Author: Slanted Fish

Hello! I'm Slanted Fish, the editor-in-chief and creator of the Poptropica Help Blog (PHB). I'm a writer, Hong Kong native, and Christ follower. My Poptropica username is slantedfish 🐠 Don't forget to be awesome!
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A commencement address to Poptropicans of 2020

Slanted Fish

This post is going to be a bit different from our usual news updates and fandom spotlights, but we want to take a moment to toast and encourage you, Poptropicans of unprecedented and tumultuous times. Here’s to you!

To the Poptropicans of 2020,

It’s been a strange year. We’re living in a global pandemic, yes, but that hasn’t stopped us from playing Poptropica. That threat lies elsewhere, in the impending end for Adobe Flash. But more on that later.

In some parts of the world, now’s about that time of the year when students graduate and have ceremonies to celebrate the occasion—gatherings which now, of course, may not happen in person, or at least will look different than usual. So if you’re graduating this year (whether from elementary, middle, high school or college): congratulations! 👩‍🎓 And even if it’s not your turn yet, what follows is still for you too.

Here at the Poptropica Help Blog, we want to commemorate with you with a commencement speech of sorts, to remind you of the times we’ve had, to give you hope, and to send each other into the world to come. So we’ve donned our caps and gowns (from the Graduation costume available now in the store!) and prepared a celebration for you. Let’s roll.

Some of you have discovered this game only recently, and others of you have been around for literally a decade. Either way, we’re all part of the Poptropica fam, and that’s worth celebrating! 🙌

As Poptropicans, we’ve ridden on gryphons, been chased by blueberry-infected zombies, trolled some lumberjerks, and had lots more adventures. (And when you were stuck, we were right here with illustrated island guides to help you through. 😉 ) How many of these moments in Poptropica do you remember?

It’s been a good long run, but things are different now. There’s uncertainty. We know that Flash will not be supported by the end of this year, and it’s resulted in drastic changes for Poptropica as they prepare for this future—it’s meant islands disappearing and cosmetic and structural changes to the game. A fresh, challenging, solid island adventure seems a long way away.

And offline, there’s uncertainty too. Plans have changed, and perhaps you’re not sure what the next year or even the next few months might look like. But it’s okay not to know. What you can hope in is this: the world needs you, noble Poptropican.

Remember your adventures in Poptropica, and all that was gained from them. Love sacrificially, as the Vizier did for you in Arabian Nights. Find joy in wonder, like Salerno with her alien structures in Lunar Colony. Live patiently, as with your grind for the Phoenix Warbird in Skullduggery. Even when these islands fade, their legacy remains. So know that the giants you’ve faced, and the friendships you’ve formed, have prepared you to take on the world with courage, kindness, and yes, even greatness.

Have hope, because you’ve come this far. Have faith, because you are surrounded by people who believe in you. And take heart, brave ones, because you’re just getting started.

Life is made up of the everyday moments, and your part matters.

A new world awaits. Poptropicans, may you rise up to meet it.

—the Poptropica Help Blog—

p.s. While you’re here, consider sharing in the comments about how Poptropica has shaped you as a person! ⭐️

Store

Cobble up 75 credits, become a Bobblehead

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! Another week of May has gone by, and surprisingly, there’s been a rotation of items in the store. Here’s what’s in:

Many of last week’s items are still around, but all the costumes have changed. In the costume department, we have: Cool for School, Baseball Uniform*, Orange Julius, Spiff Boy, Unicorn Girl*, Football Fever* (with a whopping 8 color options!), Prom Queen, and Swan Ballerina. (A * indicates members only.)

The Bobblehead power has been made available to all (it was members only last week) and dropped from 350 credits to a mere 75, so now’s a good time to snap up this wobbly-bobbly classic!

Modeling while bobbling.

In followers, the Dryad has replaced the Chick from last week, and in pranks, the Ice Blaster Pistol has joined the ranks. And finally, in miscellaneous, the Cinnamon Fire PopGum has risen to 300 credits, a drastic change from last week’s 75. (Thanks to Perfect Fish for the alerts!)

That’s all for this week’s news! In case you missed it, catch up on all the exciting stuff that came out in the past couple of weeks:

Stay healthy, Poptropicans! 🙌🧼

~/🐠

24 Carrot Island, Haxe Javascript, Store

May store arranges, 24 Carrot changes

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! Store items for the month of May are here, and unlike last month, there’s no sign that they’ll change weekly this time.

The items are all ones we’ve seen before in Poptropica, though their availability on the Haxe Javascript build is a good sign of the Creators’ progress in porting over some of the older items to the game’s future.

For this month, the store costumes are: Soccer Player (boy and girl), Rainbow Storm, Rebel Beach, Mythology Surfer (boy and girl), Pop Star, and Rock Star. Miscellaneous brings us the Cinnamon Fire PopGum and Balloons, and in pranks we have Sticky Notes, Fart Gun, and the 8-Bit Birthday Pixel Pig Power.

As for the real powers, there’s Binary Rain, Bobblehead, Flower Planting Power, and Atom Power. Finally, in followers, we have the adorable Chick, Classic Pack, Charlie the Chocomonkey, and Atlantis Drone.

In other news, the Haxe Javascript version of 24 Carrot Island has had a few updates! (But not as drastic as the remastered version on Poptropica Worlds… Haxe hasn’t given us wild-haired Maynard or the Carrot Museum.)

You’ll see the first change right when you start the island, which now plays a short video showing a kid pulling carrots and getting whisked underground by a mechanical claw that drags him into the carrot factory, where Dr. Hare awaits. You can see this teaser video in our previous post.

The next change is a nostalgic one: you can mix a drink at the Carrot King Diner to change your hair color! This hidden trick was in the original 24 Carrot that released in 2008, but had disappeared when 24 Carrot was re-released in 2013 as a sound-updated island. Seven years later, it’s back!

Characters on this island also now come with small speech bubbles with just an ellipsis (the three dots) to indicate they have something to say. Perhaps this will extend to other islands in Haxe?

Speaking of, well, speaking, some of the dialogue on this flagship Poptropica island has been altered. Overall, the new lines flow well and give the player a better sense of what’s going on. Even the homeless man gets to explain his circumstances: the closure of the carrot cake factory has put him out of work.

And, at least one store in Poptropica still has toilet paper. 😉

Anyway, that’s all for this post, but these aren’t the only updates from Poptropica this week! Stay tuned for our next post, where we’ll talk more on the new common room stores and the funky little droid powering them…

Stay awesome, Poptropicans! 😄

Advertisements, Store, Web Development

🏄‍♀️ American Girl, you shell of an island, don’t sell my data when in California

Slanted Fish

Surf’s up, Poptropicans! Catch the waves and ride on over to the latest island to surface in the Poptropica seas… American Girl: Joss’s Island.

Yup, as you can probably guess, this isn’t your typical island with a quest—instead, it’s Poptropica’s most extra ad yet, here to promote “American Girl” dolls, and specifically its “Girl of the Year 2020”: Joss Kendrick, surfer.

It’s not the first time Poptropica has built an island solely for advertising—the same tactic was applied with LEGO Island in 2018. Anyway, there’s quite a bit to do on Joss’s Island, which you can find on both mobile and desktop, including HAXE! (Thanks for the tip, Perfect Fish.)

Upon arriving, you’ll hear a jaunty, upbeat tune playing—and there’s more sound to come. But first, a quick overview: you can talk to the doll characters to see what’s going on, like the fact that you can click on interactive objects around the island. There are four buildings you can enter (from left to right): the cinema, Shine Athletics Gym, American Girl Place, and SoCal Board Shop. And if you head left, you’ll see a sign that tells you you’re in Huntington Beach (which is a real city in California!).

As Joss herself will tell you, there are four free prizes to be had on this island. You can pick up a Shine Bright Shirt by the entrance of American Girl Place, a Cheer Competition Jacket above the RV by the SoCal Board Shop, your very own Joss’s Tassel Bag to the left of your parked blimp, and a Catch a Wave Hoodie above the cinema. As usual, members get to keep ad prizes forever!

Inside the SoCal Board Shop, you can play a surfing game with mechanics similar to the cheetah run on Reality TV: Wild Safari. By clicking multiple times, you can jump higher as you ride the waves. However, in both my and Perfect Fish’s experience, it seems there are some invisible obstacles in the game causing it to be hard to win. Still, if you manage to beat it, you’ll win Joss’s Surfboard (thanks, Scrooge200!).

Moving on, there’s the American Girl Place, which is basically one fancy building to promote various parts of the American Girl franchise. If you head to the right, you’ll find a little restaurant with a video you can watch.

Next up is the Shine Athletics Gym, where you can play a Rock Band-like beats game where the goal is to lead a cheer squad by pressing buttons as they come along each of the three colored stripes. If your volume is up, you’ll hear the song “Go Joss” as you jam along. If you do well enough, you’ll win an adorable little Seal Pup that can go on your head!

Finally, there’s the cinema, which is of course playing all things Joss. You can watch eight videos in there: two are music videos, “Go Joss” (the soundtrack to the aforementioned beats game) and “Surf’s Up”; there’s also a doll stop-motion animated series of Joss’s story in six episodes.

That’s all for American Girl: Joss’s Island! What did you think of this most ambitious ad in the history of Poptropica? Did you momentarily get your hopes up about a new island on the map? Will you wear the new prizes? Don’t you think Poptropica should make the Seal Pup the next pet? Comment below!

As we wrap up the month of April, we come into our final week of the weekly store updates. While the costumes have switched around this week, they’re ones we’ve seen throughout this month, so nothing new.

Will we see the weekly updates to the store continue in May? Time will soon tell, as the next month fast approaches…

Last but not least, the Poptropica.com homepage got a little update! We’ve mentioned the new “Pick a Character” screen, but now, when you scroll down below that, you’ll find three square images highlighting Poptropica’s features: Connect with friends! Play epic adventures! Adopt your own pets!

So, although friends in Poptropica has been a little lacking after the post-Flash update, and has yet to appear in HAXE, perhaps this is a reassurance that friends will continue to be a priority for Poptropica’s future.

On another note, if you look at the links below those pictures, you’ll find one that wasn’t there before: Do Not Sell My Info (for CA Residents). That’s CA for California, not Canada, by the way. Apparently, residents of California can request to opt out of having their details shared with the third-party partners of Sandbox Network Inc, Poptropica’s parent company.

Of course, they will “need to verify your identity to process your request.”

As for the rest of us, um, Poptropica’s been selling our data…??? In their words: “Sandbox Networks Inc. (“SNI”) does share customer information with carefully selected third parties in order to create a superior customer experience and for permitted business purposes.”

It’s not clear what “customer information” entails here, but Poptropica doesn’t collect much personal info to begin with, so it’s probably nothing to worry about. (And to be fair, many other websites are already involved in legal data selling.) What we do know is that when creating a Poptropica account, you’re asked for your age (although this may be disappearing with the new HAXE setup), a username and password to log in with, and you can also connect an email account to your Poptropica account later on. Plus, the aforementioned “carefully selected third parties” are likely advertisers like American Girl, who want to know who they’re advertising to — which is fair enough.

Now that you’ve made it this far into the post, I hope that long title at the beginning finally makes sense. 🙂

That’s all for now. Catch you in the next wave! 🌊

~/🐠