Author: Gentle Dolphin

Hello, everyone! My name is Gentle Dolphin, and I have been a long-time fan of Poptropica. I like drawing, baking, and being an overall dork. In real life, I'm pretty much the same except for the fact that my hair is brown instead of pink. You can befriend me on Poptropica if you'd like. My username is "magicalyre".
Haxe Javascript

Message to all: the Fall Festival is here! 🍂🎡

Gentle Dolphin

Come one, come all! Poptropica’s first Fall Festival is now open to all players! This limited time event includes thrilling attractions, collectible prizes, and plenty of autumnal joy!!!

The Fall Festival is only available on the Haxe version of the game. If you don’t have a Haxe account, you can either make a new account or use idk’s Format Loader and select “HTML5 (Haxe JS)” to switch to Haxe.

Once you log in, you can find the Fall Festival on the first page of your map, where the Zomberry Hero event used to be. On a side note, the mysterious envelope next to the Poptropica logo has disappeared. Where did it go? More on that later… 👀

The festival’s decorations take some influence from Monster Carnival Island, as seen with the Snack Shack and the heart-shaped tunnels. Th area itself is one big common room, so you can run around, talk to other players and challenge them in head-to-head games.

Speaking of games, you can find three arcade cabinets to the right of the festival. The three games available— High Dive, Bubble-Loons, and Star Link— are carnival-themed versions of three classic common room games: Sky Dive, Balloons, and (of course) Star Link.

After playing with some friends, check out the newest thrill ride: “The Swirly.” You may recall seeing this attraction in an Instagram teaser last month. Unfortunately, you can’t ride it as it is currently being occupied by other Poptropicans.

Anyway, jump to the hill next to “The Swirly”. You’ll find a scarecrow wearing a cozy outfit and holding a steamy beverage. Click on it to obtain the “Chill in the Air” outfit.

Every festival has to have a Ferris wheel, and this one is no different! It’s unfortunate that wheel doesn’t spin (they may have lost the transformer), though you can jump on the carts to get a view of your surroundings.

When you’re on the Ferris wheel, you can spot a shiny red lever on the Fall Festival sign. Pull this lever to unleash a storm of raining pumpkins! Don’t forget to bring your umbrellas and helmets!

Head to the hill on the left to see the winners of the butter sculpture contest. That cow sculpture looks friendly, so why not befriend it and have it become your Butter Cow Follower.

Looking at all of that butter is making me hungry. Jump down the hill and grab some cotton candy at the Snack Shack. Next to the shack, you can find a small plush bear sitting on a giant version of itself. This cuddly teddy is the perfect companion for fairgoers of all ages.

That was a tour of Poptropica’s first Fall Festival! It’s a pretty simple but fun event for players who want to hang out and enjoy the setting of a county fair. Who knows if this will become an annual thing? This is a limited time event, so don’t miss out on the fun!

Going back to that mysterious envelope, it seems to have moved from the Poptropica map to the player menu. Open your menu and click on said envelope to access the brand new messaging system.

This new messaging system will notify players of new updates and events in the game. The interface is similar to the cellphone on Paradise Island, which is what players used to check out new updates.

That’s all for now. Will you guys check out the Fall Festival? What do you think of the message system? Leave you thoughts in the comments below.

Thank you for reading, and have a good day! 

—Gentle Dolphin 🐬

Fan Art Features, Merchandise, Social Media

New merch coming to boys and ghouls! 👕🎃

Gentle Dolphin

Hey, everybody! Yesterday, we received some exciting news from the Poptropica Creators: a new line of Poptropica merch is coming soon!!!

As we’ve seen from their wide variety of products, Poptropica is no stranger to merchandise. Long-time players may remember that Poptropica once offered certain items such as clothing and wall decals, and it looks like this new merch line will provide that and then some.

The announcement post teased a few items that will be available for purchase. We have a sweatshirt with the Poptropica logo, a puzzle of one of the game’s wallpaper, and a blue and white ballcap with the iconic golden blimp. The designs of these items are simple yet recognizable.

Are there any particular products or designs that you would like to see in this new store? The Creators will be taking suggestions until November 4th, so let your ideas be heard!

With Halloween on our front doorstep, many dedicated celebrators are making their costumes. In the holiday spirit, the Creators asked Instagram users to share their in-game Halloween costumes with the hashtag #popghouls for a chance to be featured on the Creators’ Blog! Don’t miss out on this scary cool opportunity!

Whenever we talk about Poptropica and Instagram, we also need to share the cool fan content they highlight on their stories. The Creators featured some spooky and groovy artwork as well as Lucky Joker’s Golden Guerilla costume!

Speaking of costumes, tomorrow is the last day to submit your entries to the PHB Halloween costume contest! Make sure you submit before October 30th 11:59 pm EST for a chance to win a Poptropica membership! Also, feel free to make some spooky stuff for Poptober and Community Creations, which are ongoing until the end of October.

Good luck to everyone submitting, and have a happy Halloween!

—Gentle Dolphin Violet Vamp 😈🦇

Sneak Peeks, Zomberry Island

Spinning with sneak peeks for friends and Zomberries

Gentle Dolphin

Hey, friends! Gentle Dolphin here with the latest Poptropica news! Today, we’ll be taking a look behind the curtains and seeing some future updates as well as what goes into the making of an island experience.

Back in May 2019, the Creators asked players for feedback on how to improve Poptropica’s friends feature. Now, in October 2020, we finally get a sneak peek of the new friends feature coming soon to Haxe!

The one feature fans requested the most was the ability to find and add their friends via usernames, which was part of the original friends feature back in 2012. It looks like the Creators will be implementing this small but handy feature back to the Poptropica Friends experience. One interesting thing to note is that it looks like you can either accept or deny friend requests from other players, similar to Facebook.

Seeing the username feature return makes us wonder if any other old features such as pop quizzes and medallions will also return to Poptropica Friends, whether immediately with the update or later down the line. We’ll have to wait and see if that’s the case.

Hopping over to Instagram, the Creators posted another sneak peek. This one is a short video showing a few kids inside a large spinning device, and the caption doesn’t give any more information. The design reminds me of a nut and bolt, so maybe it’s a hardware-themed fair attraction or observation tower? Judging by how fast it’s going, something may have gone wrong. What do you guys think?

With the Zomberry Hero special event going strong, the Creators posted a special behind-the-scenes look at the making of this event. We’ll only be covering the bare essentials, but you can read the original post for a more in-depth look of their creative process.

First, the Creators shared some concept art for the opening comic page. The artists start with a rough storyboard, then create a formal sketch closer to the game’s art style. Once the sketch is approved, the artists can then create the final piece.

Several artists also help design the various levels that players will explore, following a similar process to the comic artists. They also play a role in helping the developers understand how certain elements will work in the game.

After the art is complete, the developers can move on to animation and coding! As you can see below, the game’s assets are animated in Adobe Animate, and everything is coded in Haxe Javascript (the game’s current engine).

Last but not least, there’s the factor of sound. Not only is Jeff Heim’s music a big part of the experience, there are also the sound effects, such as the eerie moaning of the zombies. This audio sample here was made by an anonymous Pop Creator with the help of blankets!

What do you guys think of these sneak peeks? What other fan-favorite features do you wish to see return in the future, and what do you think that Instagram video is about?

There’s one week left to enter our annual PHB Halloween costume contest so make sure to submit your entries before October 30! Also, don’t forget about Poptober and Community Creations, which are ongoing until the end of this month. We love what you guys have been sharing so far, and we can’t wait so see what else you have in store!

Thank you for reading, and have a good day! 

—Gentle Dolphin 🐬

Sneak Peeks, Zomberry Island

Zomberries to return in upcoming event! 🧟‍♂️🫐🔦

Gentle Dolphin

Hello, ghouls and ghosts! Halloween is fast approaching, and everyone is gearing up for some spoopy fun. The hype is so infectious that the Poptropica Creators couldn’t avoid it. Yesterday, they announced a new limited time event coming to Poptropica maps near you.

Everyone, brace yourselves because the zomberries will be returning for an upcoming Zomberry Special Event!!!

The original Creators’ Blog post also featured two Zomberry-themed sketches— possibly concept art for the event’s map icon— to go along with the announcement. You can see them below.

If you go to Instagram, you can see what’s presumably the final icon design, which borrows elements from both sketches. The caption on the Instagram teaser simply reads, “Something is happening VERY SOON. And then more is happening after that.”

Man, there’s a lot to look forward to! Judging from the announcement, it’s likely not the Zomberry Island remaster that was teased last year. Since it will a limited time event, it may be a special minigame similar to D.C. Diner or a quest like the Haunted House.

This event could be borrowing elements from previously scrapped Zomberry minigames, which we covered in our “PHB Sneak Peeks” series. Maybe it has something to do with that 8-bit minigame that was teased for the Zomberry Island remaster? Who knows? We’ll have to wait and see.

Players participating in this limited time event will be awarded special perks, so who knows what new prizes could be in store. Keep an eye out for upcoming sneak peeks, and be prepared for the return of the fruity undead.

While we’re waiting for this event, why not buy some costumes to dress up your Poptropican? The Poptropica store added some new items for players to buy, so it’s a great chance to get in the Halloween spirit. Plus, it gives you more to work with for the PHB’s Halloween costume contest. 😉

Thank you for reading, and have a good day! 

—Gentle Dolphin 🐬

Ghost Story Island, Lunar Colony Island, Store

Creepy costumes and chords from out of this world 🎻

Gentle Dolphin

Greetings, Poptropicans! Today, we’ll be looking at the latest store update and listening to some new island soundtracks. Let’s get started!

Another store rotation brings a unique gallery of items, including six new Halloween-themed outfits: Chillin’ Chills, Bit Dark, October Shade, Lemon Shark, Bubblegum Unicorn, and Fuzzy Monster. The store currently boasts 47 items, 21 of which are members-only.

Update: this store lineup received seven more items after the writing of this post, bringing the total to from 40 items to 47 items. They are the Dance-a-corn Costume, Fairytale Costume, Headless Costume, Inflatable Rex Costume, Cozy Cocoa, Witch’s Brew, and Autumn Scarves.

The items available for purchase are the following:

  • Costumes: Stylin’ Outfit*, Cool Outfit*, Chillin’ Chills, Bit Dark, October Shade, Lemon Shark, Bubblegum Unicorn*, Fuzzy Monster, Dance-a-corn Costume, Fairytale Costume, Headless Costume, Inflatable Rex Costume, Cozy Cocoa, Bride of Frankenstein*, and Frankenstein*
  • Followers: Elephant, Noodle Guy*, Dolphin*, Deer, Charlie the Chocomonkey*, and Atlantis Drone
  • Powers: Binary Rain*, Fireworks*, Cinnamon Fire Flavor Pop Gum, Meteor Shower*, Bobblehead*, Torch, and Electrify
  • Pranks: Sticky Notes, Witch’s Brew, Sneezing Powder, 8-Bit Birthday Pixel Pig Power, Inside Out Power*, and Love Potion* (this item is absent in the Flash version)
  • Miscellaneous: Party Popper*, Flamingo Floatie*, Watermelon Purse*, Drone Flying Follower*, Popsicles*, Hover Scooter*, School Backpack, Notebooks, Marshmallow Roaster, Hiking Boots, Silly Streams, Balloons*, and Autumn Scarves

Items marked with a * are members only.

In other news, Poptropica composer Jeff Heim uploaded three new Pop soundtracks to Soundcloud! (Thanks to MaryannTheConqueror for the news) The titles of these songs hint at two classic island remasters in the works: Lunar Colony Island and Ghost Story Island.

Our first song is “Lunar Colony”, an obvious nod to Lunar Colony Island. The wondrous orchestra fits the theme of exploring an unknown territory, such as the moon.

Next, we have two songs for Ghost Story Island. The first of these two is “Ghost Story Main Theme”. This eerie tune is the perfect piece for walking down the foggy streets of Hemlock Harbor and learning about the town’s tragic past.

The second Ghost Story Island song— and the final of the three new songs—is called “Fiona’s Theme”. The first half sets up a spooky atmosphere, and the second half plays the melody of Fiona’s Song (the song you play on the violin in Ghost Story Island). A wonderful track full of ambience and nostalgia!

It’s a pleasant surprise that these songs were released so suddenly. Perhaps work on remastering the classic islands began earlier than we expected. It gives us some assurance that these fan-favorite islands are not forgotten and will stick around after the end of Adobe Flash.

We at the PHB hope that you join us for more spooky fun this month. We have artistic events like Poptober and Community Creations, as well as our annual PHB Halloween costume contest!

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

—Gentle Dolphin 🐬