.net)...and then it kinda exploded, via Forums, people spreading the URL through the net....you know how fast this works these days in the online world. Just like the happy little flash animations, that we all know, which are being linked to in forums or from person to person in messangers or chain-mails.
Now we have countless players from 50+ countries...Peru, Brazil, Canada, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Vietnam, Hongkong, Belgium, India, New Zealand... to name a few (but the major ones are Germany, UK, USA and Israel). And I'm just amazed about it being way over 2 million people today. It feels pretty unreal!

6. What advice would you have for those who wish to create an online puzzle similar to yours?

I've written a book about Notpron, with the other creators, since people requested it.
I have a section of 4-5 pages only about designing riddles, full of my hints and guidelines. So thats the way to go if you care about my design philosophy (it can be found in the "making of" section of notpron.com).
I made it, because there are countless other riddles now, but from a game design point of view, I don't really like the stuff, and others agree with me (so it's not only me :P).

7. Anything else you would like to say?

If you seriously want to have fun with notpron, stay away from all spoilers and hints. Just when you are really stuck for a day or more, go get some slight hints. The fun comes from sitting there forever, and then getting the answer on your own! Super feeling, I promise! And the guys who solve it properly have major fun for up to 3 months, and many tell me that they learned a lot by doing all this!
Just don't get it spoiled for you, it's no contest about getting through it fast. It's really no challenge to find the solutions on the net, everybody can get them, if he/she really wants to...but if you want to have fun, just stay away from it. Period!