Hey Poptropicans! The Fairy Fan Art Challenge from Poptropica has been going strong, and there’s still a bit of time left to join! 🧚♀️🖌
The Pop Creators have been sharing some of the entries on their Instagram stories, and they’ve even created a new story highlight on their IG page called “Fan Challenges” where you can see the recent features. We’ve also gathered them here for you:
Nanau and Kapaka, Selkie, Kitsune, Princess Kaguya, and Titania by @capax_infini
Hansel and Gretel by @brittscarlet1
Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf by @hollysimspet
Alice in Wonderland by @blazeonfire64
Cinderella and Prince Charming by @sakurannb0
Rapunzel by @pinklightningmc
Tinkerbell by @invisible_b0nes
Rapunzel by @myw.drawings
Beauty and the Beast by @meganf123456
Pretty epic stuff! Remember, the contest ends this Wednesday, April 21. You could win some in-game credits! More details about the contest were covered in our post last week. 🎨
And perhaps even better, Fairy Tale Island is set to release this Thursday, April 22, with the winners of the art challenge to be announced the day after. Stay tuned — we’ll be watching for this exciting Pop drop and will release an island guide here on the PHB! 🎉
Thanks to IsaacEntertains for bringing this to my attention!
In celebration of the upcoming Fairy Tale Island (the first winner of the Dream Island contest from last year), the creators are holding a competition calling all artists who are up to participate.
The idea is to illustrate your favorite character, scene, and/or item from your favorite tale in the Poptropica style. All types of media are acceptable and your drawing can be as simple or as intricate as you’d like. To enter, simply post your creation to Instagram making sure to tag the official Poptropica account (@poptropicacreators) or submit through Poptropica’s submissions form. Easy-peasy!
The prize? There will be 3 winners chosen, and not only will the team of creators (along with every Poptropican who pays any attention to the PCB and Poptropica’s social media) see your work, you’ll also be rewarded with in-game credits. How many? That is yet to be discovered… Anyway, you have until April 21 — a mere week from now — to get your entries in, so you don’t want to procrastinate on this one.
Also FYI, Fairytale Island is set to be releasing the day after on April 22! How exciting… it’s not a dream (hopefully)! The wait has actually been pretty short which is a little out of character for Poptropica at this point, so that gets me wondering about the quality of the gameplay we’ll be receiving. I’m a little ambivalent if I’m going to be honest, but I’ll try to find some more optimism.
What about you? Will you be getting involved in the fantasy fun? Let us know in the comments below. Thank you for reading and I’ll talk to you in the next one. Pop on!
– LJ 🍀
UPDATE: In other news, more fabulous masterpieces were shared on Poptropica’s Instagram story. Keep them coming, creators! I’m loving the frequent engagement with the online community.
Here we have a set of creepy eyeballs peeping through some prickly vines. It isn’t much, but Poptropica hasn’t been very good at providing us with sneak peeks in recent years, so it’s still enough to get me super hyped! Imagine, after 5+ years, finally getting an actual island with good substance. My hopes are high for this one since it was created by a fellow player. Fans often produce the best ideas for the games they love.
In other fun news, the new store Adventure Outfitters we first saw a glimpse of in February’s Home Island revamp is now open for business!
I have to say I’m a big fan of the entire look and feel of the space. There’s a mix of modern and vintage vibes in the architecture which I love, and this is the first time in Poptropica’s history where we actually have a walk-in store as opposed to a page with cards.
(Disclaimer before I continue: All prices are subject to change as the update is VERY glitchy at this point. Thanks for understanding! Let’s continue…)
When you first enter, you’ll notice a large glassy ice skull (you might recognize it from the retired Pathfinders common room) mantled over the door; it’s available for purchase for 250 credits if you click it. Also, there’s a cute little friend to the right ready to sit atop your head. Honestly, I’m not sure whether it’s a hedgehog or a porcupine, but all the same, it’s 250 credits.
There are more items hanging around the walls on the left and right sides of the store, but we’ll get to those later.
If you head to the right towards Amelia (how did you get in here so fast?), you’ll notice “the gear section.” This is essentially the costumes section in the old store format, with arrows to flip through the offerings. There are currently 18 outfits available, with costs varying from 0 credits to 350 credits. 5 of the 18 outfits are members only.
Further to the right, there are two buttons marked “Gear” and “Pets,” so you can switch the inventory that’s displayed. If you click the pets button, the pets will appear along with their outfits and accessories.
Like before, the puppy and kitten are available for everyone, while the rest are members exclusive. For the pets section, there are also 18 pet garments in stock at 75 credits apiece. One-third of the items are members only. Now to the side sections…
All the way to the right of the store, you’ll see a selection of furniture items as well as ajetpack. The jetpack, clouds, and hammock are for 200 credits and the freezer is for 75.
On the very left, there are six various items for sale: a Golden Warrior costume, a vanity, a reversible octopus plush, an alicorn follower, and a rideable scarab beetle — all for 250 credits — and a lantern for 150. It’s unknown why these items don’t have their own display like the gear and pets. Perhaps for extra décor?
Something else that’s new in addition to the store itself is the cart and checkout system. Anyone who’s ever shopped online is familiar with this concept. Rather than clicking an item and buying it immediately, you now have to add it to your cart.
I should note that whenever I tried checking out with a plethora of items in my cart, it just simply wouldn’t budge. I believe you can only check out a few items at a time.
Also, you’re unable to leave the store without either checking out or emptying your cart completely — which means you can’t save what’s in your cart and come back later. Not so useful, in my opinion.
It’s a new month, and that means new member gifts! This month, members will see a Trick Board, a Flying Spinner, and a Mini Mister Pack (you know, like mist sprayer) added to their inventory. All appropriate for the tricky month of April.
(Speaking of April Fools’ tricks, we hope you enjoyed ours. 😜 )
UPDATE: The pop-up that appears when you first save an account has gotten a minor but nice refresh featuring two currently unreleased costumes: a red hoodie with yellow shades, and a bonnet with a black cat plus a banjo in hand. Also, the reward for making a new account has been upped to 1,500 credits!
Thanks to Silver Horse for the pic!
Whew! Lots of things going on in Poptropica right now. What do you think of the news and the store update? I really appreciate the Poptropica creators trying to keep us entertained in between island releases and I always try to be optimistic, but how many Home Island makeovers do we really need? I believe if the creators halted the island makeovers (and other superficial updates for that matter) for a while and made extra time for porting the old islands — the integral part of the game — into Haxe, more players would be happier. I know I would.
Leave your opinions in the comments; I’d love to hear them. Thank you for reading and I’ll talk to you in the next one. Pop on!
Hey Poptropicans, it’s Slanted Fish here with a behind-the-scenes look at the Poptropica Creators’ creative process! 👀✏️
Operating System: When technology meets talent, anything is possible.
About a month ago, I sent the Pop Creators several interview questions, and this week, the questions were answered! You can catch the full interview on the Creators’ Blog as well as below, along with some additional notes (in italics) here in the PHB edition:
Where do you get your ideas from?
We get a lot of ideas when we’re together talking about our favorite things. That inspires a lot of creative fun ideas. Pets came from the idea that almost everyone on the Poptropica Creators team [h]as pets and the types of pets varies from dogs to cats to rabbits and more.
We also get a lot of ideas from players. Poptropica players are always sharing super cool stuff that they want to see in the game. We get awesome fan mail and see people’s ideas on social media too.
(PHB’s note: We share ideas from the community here on the PHB as well — check out our Pop Petitions for things we want to see in the game!)
What does the process of making something on Poptropica look like from start to finish, whether it’s an item, island, or character?
We’ll use the new store we’re working on as an example! First, everyone on the team does research. We go through player feedback on what people have and haven’t liked about the Poptropica store over the years. We also look at other stores, including stores IRL. Then we start to concept what we want the store to be like. We have to come up with designs that will be easy to use both on your computer and on mobile.
After the sketches are done, some of the artists will start to design the actual scene with color and place items, so we get an idea of how big it needs to be. Once everyone feels like it has what it needs, it goes to the developers.
The developers are the ones who bring the whole thing to life. They code the entire experience and that’s the first time any of the Poptropica Creators can actually play what they’ve designed! We just did our first play-through of the new store and were psyched with how it’s come along.
Everything we make requires the whole team and takes a lot of time. It’s totally worth it though!
(PHB’s note: Check out these sneak peeks for the upcoming interior of the store! Also, it’s cool to hear about how different parts of the team work together to create the game’s designs.)
Can you share some snapshots of what you’re working on?
Here [are] some more sneak peeks [for] the new Fairy Tale Island!
“Forest detail”
“Huntsman”
(PHB’s note: Nice pics! We’ve also shared more sneak peeks of Fairy Tale Island on this blog. Stay tuned to the PHB for the latest news on this upcoming adventure! Also, thoughts on this new hands-on-hips pose?)
What kind of stories do you hope to tell?
We love unique stories with a fun twist. Elements of surprise are always super fun too. When we’re brainstorming new ideas or choosing winners for the Dream Island Contest, we’re looking for things that we think we would love to read as a book. If it would make a good book, then it would make a great island!
(PHB’s note: Interesting. We love a good book too, but a Poptropica island is not a book — wouldn’t it be cool to explore more on the affordances of Poptropica’s platform? Interactivity, non-linear storytelling, social interaction, and more are all possibilities with digital storytelling that you would not find with a book. Still, there are certain elements that make up a good story no matter the medium, and we always look forward to what stories will be told through Poptropica!)
How do you gather player feedback and how does it influence the game?
Players share their feedback in a lot of different places, from actual mail to videos online. There is always a lot of feedback and it ranges from super fun ideas to questions about why we’ve made changes to Poptropica. When we get a lot of the same feedback from different players it can definitely influence what we do. For example, there have been a lot of requests for more ways to customize your character now that New You is gone. We’re already incorporating that into the new features we’re working on.
(PHB’s note: Why is New You gone, anyway? BTW, if you have feedback for the Creators, you can send them through their submission form!)
What advice do you have for young creatives who want to work on a game like Poptropica one day?
If you’re passionate about making games, start learning no matter what age you are. One of the newest developers on the Poptropica Creators team started learning how to code when they were 12, and that was before there were so many amazing online courses! Always be open to learning new things and be willing to put in the hard work and dedication to become really good at it. Sometimes starting something new can feel hard, but with practice, anyone can become great!
That’s the end of the interview! Thank you, Poptropica Creators, for taking the time to answer these questions and give Poptropicans everywhere some insight into the game’s inner (and outer) workings. It’s hard work building this space to be quality fun, but well worth it! 💙
What are your thoughts on the Q&A? What questions do you have for the Pop Creators? Share them in the comments here, and/or on the original guest post on their blog, and they may be addressed in the future!
Hey Poptropicans, check out these sneak peeks from the upcoming Fairy Tale Island shared this Friday on the Poptropica Creators’ Blog!
The main scene here is this majestic medieval castle atop some big stone steps and covered by thorny vines, with the king seen in an earlier sneak peek looking out from a balcony. The backdrop contains Twisted Thicket-like dark forest contrasted by a fluorescent pink sky with more castle towers just beyond. What beauties and beasts lie in wait? 🏰
The next couple of shots give us a closer look at what’s to the sides of the castle. To the left there’s Ye Olde Roastery Co — a coffee shop? By the looks of the lurking dragon tail, perhaps we’ve got company…
To the left we have the roastery’s companion, Ye Olde Stables. An apathetic unicorn-cow and goat chill here. Wonder which fairy tale they belong to? And it seems you can make anything sound medieval by adding “ye olde,” hmm? 😜
In other news, earlier this week, the Pop Creators shared a fan doodle from @brittscarlet1 on their Instagram story. There’s more where it came from, too: BrittScarlet regularly shares her Poptropica fan art on the PHC, our Discord server — like this one of an angry Zeus! ⚡️
That’s all for this post! Keep on popping on, Poptropicans. ✌️
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