Category: PHB Specials

PHB Specials

PHB Valentine’s Special, Part 1: Love Zombies

Blake

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…

Creators, PHB Specials, Poptropica Portfolio

Poptropica Portfolio: Jordan Leary

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. 😀

PHB Sneak Peeks, PHB Specials, Poptropica Portfolio

Poptropica Portfolio: Abraham Evensen Tena

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. 🙂

PHB Specials

Announcing the 2016 PHB Valentine’s Special!

Blake

EDIT (2/10/16): Thank you all for entering! The contest is now closed. Check out this post to see whose names will be in the PHB special!

What’s popping, Poptropicans? Blake here, with a really exciting piece of news! Now, first off, all of us at the PHB would like to thank you for taking the time to take our 2015 survey! We received a lot of responses, which will help us figure out what to focus on.

Remember the PHB Christmas special from last year? Well, we’re bringing the something similar back! Announcing… the 2016 PHB Valentine’s Day special!

Valentine's-Special

Thanks to our very own Ultimate iPad Expert (aka Paul) for the header! While you wait for the release of the special, here’s a synopsis of roughly what to expect right here:

It’s Valentine’s Day at the PHB offices, and Blake decides to play matchmaker amongst his friends. It’s all chaos when Cupid’s bow is added into the mix!

This time, the special has an interactive quality! I saw a lot of comments on the Christmas special asking if certain viewers could be characters in the special. I’m happy to say that I will be picking 5 lucky viewers to be in the special!

All I ask of you is to comment down below your Poptropican’s name (or whatever name you wish to have your character go by in the special), and your favorite ship between two PHB authors! My personal favorite is SamXHPuterpop. I’ll need help playing a bit of matchmaker in this special, and I can’t do it by myself!

Anyway, that’s all for now! Stay popping, Poptropicans.

PHB Specials, Web Development

Greetings from the Poptropica Creators!

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! Just last week, I posted an open letter to Poptropica here on the PHB, addressing some improvements Poptropica should make to the game. To the PHB’s surprise, a Poptropica Creator has responded! With her permission, the response has been posted below. Enjoy! 😀

PoptropicaPhoto3

Dear Slanted Fish and Poptropicans everywhere,

On behalf of the Poptropica Creators, greetings!  I love your blog, and I read every post.  After your recent Open Letter, I wanted to personally respond and, hopefully, start a better dialogue with you.

First, an introduction…..  I’m Jen MacLean, and I joined the Family Education Network as the President of the Kids and Games division in November.  More importantly, I’m a lifelong gamer, a Poptropican, and the mom of a Poptropican.  It’s been a whirlwind few months as a new member of the Poptropica team, and one of my biggest priorities has been understanding where Poptropica needs to improve and helping the team build a roadmap to get us there.

So, ‘fess up…..  Have you been hiding in our offices?  Bugging our conference rooms?   You’ve made some great points about how we need to make Poptropica better, and I’m excited to share that many of the ideas you proposed are already in development.

I’m happy to give you a sneak peek at some changes that are coming soon.  In the next few weeks, expect a new and improved experience for first-time players, including a brand new island specifically designed for new players.  It’s a short island, but we’re hoping it will really help new players better understand how to play and what Poptropica is all about.  Though it’s design for new players, I’m sure veterans will get a kick out of it too, so not to worry!

We also understand and agree that we need to improve the Island experience for all Poptropicans!  We want to make it easier to teleport, find help, understand the quest, and identify the next steps in a quest.  We’re not ready to share specific times and releases yet, but  we will keep you posted as we roll out improvements.  We are also looking at ways we can make a Poptropica membership even more valuable; we’ll be updating our membership this Spring.

I’m so glad you brought up the “I’m trapped in a classic island and can’t get out” issue.  We’re working on a fix for that too, so very soon you should be able to leave classic islands from any scene.  Teleporting between scenes is a great idea, but it could end up breaking a lot of the islands; however, it’s something we’ll keep in mind though as we keep finding ways to make the player experience better.

An important part of any game development project is squashing bugs.  We need to get better at fixing the bad bugs and incorporating “good glitches” into the design of the game.  As part of that focus, we’ll be starting a Friends and Family Beta Program this year, and we will be reaching out to you with more details when we’re ready to launch!

Speaking of reaching out, I know it’s been hard to contact us.  I’m excited to introduce Jessica, our Official Poptropica Community Liaison.   Jessica will share information with you on all things Poptropica, including product updates and improvements, and will make sure your comments, questions, and feedback are shared throughout the Poptropica Creators team.  She’ll also help us understand and address some of your ideas and requests, including officializing a Poptropica wiki.

Last, but most importantly, THANK YOU!  Thank you for your wonderful support of Poptropica, for being a great resource for Poptropicans everywhere, and for being such a strong community.  I’m excited to get to know you better and to make Poptropica an even more amazing experience for you.

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Wow! It’s the first time a Poptropica Creator has contacted the PHB directly (with the exception of Jeff Heim during the Poppies) – and this response certainly gives us a lot of hope about what’s to come out of Poptropica HQ in the future. A better tutorial, some form of teleportation, doing something about glitches both good and bad, and even the possibility of officializing the Poptropica Wiki are some things Poptropica’s currently working on, and that’s really awesome to hear. 😀

A huge shout-out and thanks to Jen MacLean for taking the time to write to us and allowing her letter to be published here! On behalf of the PHB and Poptropica community, we look forward to more interactions with the powers-that-be at Poptropica HQ to make the game and community all the more awesome. We’re honored to have the Creators read the PHB, and we’re excited for what happens next.

What would you like to say to the Creators? Share in the comments below – if this exchange has been any indication, they may well take you up on your suggestions (within reason, of course)!

Stay popping, everyone. 😉

–Slanted Fish 🐠🐠