PHB Series – Page 130 – 🏝 Poptropica Help Blog 🗺

Valentine's-Special

INT. PHB OFFICES- DAY

(The AUTHORS are gathered for their Valentine’s party. BLAKE is sitting on a folding chair, sipping some punch.)

HP: Dude, I can’t believe you brought that thing up three flights of stairs just for this gag.

Blake: Insert funny joke here.

(HP looks at BLAKE with a smirk. A STUDIO LAUGH TRACK plays in the background.)

Fishy: Quiet, everyone! Alright, as you all know, this is our first annual Valentine’s Day party, and of course, this will be the first office party open to the viewers.

Blake: Well, they did say to open up to them a bit more.

(Another STUDIO LAUGH TRACK.)

Fishy: Blake, if you press that laugh track button one more time, you and your folding chair are out of this party.

Blake: Fine, fine! We only chose six of them anyway.

Sam: Yeah, this is some weird Willy Wonka stuff right here.

Fishy: Well, think. There are nine of us. We don’t have enough room in here to have a wild party! Plus, the landlord will kick us out if we get too loud, so..

HP: Yeah, the landlord is pretty scary. Remember what she did to SD that one time she left the door open?

SD: Yeah… I don’t want to remember…

(SD shudders as the sound of a broom swooping in the air is heard.)

Fishy: We all pray for you, SD. Now, let’s get ready! They should be arriving any minute now.

(The door opens, and the six selected partygoers enter. Among them are YLIMEGIRL, POPULAR WOLF, BRAVE SKY, WIMPYKIDFAN, SKINNY ICE and STRANGE MONSTER.)

Popular Wolf: Oh my gosh! Great to be here, you guys! It’s always been my childhood dream to come here!
WKF: All my life I’ve imagined what this place would look like…. This isn’t it..

Skinny Monster: I thought we’d never get here! Stupid bus crash!
Blake: Well, all that really matters is that you’re here now. You guys mingle a bit, while us authors set up the games!

(BLAKE tapes a target to the wall, and gets out a BOW, which is emitting a strange pink glow.)

Brave Sky: Ooh, archery! I’m pretty good at this!
Blake: Yes, this game is basically archery. What’ll happen is, you get two shots, and whoever hits the target will score 10 points!

HP: Pssh, that’s easy, Blake.

Blake: The winner gets this caramel apple I found in the fridge!

(HP snatches the bow and two arrows from BLAKE.)

HP: DEAL! I’m up first!

(HP aims. The arrow slowly drifts right, and HP lets go, hitting SD in the arm by accident. He tries again, only managing to hit the cactus in SAM’S cubicle.)

SD: You know, I suddenly feel the strange urge to go hug that cactus.

(SD runs toward the cactus, leaving the remaining partygoers to ponder what just happened.)

Blake: Well, that can’t be good.
Sam: She’s after Phil! I have to stop her!

(SAM runs off. HP swipes an arrow from Blake’s quiver, and aims, accidentally hitting SAM.)

Sam: Ouch! What the heck, ma-

(The potion in the arrow’s tip takes it’s toll, and Sam is also drawn toward the cactus.)

Sam: Well, that settles it. C’mere, tiger!

(SAM runs into the cubicle with SD.)

Blake: Seriously, what’s going on? I mean, all I did was buy this bow and quiver of arrows from a shady guy with wing tattoos in the back of a van! Nothing wrong there!

Fishy: Wait, did you say wing tattoos? Could this actually be Cupid’s bow?

Blake: Probably! I mean, you know us, always getting into these kinds of situations…

Fishy: This is serious, Blake! We have a group of crazed love zombies running around the office!

Blake: Oh, those are just my fans. Some say my humor makes them dumber by the minute.

(Once again, a STUDIO LAUGH TRACK.)

Fishy: That’s it. Get out.

To be continued…

Surveys, Web Development

2016 PHB Readers’ Survey Analysis – Part 2

February 11, 2016February 11, 2016 Ultimate iPad Expert

Heyyo Poptropicans, it’s Ultimate iPad Expert here with part 2 of the 2016 PHB survey analysis! 😀

2016PHBReadersSurveyAnalysisPart2

In case you haven’t seen Part 1, click here to check it out. Without further ado, here’s the final two questions from the 2016 PHB survey.

Please note: Because this post is extremely long (6000+ words!), a “read more” tag has been added so as not to take up too much space on the front page. When you’re ready for a long (but hopefully interesting) read, click below!

Continue reading “2016 PHB Readers’ Survey Analysis – Part 2” →

Creators, PHB Specials, Poptropica Portfolio

Poptropica Portfolio: Jordan Leary

February 11, 2016January 2, 2017 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans!

Last week’s Poptropica Portfolio feature was pretty popular, so here’s another! (Here on the PHB, we’ve previously featured the works of Abraham Tena, Chris Goodwin, and Nate Greenwall.) The lucky Creator to be featured this time is Jordan Leary, also thought to be Dr. Hare.

On his Behance page, Jordan says this of his work with Poptropica: “I’ve been leading the development of Poptropica, one of the most popular online kids’ games in the world, since 2007. I developed the original game engine, the animation system, and hundreds of games, scenes, and effects. Play the game at www.poptropica.com.” The original game engine, we assume, refers to the classic non-SUI (sound updated islands) on Poptropica. This game demo reel also shows a lot of his Poptropica work:

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Many of the Poptropica designs Jordan displays on his website are interactive, which we unfortunately cannot embed here on the PHB. Instead, we recommend that you visit his portfolio site directly so you can play around with his designs. We’ll also post pictures below to let you know what to look out for.

When you first land on the site, you’ll be on the Games tab, where you can find a few Poptropica-related bits on the side (including a screenshot of the PHB’s Star Link video!). However, it’s the next tab, UI, that shows the good Pop stuff. You get to make a bunch of Realms “bubbles”, view prototypes of the inventory cards and age picker, play a game of Mancala, the matching game with Mahjong tiles, Fiona’s violin, and more! Check it out on the UI tab on Jordan’s portfolio site!

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As foundational as he’s been to the game’s development since the beginning, it appears he’s no longer part of the team – his LinkedIn page shows that he left Poptropica in October 2015. Goodbye, Dr. Hare!

Thanks for all your work in making Poptropica what it is, Jordan – and we promise we’re not 12-year-old stalkers anymore. Maybe a little older now. 😉

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this look into a leading Poptropica developer’s popping portfolio! Stay popping, Poptropicans. 😀

PMFM (Poptropican Meme Face Mondays)

Poptropican Meme Face Mondays: Round 12

February 8, 2016February 16, 2016 Ultimate iPad Expert

Heyyo Poptropicans, it’s Ultimate iPad Expert here.

Ticket4DankMemes

If dank is a crime, I am definitely guilty as charged. Welcome to round twelve of PMFM (Poptropican Meme Face Mondays)!

PMFM-Round12

The lucky meme-faced Poptropicans this week are Anonymous Heeeeeeeeeheeeeeeeeeee, ethan, and (our very own PHB leader) Slanted Fish! And here are the memes:

Feel free to click on the images to view them in their full glory. 😛

Also, there’s a little extra meme-ery this week! DeviantArt user, JennLikesPie, was kind enough to create an awesome drawing of me. And so, I felt it only correct to make her a meme face:

Want your own meme face?

Well, it’s simple. Comment on the most recent PMFM post (just choose the one of the list here). Be sure to follow the criteria below:

Very crucial: Wear the outfit you want to have in the meme face on Poptropica and keep it on for at least a week.
As mentioned, find the most recent PMFM post (it will be at the top of this list)
Include your Poptropican username in a comment.
Include the meme face you would like on your Poptropican in your comment (a link to an image of the meme is very preferred).
Post your comment and wait! (PMFM is operated on a first come-first serve basis, so your meme face will come after all of the ones before are released).
Just a note: You do not need to re-comment on newer posts if you haven’t gotten yours yet. Once I reply to your comment mentioning “You being added to the list,” then I have seen your comment and added it to my literal list, so yours will be made after each one before is made.

This completes round twelve of meme faces. Tune in next Monday for the next Poptropican Meme Face Mondays!

What do you think about this week’s meme faces? Comment below.

• Ultimate iPad Expert •

PHB Sneak Peeks, PHB Specials, Poptropica Portfolio

Poptropica Portfolio: Abraham Evensen Tena

February 7, 2016January 2, 2017 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! 😀

It’s been a while since we’ve featured a Poptropica artist’s portfolio here on the PHB – if you haven’t already, check out the works of Chris Goodwin and Nate Greenwall.

This next one has been around for a while, but we’re finally getting around to posting about it: the portfolio of Poptropica illustrator Abraham Evensen Tena! (The character of Gamer Guy, or Abe on Zomberry Island, is most likely modeled after him.) You can check out the works we’re highlighting in this post and more on his portfolio website.

Perhaps the most interesting pictures from Abe’s portfolio are these glimpses of the forgotten underground island that we’ve seen sneak peeks of in past Daily Pops. It’s a land lined with pink crystals, flowing streams, and even dinosaur bones! I for one would love to play this island someday.

The concept art…

…and the final production piece!

The rest of the Poptropica-related art on his site are mostly desktop wallpapers for islands we’ve already seen, some illustrations he made for the Poptropica Lunar Colony chapter book, and other miscellaneous concept art. Here’s a look at some more pieces (click to enlarge the artwork):

If you check out his website, you’ll find even more Poptropica pieces. You can also see some of his personal non-Poptropica work on other parts of the site, but be warned that some of his (non-Poptropica) illustrations contain nudity, so only proceed if you are comfortable with that.

Abe Tena’s resume states that he worked as a game designer (most likely for Poptropica) from October 2010 to July 2015, which means he no longer works there. Right now, though, he’s an assistant professor specializing in human figure drawing at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, the city where Poptropica HQ is located. How cool would it be to have a Poptropica Creator be your art teacher?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this look into a Poptropica artist’s portfolio! Thanks to Abe for all the fantastic ideas and artwork he’s contributed to the game we know and love. 🙂