Hey Poptropicans!
For all you voracious readers waiting to get your hands on the Poptropica graphic novels, it’s your lucky day: books 3 and 4 are currently on sale on the digital marketplace Amazon, at 45% off and 25% off respectively.
Book 3, The Secret Society, is currently on sale on Amazon at 45% off from its usual US$9.95 list price, making it US$5.47. Now would be a great time to pick up the book! If you’re unsure, check out our book review for The Secret Society.
Book 4, The End of Time, is still in pre-order and will be shipping next Tuesday, September 12. It’s currently 25% off from its usual list price and is being sold for US$7.54. We’re not sure when either of these discounts will end, so snag this deal while you can! It’s going to be the last book in the series.
Thanks to Mitch Krpata, the books’ author, for tweeting about the deals! If you’d like to hear more from Mitch, check out this interview we did with him earlier this year!
In other news…
Over the past week or so, there have been some sightings of a possible makeover for the Poptropica home screen. Some players have reported seeing this new screen (pictured below), which promotes Poptropica Original at the front and makes you click through another button if you want to get to Worlds. Since the release of Worlds, it’s been the other way around.
I personally like this newer one better, as Poptropica Original – 9 years in the making – is a much more fruitful offering than Pop Worlds is thus far, with its few months of existing. Though Worlds has some neat things to offer, it’s got a lot to catch up on when it comes to content, and that, to me, makes the original game worthier of representing what “Poptropica” is able to offer over the newer game. Or should the home screen be evenly divided between the two?
However, not everyone has been seeing this newer screen, so perhaps this is just something they are testing out. For others, clicking to go to Poptropica Original on the original Worlds-promoting home screen brings up the login screen as expected. But recently, it’s acquired a noticeably bigger spot on the side for animated ads.
In my own opinion, it feels like another sign that the Creators are investing less into the original game, by giving up a part of an otherwise cohesive aesthetic that they had held onto for so long before. At the same time, I do empathize with Poptropica’s need to finance itself, and ads are a way of doing that. Fortunately, it’s only there until you log in.
Anyway, that’s all that’s new for now! What do you think of the home screen changes? Have you preordered The End of Time yet, and will you take advantage of the almost half-off deal on The Secret Society too? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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What?! I just barely got to read the 3rd! Literally just this Sunday! *Loud groaning* I have no moneeeeey….
Maybe you can ask an adult in your life to buy you the book or request it for your local library. Or… go to the bookstore when it’s on shelves and read it without buying. 😂
Ooh! I should do that! XD I’m lames…
Yuck, frozen meals. Not good for you
Hmm, glad that I can at the very least not have to go into Worlds to get into Old Pop now. Thanks for the news, Stishficks.
Agreed. Not the greatest meal choice. 😛
Well, the new screen isn’t showing for me personally, but I’m glad you’re able to enjoy it.
When the creators make these small but obvious bad choices that slowly ruin the game little by little, the excuse is always “well they gotta pay the bills somehow”.
But if they put just as much work into character and stories, then that would build the brand too. Not just new stuff either, but also supporting and developing alllll the old stuff that is just sitting around now. I would be happy without any new islands if it meant getting better development of older content and characters. And not just 24 Carrot island AGAIN but actual growth of the good ideas already in the game. Where is Growth Ray island? Cryptids and Survival Island crossover? Supervillain 2? DJ Saturday Nite dance party? Stuff like that. They are sitting on soooo much good content and not using it.
Successful indie games happen all the time without this kind of cash grab mentality. I really don’t see a commitment to the same quality storytelling that made the game so good. The answer isn’t ads, shoes, and fingers.
I think you raise some good points here, and you might like to check out my newer post where I talk a little more about the ongoing decline in quality. (And feel free to add to the comments there, too.)
While it would be interesting to see some of those ideas you suggested, I think the problem is not that they don’t have ideas, or even that they aren’t recognizing the strength of their older content. After all, they’ve said that they are planning on remastering various islands from the original game (starting with 24 Carrot, of course).
It seems more like an issue of inefficiency within the production process. Somehow, they are taking much longer than they used to take to produce and release a full island, and are focusing (perhaps too much) on other aspects, like the houses. While those are nice, right now it seems it’s costing a lot in time, and the result is much time passing with little fulfilling new content.