App, Poptropica Worlds

Poptropica Worlds: The “Unreleased” App is Here!

Hey there, Poptropicans!

It’s Happy Lobster, and I’ve got some BIG NEWS for you:

Poptropica Worlds is available to be downloaded as an app on Google Play! It’s currently in open beta for Android, which means it’s not officially released yet, and as a result it may be unstable. But it’s here at last! Download at your own caution!

If you head over to the app’s page on the Google Play Store, you’ll find these new preview images, similar to the shiny ones we saw added for the classic Poptropica app:

So, these images basically convey most the same details as the images on the Poptropica App in Google Play and iTunes. But we can see a few new things in a couple of these pics, such as a few new costumes that aren’t in the original Pop or the Poptropica App images that showed us a glimpse of Worlds, and, much more interestingly, we can see some clear, customizable interiors of our brand-new house in Poptropica Worlds!

Here is the description of the Poptropica Worlds app on Google Play:

Explorers wanted! From the creators of the Poptropica games, now launches Poptropica Worlds. An exciting new game where every player gets to be the hero of their own story!

Venture the twists and turns only your Poptropican can journey.

Poptropica Worlds is a place where imagination and creativity allow you to explore, engage, and interact with a limitless universe of uncharted islands. You will be taken on an adventure through story-based islands that have you battling monsters, solving mysteries, and discovering exclusive locations as your personalized Poptropican avatar. With a world of possibilities, you get to be the writer of your own story.

EXPLORE POPTROPICA WORLDS: Check out different islands, play alongside other Poptropican heroes and villains, and dive into missions only your Poptropican can solve.

TAKE ON DARING QUESTS: Unravel the mysteries that lie in the caves of Crisis Caverns. A deadly supervolcano threatens Poptropica as we know it! To stop it, you must start an adventure taking you deep into the earth and explore areas that have yet to be discovered.

DECORATE YOUR HOUSE FOR YOUR STYLE: Located on your Home Island, this fully customizable House allows for you to create a place you can call your own. Check out the store for the latest additions you can use for a truly personalized look.

PLAY ON-THE-GO WITH YOUR DEVICE: Now you can have a seamless gaming experience between your web and mobile devices! Stay connected via the app to pick up exactly where you left off on your computer.

ENDLESS AVATAR CUSTOMIZATION: With more options than ever, create the avatar you want to best represent you in Poptropica Worlds.

Are you a Poptropican player already? No problem! Import your avatar and account details so you never miss a beat. Get started with this free game and embark on this new journey alongside your fellow Poptropicans!

Now, the only facet of this description that we really didn’t know about already is the part about Crisis Caverns’ plot. A deadly supervolcano threatens Poptropica, and to stop it, we must adventure through undiscovered areas deep below the earth? Interesting…

Anyway, onto the app itself. Again, because it’s technically in open beta, you can probably expect a few bugs here and there if you download it. Also note that this is only available on Android at the moment, so you will not find this on the iTunes App Store or for other devices just yet.

When you go onto the app, you’ll be prompted to either create a new player or log in (with your Poptropica Classic or Poptropica Worlds account). On Worlds, you can pick a player age up to 99, keep refreshing either part of the name options (as opposed to the whole name changing at once), and find yourself born on a cloud, not a box!

(For the following images, we’d like to thank BlazingAngel123! You can click to enlarge them.)

Once you’re ready to go, you’ll be faced with the map, which offers you three options: Home Island, Crisis Caverns, and Play the Original Poptropica! (The latter should bring you to the original, not-Worlds Poptropica game.) You can access the map again through the menu or your blimp on either island.

worldsapp1

Let’s check out Home Island first – here you’ll find your home (of course), which is a nice wooden abode with fairy lights and nested among a big tree. Cliff Housebuff can introduce you to the process of decorating the interior. Your credits are going to come in handy!

Over on the other side of the beach island, you’ll find the daily spin wheel manned by one Captain Scuttlebutt. He may seem like a weirdo, but you’re going to want those credits!

Taking Amelia Earhart’s place in the middle is a new character called Paula Pureheart, who basically offers the same kind of information about exploring Poptropica. Now, back to the blimp!

And yes, it’s true: we get to play Crisis Caverns! In order not to spoil too much right now, and to keep this post at a reasonable length, we’ll review the island more in-depth in a later post. In the meantime, here are a few pictures:

You can see from these pictures that the interfaces and menu is rather button-based, similar to what the current Poptropica looks like as of recently but with some differences. The inventory now pops up at the bottom, with items not having their own card, but showing up in the middle of the screen when clicked on.

A more noteworthy feature is the new Quest Log, which gives you a bar for island progress and lists tasks you have left to do. It can be a bit spoiler-y if you haven’t gotten quite that far to know about certain events, though. Still, it’s a handy feature and a nice answer to our request for a hint system in last year’s Open Letter from the PHB!

worldsapp9

If you click on the menu in the top corner, you’ll see options for: Save, Shop (brings you to the Store for clothing), Closet, Inbox (not currently available, but presumably we’ll receive messages this way), Travel (brings you to the map), and Settings.

Your credit count is displayed in the top-left corner, along with a membership icon prompting you to buy membership if you haven’t already. Not to worry, though: you can net a decent sum of credits by spinning the daily wheel, and completion of Crisis Caverns (and presumably other islands) will grant you 500 credits, a boost from the usual 150. You can also earn (less) credits by re-playing islands.

You may notice if you browse through the Shop (for either clothing or furniture) that some items are for members only, but free players still have plenty to choose from. A new thing that’s pretty neat is that you can purchase clothing items individually, instead of getting the whole costume at once, so you can just get the parts you like and it’s more affordable, too!

Anyway, there’s quite a bit to explore, so if you have an Android device and can’t wait much longer, feel free to check out the app now (but don’t expect it to run perfectly)! As for when it should release for real, and on other devices as well, we can’t be too sure – but Poptropica did hint over on Twitter that it could be VERY SOON

This tweet suggests that it could come out by the end of this month, and there’s only a week and a half left until the end of May, which is coming up fast! With the Android app already on version 1.0, it can’t be much longer now.

Pretty exciting stuff, right?? What are your thoughts so far? Have you played the beta yet? Got any favorite items and features? Tell the world in the comments below! 😀

Advertisements, Social Media

What’s your popping Popsona? (+ Pirates of the Caribbean ad!)

Hey there, Poptropicans!

It’s Happy Lobster here, and there’s been a new post over at the Creators’ Blog – this time about our Poptropican’s Popsonas: our Poptropican’s very own persona, including backstory, personality, like and dislikes, and other small aspects that make each individual character unique!

Skinny Moon featured some of these Popsonas in the post, made by fellow Poptropicans, posted over on social media.

Funny Icicle.jpg
Hanie F.’s Popsona of Funny Icicle

“Funny Icicle is a super villain! Her name is Black Widow 2.0. She is a clone of Black Widow that was cloned at Super Villain Island, but Zeus (Professor Jupiter) upgraded it — he made a better version of Black Widow. Black Widow 2.0’s favorite island is Counterfeit Island. She wants to avenge Black Widow. She likes to steal and she likes art and fashion. She doesn’t like heroes and having friends.”

Fearless Shell.jpg
Yumgirl’s Popsona of Fearless Shell (drawn by IceSquared)

“She had a rough life… by the time she was 12 she and her father moved away to Paris, where her father grew up with her grandfather. This is also the time she met Mademoiselle Moreau, who was one of her only friends during that time. When she was 16, Fearless Shell and her family moved to San Francisco, where she developed a crush on Ned Noodlehead — she is the only one who can ignore his flaws. By the time she was 24, she was taking care of two orphaned children, Super Goose and Little Pear.”

Purple Tiger
Purple Tiger’s Popsona

“Purple Tiger is a dragon / unicorn / Poptropican hybrid who loves Star Link and Soupwords. She fights evil monsters in her downtime and loves to roller skate on top of clouds.”

Additionally, Skinny Moon included an amazing Popsona reference sheet about her character, using her new Worlds avatar!

skinny2bmoon2527s2bpopsona

So, what’s your unique Popsona? Well, unlike a couple of the Popsonas featured here, there’s no need to draw them – all you have to do is go the Poptropica Avatar Studio and type up your Popsona alongside your avatar’s picture!

Make sure to use the hashtag #MyPopsona when posting it – whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or other social media platforms – so that the Creators can see your very own inimitable Popsona!

In other news, there’s a new ad awaiting you over on Home Island for the upcoming Pirates of a Caribbean movie! Your trusty yellow blimp will have received a full PotC makeover, and in Amelia Earhart’s usual place will be a new Poptropican dressed in a conventional pirate costume. (Thanks to Bendy Flyer for the pic!)

You may also notice an aesthetic change to the Map which is now textured like an old treasure map as another promotion for the movie. (Thanks to Jacob_Da_Boss for the pic!)

Watch the video trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and you’ll receive a Pirate Transformation card. You can Costumize from it, plus press space bar to turn everyone into a pirate!

potcprize.png

Alright, guys, that’s all that’s new for now. See you soon, and stay popping!

Creators, Social Media

Snaps of movies and merch from the Boston office

Hey there, Poptropicans!

It’s Happy Lobster, and I’ve got some brand-new, behind-the-scene pics from the Poptropica Creators’ HQ in Boston – posted on the Creators’ Snapchat and Instagram – to go through with you!

First off are some movie posters with a theme of Zomberries. “Zombies in Paradise” is currently showing in the common room of Zomberry Island, where the “Manatee” poster also dwells. “You are what you eat” is a promo poster you can download and print off from the Zomberry Island tour page. Hopefully they may yet appear in the somewhat new theater on Home Island!

More on wall decor, there’s the Poptropican Lance Pitcher from Mocktropica (who features in several sneak peeks) with Poptropica-themed boards and a Shark Tooth toy pack, seen in greater depth in the next snap with the hashtag #oldschool, probably because it was first made available in 2011.

We also get a look at three blimp toys, which according to the caption may be the last three in stock! Speaking of inflatable blimp toys, Skinny Moon has one in her home office, along with the Cool Kid and Dr. Hare plushies and a Galactic Hot Dogs poster featuring Princess Dagger alongside a very appropriate caption.

Finally, back at Poptropica HQ is a print comprising of several buildings and objects from all over Poptropica, with buildings from Monster Carnival, Escape From Pelican Rock, Mystery Train, Super Power, Mocktropica, Game Show and Twisted Thicket, and items from Mythology, Cryptids, PoptropiCon, Mystery of the Map, Night Watch, Legendary Swords and Mocktropica (well, let’s just say a lot of islands were featured in this big amalgamation!). They should totally make this print available for us to use!

Alright, guys, that’s all that’s new for now. See you soon, and stay popping!

Poptropica Portfolio

Poptropica Portfolio: Ashley Lange

Hey there, Poptropicans!

It’s Happy Lobster, and we’ve got yet another Poptropica Portfolio, and this time the artist showcased is Ashley Lange

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out the Poptropica Portfolios we’ve previously published, featuring artists Nate Greenwall, Chris GoodwinAbraham Evensen Tena, Jordan Leary, Lance Fry, and Nasan Hardcastle.

Anyway, according to Lange’s Squarespace page, Ashley’s a game artist and animator, and has so far worked for Fantasy Flight Games, Blizzard Entertainment, and Pearson Education (which included Poptropica, although Pearson no longer owns Pop). Using several design programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and Maya, she creates her amazing works. Check out her stunning Poptropica ones below:

As you can see, Lange has done quite a bit for Poptropica – from sketches to animations, from plans to entire scenes. But as for that final pic, its file name is ‘Moletown’, and it almost certainly comes from Crisis Caverns. Is the place actually called Mole Town (or Moletown), or does the pic just have that name because it’s a town moles live in? Whether this is the case or not, it’s definitely something to think about.

There’s also a video which includes some of Ashley’s animations, which include some Poptropica ones. These comprise of the boss battle in Mocktropica, Virus Hunter virus battles, Monster Carnival monsters, Twisted Thicket Trolls (same animation as in the fourth pic above), Wimpy Boardwalk characters, Survival Ep. 2 beavers, and a sketch of a scene in Crisis Caverns, with some very intriguing phrases stated below it: ‘For thousands of years we have lived peacefully under the earth. Our kingdom is filled with riches that have made their way from your world to ours.‘ Very intriguing indeed…

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this insight into another Poptropica artist’s remarkable portfolio! See you soon, and stay popping!

Poptropica Worlds, Sneak Peeks

Poptropica Worlds: Picture Previews

Hey there, Poptropicans!

It’s Happy Lobster, and I’ve got some exciting new sneak peeks of Poptropica Worlds, which is coming out this spring (for the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn for the Southern Hemisphere).

If you click on the link directly above, there will be a video trailer for Poptropica Worlds, in which you’ll see a few Poptropicans (most recognisably Dr. Lange), but the art style is more detailed than the original Poptropica’s characters – which clearly is the style that will be used in the upcoming Pop Worlds.

But recently, there have been a few more images of these intriguing new Poptropicans, from the Poptropica App descriptions in iTunes and Google Play! (Credit to Perfect Flyer for this discovery!)

From these previews, there are a couple of things to take note of:

  • Five or more new islands not on the original Poptropica will be in Pop Worlds (since there are currently 46 islands in Poptropica, not counting individual episodes, and the bottom-leftmost picture states that there will be 50+ islands in Poptropica Worlds). However, we might not see all of these 50+ islands immediately, answered by Skinny Moon in a somewhat recent Q&A.

q&aislands.png

  • More Store cards will be in the Poptropica Worlds Store. Since there have been less than 1000 Store cards over Poptropica’s history, still existent or not, in-game or app-exclusive, this much is quite likely (and there are costumes in some of the previews that have never been seen before). However, it seems marginally unlikely that there will be 1000+ Store items at once in the Store to collect, so possibly that picture with Dr. Hare’s statement includes more than just Store items, or there are more app-exclusive costumes in the App included with the 1000+.

That isn’t all, though. The two app sites list some features about Poptropica Worlds:

– Explore the virtual world of Poptropica and its 20 islands!
– You’re the Hero! Solve 1000+ mysteries!
– Customize your hero from head to toe with 1000+ themed outfits!
– Collect items from your favorite heroes!
– Multiplayer game where you can meet and chat with your friends! Join a community of more than 10M players.
– Create your own island!
– Free to play, with in-app purchases available for more customization!

So, most of these we already know, with the old Poptropica. But it’s that penultimate point which is interesting – that we can create our own island. Most likely it’s just our own unique home island (remember that poll about what house we wanted in Poptropica Worlds?). But who knows what might happen in the future – it could mean something else.

Also, to that top point – the last time Poptropica (the old version) had 20 islands was back in 2011 – so it’s probably a typo. But going back to what Skinny Moon hinted, not all islands may be there at once in Poptropica Worlds.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this tour through some new and revealing Poptropica Worlds articles! I’ll see you soon – stay tuned on the PHB for more upcoming Poptropica Worlds news!