Well, I played PopCon 3. I liked the story, art, characters, etc. But what I didn’t like?
THE GAME DEVELOPMENT!!!
When I say game development, I mean the development of the skeleton of the game – the game mechanics, the programming. I have a sneaking suspicion that Jordan Leary, the lead game developer, either isn’t working at Poptropica anymore, or has been demoted. Either way, something is definitely wrong.
The art is great – like really great. I feel like the team of artists still are there with motivation to make quality content. Tons of amazing scenes and animations. The story is still charming as usual. But then you try to play the island and you have to log out and back in 5 times. It really takes the fun out of it, doesn’t it? I can’t appreciate art when I can’t even access it!
I still do have a point, however, and if you’ve read this far then I’m sure you’d like to hear it. I know what is going to save Poptropica, and it very well might already be in the works. A couple weeks ago, there was a survey on Poptropica that asked the standard questions – how much do you play Poptropica? What other games do you play? etc. But, just like always, they also asked about new features and what we thought about them – this time being a desktop version of Poptropica.
For the people that don’t know, a desktop version of an online game would be a downloadable game that can usually run offline. If Poptropica would become a desktop game, it would probably not run on flash anymore, which would fix a whole handful of problems right there. It’s hard to make a convincing game in a browser with flash, so converting everything over to desktop would be awesome. But that’s what I’m getting at – converting the game would basically be re-creating the entire skeleton of it, and if done right, could save the sloppiness that the programming has become. Please, Jess M. Brallier, take some advice from the fans. Hire the right people when creating a desktop version.
And one more thing – if Poptropica becomes an actual desktop game, it may be considered by the gaming community more to be a real video game, which means a bigger community. Right now, they have a reason not to take it seriously.
Yo ‘tropicans. Are you in the mood for a totally weird and pointless Poptropica theory that nobody asked for? Well I’ve got one! Please note: This post contains a major spoiler for Spy Island & minor spoilers for Early Poptropica.
If you follow me on Twitter (which I know for a fact most of you don’t because I have like three followers), you’ll see that recently I’ve basically been live-tweeting a replay of Early Poptropica. And as I was playing, something occurred to me.
WHAT IF EARLY POPTROPICA CONTAINS EARLY (YOUNGER) VERSIONS OF SOME OF THE VILLAINS YOU ENCOUNTER ON LATER ISLANDS???
Look at this logic:
Actually though… it kinda works
Sure, it was something Twitter-worthy I’d noticed, but I wouldn’t have gone as far as to call it a “theory” at that point. But then I spotted a young Black Widow.
I got a little emotional at this discovery
If someone told you “I saw a female NPC in Poptropica with short black hair, pale skin, and a dark outfit, and she hung out in a creepy place with a lot of spiders” you’d be like “yeah, that’s Black Widow” WOULDN’T YOU? I mean, yeah, she’s a little different. But Early Poptropica was released a while before Black Widow’s first appearance (as Black Widow) and people change. Even when those people happen to be Poptropica villains.
ALSO, the official Poptropica account retweeted my Director D post! That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re confirming it (they didn’t make any comment on it) but it means they at least acknowledge the possibility… or they just acknowledge how silly it sounds. I’ll keep playing and keep an eye out for new possibilities. In the meantime, let me know in the comments if you have anything to add!
Yes, I know. The Five Nights at Freddy’s craze is way over done. Everyone and their brother has played and uploaded gameplay from the horror game (even I got in on the scary fun!). It’s been quite a while now, and I’m pretty sure with the recent release of FNAF 3 that it’s time to give it a rest.
Oh. Really? Wow.
If you’re wondering, this comment is from the Balloon Boy video made a while back – Balloon Boy, or BB, in the FNAF game is a creepy animatronic who laughs and meddles with your gameplay. If you read more of the comments, the Creators continue to hint that there may be a Balloon Boy Island in the future.
—
Wimpy Kid Island has had quite a run – two islands of good sizes and pretty popular. Surely there won’t be anymore Wimpy islands…
Oh. Really? Wow. I have no objection to that!
—
Spongebob Squarepants is such a big franchise, and for Poptropica to even think about making a Spongebob Island would be ridiculous!
Oh. Really? Wow.
Thanks to thePoptropica Fun Blog for getting me started on this YouTube comments rampage – what do you guys think about these possible new islands? Tell me in the comments – I’m excited especially for the 3rd Wimpy Kid Island. 😛
If you haven’t read part 1, go ahead over to that post before reading any further. Seriously, it won’t make much sense. 😛 Also, this post contains island spoilers, so be warned!
Hi Gs,
So, you leave Time Tangled Island. That story is over. You’ve saved the future by fixing the past, and that’s the end of that. But what if it wasn’t?
After Time Tangled, then comes 24 Carrot – right? There seems to be no time difference there… unless you take into consideration that 24 Carrot technically WASN’T the 4th island. Monster Carnival was planned to be the 4th island, and if you’ve played MCI, you’ll remember that the island was based in 1956 – and from what we learned in the previous post, Time Tangled Island was based in 2007.
My theory is that the time machine you receive in Time Tangled is the reason for the time period changes that happen frequently throughout the island timeline. If we’re assuming that the islands play out like a story from Early Poptropica to the most recent island, then this explains a lot. But it’s not just assumption.
AstroKnights Island is set in medieval times – another specimen of time travel. During the island you must travel to the moon to get a new rocket from high tech aliens.
Now, travel 600 years in the future, to Lunar Colony Island. This island is presumably in the current time frame. In the island, you travel to the moon in search of a lost scientist. If you’ve played the island, you’ll know that the moon seems to be completely barren except for the moon bases that were man made.
So, what does this mean? If both Astroknights and Lunar Colony were in the same time frame, then we would still see aliens on Lunar Colony! The origin of Poptropica has to do with aliens.
The next part will be coming out soon, and I’ll be touching on Zeus and his part in the grand scheme. Until then,
Hey everyone, and welcome back to our BTS Overview & Theory series! This time, we’ll be covering Arabian Nights, Ep. 2: Lair of Thieves, written by myself (Spotted Dragon), Samwow5, and HPuterpop. Plus, in honor of Slippery Raptor joining the team, he will be helping us with this round! Click here to read the theory for Arabian Nights: Ep. 1, written by Slanted Fish. 🙂
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW (but that’s what you want, isn’t it?)
Overview of evidence
The next installment of Arabian Nights Island is just around the corner – we mentioned earlier that early access for members starts Nov 25, and it opens Dec 11 for all… HOWEVER, as of a more recent tweet, it looks like the Creators have pushed this back in their schedule: early access for members is now set for Dec 11, while everyone will get to play starting Dec 30.)
Episode 2 is called “Lair of Thieves“, and the official tour page was recently updated with this description:
In the den of the forty thieves, danger lurks around every corner. To outwit the most dangerous thieves in the desert, you’ll need a little help evening the odds — and you’ll find it in the form of an incredible magic power!
Oddly enough, the behind the scenes files show that this episode is called The 40 Thieves.
Strange, right? Well, let’s just continue with the name being “Lair of Thieves.”
Let’s take a a look at some of the major Arabian Nights themed Daily Pop sneak peeks. Click to enlarge all images featured in this post.
Busted: They don’t make them like they used to.
Lock Up: Barring anything unexpected, you’ll be here for awhile.
The Matrix: Gird yourself for a grid.
The Crew: Wherever they go, trouble follows.
Cribs: This is where the magic happens.
Blocked: They’re giving us the hard cell.
Gear Up: They’ve got the supplies, but little demand.
Sentinel: Keeping watch, but who watches the watchmen?
Fat Stacks: Towers of treasures. Mounds of money.
In Secret: First rule of a secret hideout: don’t put a sign up.
In Too Deep: There’s deep undercover and there’s which way is up.
Peace Offering: Don’t get left behind at the altar.
Which Way: Oh, right.
Turban Core: Into the heart of a den of thieves.
Fallen Arches: Nothing golden about these.
Treasure It: Easy to get, incredibly hard to keep.
It Goes Down Every Night: This must be what jail is really like.
Cave In: But can you cave out?
Also, check out these two images in the same scene… very similar, but if you look towards the top, you can see a little difference. Could that added Poptropican be us, spying in the lair of the 40 thieves?
Alert: Be careful in a den of thieves.
Arabian Nights sneak peek via Poptropica’s Twitter
Maybe some dialog will hint at what’s to come? Here is all the text we could gather up:
Now this reveals a lot! It looks like we will have to disguise ourselves to fit in among the thieves, as well as break out of/into some jail cells! We already knew that we would be in search of a magic lamp, but something bigger seems to have popped up. Hmm…
Hopefully the items we found will reveal what’s really going on? Sadly, we are not able to view entire images, since they are protected files.
Magic Sand
Cell Key
Formula
White Robe
Thieves Garb
Viper Skin
Gunpowder
Borax
Quicksilver
Well, the magic sand and/or gunpowder may help us break in to/out of cells… and on that note, it seems like the viper skin will aid in creating the magic sand! …And on THAT note, since we have a formula containing “viper skin,” “borax,” and “quicksilver“, maybe those three items (plus more?) will create magic sand when put together! Oh, the suspense! Of course the cell key will help us unlock a cell and we will have to make the white robe black to fit in with the thieves. Looks like everything fits together! 😀
All that’s left is to put together some scenery. Below are the scene layers of the lair’s entrance.
There is nothing much to say about these images, considering it is just the entrance.
Next up we have some of the scene layers for the Treasure Keep. Here are just the relevant ones:
In the interactive layer, you can see part of the floor crumbling. Could this be the result of our magic sand?
Next up are the scene layers for the cells.
Again, we see some unstable floors and what may possible be the magic sand bomb-like things.
Last, we have the scene layers for the Sanctum.
Well, we see an oil can in the interactive layer, and if we math it up with the other layers, it looks like it is inside a barrel. That might be a useful thing to remember in the quest.
Final theory
In “Lair of Thieves,” our Poptropican will be searching for the magic lamp that the Sultan requested (in episode 1), while trying to outsmart the thieves in the lair we entered at the end of the previous episode. We will disguise ourselves to fit in with the surrounding thieves and try to gather up ingredients to make “magic sand”, which will help us navigate their lair. While sneaking around, we stumble upon a huge supply of lamps and possibly something more.
That’s what we think of Arabian Nights Episode 2, but what do you think? Comment below! The episode will be released to members on Tuesday in three weeks (on Dec 11), so be ready (and it comes out Dec. 11 30 for everyone)! 🙂
🏝 Poptropica Help Blog 🗺 