Contests, Web Development

#PoptropicaArt Facebook finalists and PHB happenings!

Hey Poptropicans!

The #PoptropicaArt contestย (details here!) continues on in full swing, and just recently on the Creators’ Blog, Skinny Moon posted the second round of finalists, this time pulling entries from Facebook. (The first round of finalists can be viewed here.)

Among the entries, we see works by Orange Monster, Mia G., Yuan V., Kayla V., threeย pieces by Maryann P., and three more by Tiger35767. Congratulations to the artists! Check out the art below!

Don’t worry if your art hasn’t been featured yet – Poptropica promises to feature lots more art over the upcoming weeks. For the next round of finalists, they’ll be looking to Instagram!

There’s still plenty of time left to create something for the contest, which ends September 5th. To enter, just post your art on either Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram with the hashtag #PoptropicaArt (or ask an adult or another Poptropican if you don’t have access to any). Full contest rules are here.

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I’d also like to mention a quick site update – you may recall earlier when we implemented some fun updates to the PHB. Unfortunately, some of these have had to go – but perhaps not completely!

While the new features were generally well received, there were unfortunately a few technical difficulties regarding the change that have led to usย recently switching back to WordPress.com, our original server. As a result, we’ve had to let go of a few features (such as the Art gallery and Forums) because they’re not supported on WP.com.

Although we’re sad to see them go, we hope you enjoyed them while they lasted. If you did, then we have a couple of recommendations forย you: the We-Love-Poptropica DeviantArt group is where the art comes from, and it’s a community full of Poptropica fan artists, including many of the PHB staff!

Also, if you liked the forums, we hope you’ll check out and participate in our PoptropicaHelp subreddit, where you can submit all sorts of Poptropica things (art, theories, stories, the list goes on!) and share your thoughts on topics started by other Poptropicans. We even recently added flairs for you to show off your tribe allegiance! It’s quick and easy to get started with a Reddit account.

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Speaking of art, here at the PHB we’re also doing a little art contest of our own as part of the Tribal Tournament we have going on this month! Check out this post for more information about the Artistic Athletes round. There’s still time to enter (until August 21), so compete while you have the chance!

poptribe art

Plus, keep an eye out next week for our final Tribal Tournament challenge. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Stay popping, Poptropicans!

Contests

PHB Tribal Tournament: Artistic Athletes!

poptribe art

โ€œFriendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival,” penned the writer C.S. Lewis. And indeed – for this next round in the PHB Tribal Tournament, we’re now calling on the artists to bring value to survive in these games. Read on for the details!

If you are new to the PHB Tribal Tournament, please read up on the event details here so that you’re all caught up. If you have questions, comment below!

This next round of the tourney is called Artistic Athletes, and we’re going to be looking for your best Poptropica art, which comes in several categories:

  • Visual art! Draw or paint your best Poptropica fan art.
  • Fan fiction! Write the next great Poptropica novel, tribe cheer, short story, poem, screenplay, or other written masterpieces!
  • Fashion! Put together a stunningly stylish summer outfit for the Games! Tell us the username and/or take a screenshot of the character.
  • Realms! Create your own games stadium or other work of athletic art with Poptropica Realms!

You may submit a creation you’ve made before, but extra consideration will be given to entries that are tribe-themed or related to the Poptropolis Games, so we recommend that you try to match that theme.ย You can enter as many times into as many categories as you like to increase your chances of being selected.

To enter your work, you can either post in your tribe’s channel onย the PHC (as we have been doing with the other rounds of the tournament), tweet us on Twitter @Poptropica_Help with the tribe you’re representing, or email us at [email protected] (again, with the name of your tribe). You have until August 21 24 (extended time!)ย to enter!

Now about earning points! How this works is this:

  • The representative of each tribe (one of the eight PHB staff) will go through all the entries for their tribe and select what they feel is the top choice for each of the four categories.
  • The selections will then be brought up to all the PHB staff, who will each rank every selected entry – except from their own tribe, to eliminate bias – from what they feel is the strongest to least strong. If your tribe has no entries for any category, then sorry – you won’t earn points for that category, so your best bet is to enter something!
  • We’ll then count up theย place numbers each selected entry has received and divide it by the number of placements given through votes to get an average for each. The smaller the score average, the higher it ranks (for example, if a piece wins multiple “1” (first) places, it has a smaller total score but has been voted higher). From there, the first place piece in each category will receive 80 points, second will receive 70 points, and so on down the line.

Also, here’s an animation I madeย (of the PHB tribe repsย working out) to inspire you guys to participate in the Tribal Tournament, particularly for this creativeย round! Game on, Poptropicans!

tribepop

Don’t forget, you can still earn points for your tribe by joining inย the Medal Marathon, all the way through August 24! Check out the original Tribal Tournament post for details.

poptribe medal

We’ve been getting lots of enthusiasm on the PHC about the tribe tournament, which is awesome – keep it up, and join in if you haven’t already!ย We’re also excited to see your art, so get creative! ๐Ÿ˜€

Brush up on those skills and show us what you’ve got!

โ€“ the PHB tribe reps โ€“

Contests, PHB Parties

Recap: PHB Tribal Tournament – Opening Ceremony!

tribe opening

Ladies and gentlemen, the Poptropica Help Blog presents… the PHB Tribal Tournament!

And here come the tribes now! Bravely brandishingย her black flag, the dread pirate Brave Tomato waves to the crowd, leading a few of her fellow Black Flagsย into the ceremony. Don’t you dare throw a tomato.

Then comes the captain of the Flying Squid, Slanted Fish, guiding her school of fish in the procession. She reaches for an arrow and lights up the flame of the Games!

Weย couldn’t haveย televised these grand events without our technical support – here come the Nanobots now, led by the fearless Spotted Dragon, and down the track they march!

Once night falls, you may see more of them, but next come the Nightcrawlers, with HPuterpop at the forefront while the rest of the team crawls on by!

They surely aren’t lost – the Pathfinders know where it’s at, becauseย they’ve arrived right on time, carefully calculating every step with their golden compasses and making their leader Koi proud!

Descending from the heavens now are the Seraphim, with archangel Ylimegirl proudly directing her fellow tribesmates as they fly into flawless formation. A majestic sight to behold!

Fwooom! The Poptropolis infernoย is further ignited as the Wildfire team arrives,ย blazing the flames to new heights! It’s totally lit, and they know it, with feistyย skipperย Slippery Raptor leading the cheer: “What team?!” “WILDFIRE!”

Finally, finishing the procession we have the Yellowjackets, with bee king Ultimate iPad Expert leading his colony. They sure know what the buzz is all about!

And that’s all eight Tribes of the Tribal Tournament! Give a cheer for your team!!

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Earlier this week, we invited everyone to attend the Opening Ceremony of our Tribal Tournament, and were pumped to see many of you there! You can check out the recap pictureย above to see some of the highlights, which included Multiverse game battles, dressing up in cool tribe hats and other spirited gear, and of course, having fun on the PHC! Thanks to Ylimegirl and WimpyKidFan for theirย contributions to the collage, and thanks to all who came and played! Hope you enjoyed the Rio 2016 Olympics opening ceremony later that day as well โ€“ which country are you rooting for? ๐Ÿ˜‰

The Tribal Tournament continues in full swing, and remember, you can keepย earningย points for your tribe by playing through Poptropolis Games Island and uploadingย a screenshot of your final scoreboard (as many times as you can!) either via the PHCย (on your tribe channel) or this formย (if you can’t get on the PHC).ย We’re not revealing scores until the end, but for now, these are the tribes in the lead:

  1. Seraphim ๐Ÿ‘ผ
  2. Yellowjackets ๐Ÿ
  3. Pathfinders ๐Ÿ”ฆ

Congratulations if your tribe is among the top three! If not – it’s time to step up your game!

Start with the Medal Marathon (more details in our original post), and look forward to more tribal competitions coming soon!

poptribe medal

Get competing, and of course, enjoy the epic Poptropolis Games music!

Contests, PHB Parties

On your marks – here comes the PHB Tribal Tournament!

poptribe

Hey Poptropic-athletes! As you may be aware, the Rio Olympics of 2016 are coming up, and that’s sure to be exciting – so exciting, in fact, that here at the PHB, we’re bringing the fun of competition to the Poptropica community! In case the Poppies wasn’t enough exhilaration, we’ve got a BIGย Tribal Tournament planned, and we’re looking for athletes of all kinds to compete. Are you ready?!

Poptropica has their own version of teams known as tribes, which you will have encountered if you’ve ever played Poptropolis Games Island or visited your own friend profile. If you don’t belong to a tribe yet (gasp), check out the PHB’s guide to Tribes and find one that suits you!

We’ll be kicking off the event with an Opening Ceremony on Friday, August 5, 2pm Eastern time (that’s 1pm Central, 12pm Mountain, 11am Pacific, and for all other time zones, check a time converter). It’ll be your usual party on the PHC at discord.me/thePHC โ€“ a completely safe chatroom environment where PHB staff and other Poptropicans regularly hang out โ€“ with Multiverse, games, and more!

As the invite graphic suggests, it’s earlier in the day so you have a chance to kick off the actual, NOT-Poptropicaย Olympics on TV later on! (The real-world Olympic ceremony starts at 7pm EST the same day!) Feel free to pop in and out as your schedule permits –ย you’ll usually find Poptropicans online at this time! (Also, shout-out to Yujo for designing the pixel-style tribe flags!)

poptribe opening

As you can see from the PHB header above, each of the PHB authors are representing one of the eight tribes of Poptropica. (Some of our profiles may say otherwise, since we had to make some compromises in order to each represent one of the eight.) Here they are โ€“

  • Black Flags โ€“ Brave Tomato
  • Flying Squid โ€“ Slanted Fish
  • Nanobots โ€“ Spotted Dragon
  • Nightcrawlers โ€“ HPuterpop
  • Pathfinders โ€“ Koi
  • Seraphim โ€“ Ylimegirl
  • Wildfire โ€“ Slippery Raptor
  • Yellowjackets โ€“ Ultimate iPad Expert

And we’ve got a lot more planned for the tournament! However, to participate, it’s best if you canย access the PHCย (Poptropica Help Chat). (We would like to emphasize that it is a completely child-friendly environment, with moderators around to prevent trouble and block offensive content, and is used by many kids in the Poptropica community.)

Once you’ve picked a tribe, head over toย the PHC, and create an account if you haven’t already (it only takes seconds). You’ll notice that we’ve set up channels (located to the left) that you can talk in โ€“ the #main channel is the main one. To the right, you’ll find a list of users online, including PHB staff and moderators. To join the Tribal Tournament, you should then alert one of the staff to add you into the tribe of your choice, either by asking on the #main channel or privately messaging a staff moderator.

You should soon be added into a role within the PHC that declares your chosen tribe. Choose wisely, because you can only be in one tribe! Once you’re added, you should see a new channel that has the name of your tribe. This is where you can communicate with others in your tribe and post things that can earn points for your tribe (more on that soon!).

For now, we’re announcing the first way you can earn points for your tribe… the MEDAL MARATHON!

poptribe medal

To compete in the Medal Marathon, all you have to do is:

  1. Play Poptropolis Games Island, and right at the end, take aย screenshot of the scoreboard (instructions here). Don’t worry if you forget, as long as you haven’t restarted the island – just click on the “Overall Rankings” scoreboard in the stadium area to see it. Please make sure the scoreboard is completed!
  2. Head over to the PHC and find your tribe’s channel (as explained above). Post your screenshot of the scoreboard into your tribe’s channel (you can drag and drop the image into Discord, or click the upload button (instructions here). OR You can upload the picture at this form – no PHC participation needed!
  3. That’s all! Your tribe representative (the PHB staffer assigned to your tribe) will calculate the points you’ve earned, along with the contributions of everyone else in the tribe.
  4. You can do thisย as many times as you like to earn further points for your tribe. This will go on throughout most of the month, with the final day for the Medal Marathon being August 24.

poptropolis scoreboard

In case you’re wondering how points are calculated for this event, we’ll take the overall rank you earned and assign it a point value. If you are 1stย place, as seen in the scoreboard above, you’ll get 8ย points, 2nd will get 7, 3rd will get 6, 4th will get 5, 5th will get 4, 6th will get 3, 7th will get 2, and 8th place will earn 1ย point.ย Eachย tribe rep will keep count of scores as the days go along, but we will not announce the points of every tribe until the end of the event!

Again, even if you can’t participate on the PHC, we hope you will at least earn points for your tribeย by playing the Poptropolis Games Medal Marathon and uploading your scoreboard here.

We’ve got a few more things planned in this epic tribe showdown, but for now, go out and explore, collect, compete!ย May the best tribe win!

โ€“ the PHB tribe reps โ€“

Contests, PHB Parties, Poppies, Web Development

Recap and a wrap: Poppies 2016 Party!

Hey Poppie-troppie-cans!

As you’ve no doubt noticed on the PHB, over the past couple of weeks we’ve been hosting The Poppies, which is our Poptropica community awards event! We’re thankful for everyone who participated in nominating, voting, dressing up, partying, and of course, appreciating.

The main event, the Poppies party and winners livestream, took place on July 26, 2016 – the PHB’s 8th anniversary. Check out the well-dressed Poptropicans in the party collage below!

poppies2016 recap

Between the Poppies winners being announced via livestream (check out the winners here!), jokes and chatter filling up the PHC, and rounds of game battles, cake throws, and 8th birthday pigs in Multiverse rooms, it was a lot of fun and frenzy for everyone involved, including the PHB staff of course!

Here at the PHB, we’re amazed and grateful for all of your support, and how it has carried us for eight whole years. This year, in 2016, we began publishing Poptropica stories from the community, known as My Place in Poptropica. It has been quite interesting to hear your stories, and we’re honored to be part of it. We look forward to even more poppin’ times in the future.

Also, you may have noticed some new changes here on the PHB. They will be discussed further in another post, but we hope you enjoy them now and onwards. In the meantime, if you are experiencing any downtime, please just wait about half a minute and then do a quick refresh on the page.

One of the biggest new changes to highlight is the onsite forums โ€“ discussion boards right here on the PHB, for connecting our community in matters both on and off Poptropica. Unlike the fast-paced nature of the PHC, forum messages can stay for a while, and is its own medium worth exploring, so we hope you’ll check it out! We’d love to hear feedback as well.

Thanks again to all of you for being part of the Poptropica community, and we hope you enjoyed the awards for 2016. Congratulations to all the winners, and see you next time on the red carpet!

๐ŸŒŸ Stay popping, Poptropicans! ๐ŸŒŸ

โ€“ the PHB team โ€“