Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by HPuterpop/Andrew Wiles. Enjoy!
Hey everyone! Alright, so I know there are a number of you who are wondering about Poptropica: Legends, and first let me just say — thank you so much for your interest and support. While we’re not quite ready to release the beta just yet, we’ve been hard at work and are excited to offer a little sneak preview of all the amazing stuff our art, voice acting, and sound departments have been cooking up! Check out our trailer:
Please keep in mind: this is not final gameplay footage! We still have quite a bit of polish to go, but it gives you an idea of the level of quality we’re hoping to achieve. Here’s another preview, showcasing the full Booga intro with sound design:
This project means so much to all of us and every day we grow more confident that we’re on the right creative path. The team has grown rapidly since we really ramped up production three months ago, and we’re working around the clock to make sure the finished game is, as the kids say, “peak”. We have 25 team members now, enough to make my head spin — as the project manager, the more people I bring on, the more we accomplish, the less time I have for art! This is, of course, a tale as old as time.
Our website got a major overhaul, as we’d like to put our best foot forward for newcomers and fans alike. This new face is more animated, interactive, and professional! Have fun exploring all the interactive elements scattered throughout. 😀 More additions to come in the following days. As always, check it out at: www.PopLegendsGame.com.
With that said, I know we promised you guys the Meridian’s Lighthouse Beta Demo for Patreon supporters by the end of this month, and sadly, it doesn’t seem to be in the cards. To be honest with you, this project truly is massive, and there’s so much work to be done. Many of us work full-time on top of contributing, which is already a lot — and as far as funding, that’s almost entirely coming out of my own pocket. Our Patreon brings in US$30 a month right now, which we’re extremely grateful for! That said, it’s definitely not enough to help off-set the time we must spend working our day jobs.
Specifically, I’d like to thank Poptropica Legends Lucky Joker and HoneyBee for their continued monetary support — you guys were here at the very beginning! This generosity will not be forgotten.
We also have undergone some restructuring with our programming team management, so things should be smoother going forward — there is a Unity build, don’t worry, but right now our art department is moving a lot faster. We felt it was best to wait until we have a slightly more polished product before releasing it into the world — by August 15th we hope to have a Version Alpha ready for you to check out!
I want to apologize for the let-down of this beta release — but do keep in mind, only Patreon supporters would’ve been able to access it anyway! The more funding we’re given, the more time we can devote to this as opposed to our day jobs — and the faster you guys will be able to experience this new game. Support us on Patreon here!
We’d love your feedback on the new website! Also, if you’re a Patreon supporter and want to see more behind the scenes, let us know which department you want to tour next. Stay up to date on our socials:
The Poptropica Help Blog welcomes interesting Poptropica insights from anyone in the Poptropica community with thoughts to share. Interested in writing for the PHB? We’d love to hear from you!
Hey, Poptropicans! We’re excited to share some updates on the anticipated fan game, Poptropica: Legends. Let’s get the biggest news out of the way: the game’s demo is set to release in July 2025!🎉🎮🗓️
That’s right! The Poptropica: Legends demo is releasing next month!
Get ready to rediscover, recollect, and reignite in the Meridian’s Lighthouse Beta! Patrons get early access to the Lighthouse beta next month, then everyone gets full access to the polished version released sometime after that. Here’s what to expect in this playable preview:
2 Sidescrolling Scenes
3 Top-Down Scenes
Soundtrack
Dialogue
Inventory
Achievements
Sound Effects
~30 minutes of gameplay
The game’s creator, HPuterpop, wants to celebrate the game’s demo release by sharing some new progress on the project.
First up, we have a curated collection of assets: cursors, items cards, backgrounds, character sprites, and even the main menu! These assets clearly take inspiration from Poptropica’s while putting a unique pixelated spin on them. By the way, that character sheet may look familiar to those who have read HPuterpop’s How to Draw a Poptropican essay. ✏️
You may have also spotted a “Free Play” section on the main menu. While you explore the world as Meridian in Story Mode, you can create and play as a custom character in Free Play Mode, just like in OG Poptropica!
Now, here are a couple of new faces joining the story: an ancient spirit named Booga, who is inspired by the Shark Tooth Island temple keypad, and two organizations called the Bureau of Heroic Poptropicans(BHP) and the Poptropica Espionage Network(PEN) . Hmm, that BHP sounds a little familiar… 🤔
Finally, check out this video preview of an in-game conversation between Meridian and Puck! It’s a neat look at how you interact with NPCs, complete with detailed sprites and 10/10 voice acting. 😜
Big thanks to HPuterpop for sharing these with us! If you want to stay updated on the game’s progress, check out the Poptropica: Legends website and follow the game’s social media accounts. You can also contribute to the game on its Patreon, the Creators’ Blog!
Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by HPuterpop/Andrew Wiles. Enjoy!
From the moment of Poptropica’s inception, there has been constant evolution taking place in the minds of both the developers and fans of the game. “Poptropicans” as they appear in the original game are barely humanoid creatures, with bodies consisting of simple shapes and lines, the distinct lack of a nose, and large circular eyes that pop out of the top of their heads.
While this seems like a simple description at first, when you begin to look closer at official renderings of these creatures — from in-game to promotional art to the graphic novels — you begin to notice that there are in fact a near infinitude of choices that demand decision when drawing them. This complexity is further illuminated when looking at art made by fans of the game. There is a spectrum from the simple in-game avatars to fully realized, fleshy organisms that are in constant tension — an inevitable byproduct of the very concept of these characters.
Official Designs
Focusing on official interpretations, there was a fairly linear morphological evolution of Poptropicans over its lifespan. In the early years, Poptropicans were rarely if ever depicted as any more complex than the in-game avatars.
The most nonconforming example from this time period would be the Ned Noodlehead comic strip, where Poptropicans had slightly thicker limbs and nebulous hand-like appendages. A “polished” version of avatars would also appear in promotional material and daily quiz entries. Poptropicans didn’t have necks, fingers/toes, or realistically sized limbs, instead opting for floating heads, noodle limbs, simple spheres for hands, and oblong ovals for feet.
2011 shook everything up for the Poptropica style. The action figure line featured actual hands and thicker limbs, the former so that the toys could hold their accessories, the latter more than likely because of the physicality of the toys themselves. While they didn’t have necks, they didn’t not have necks…
Finally, the one other major jump these toy models made — they were three dimensional! At long last, we now had the official answer as to how Poptropican faces (and bodies) looked from the side! The original 2D in-game model was designed to suggest depth by having one eye smaller than the other, but the toys confirmed it: Poptropicans have symmetrical eyes. These toys also introduced the concept of the “ridge” as I’ll call it — the space at the bottom of the eyes where they sit, creating a small indent and hump (where a nose would be on a human).
These design choices stuck, and were further evolved when the Poptropica comic strip illustrated by Kory Merritt made its debut. Kory’s impact on the way Poptropicans were depicted moving forward can’t be understated: his Poptropicans boasted necks, fingers, and more realistic humanoid morphology. Kory’s depictions served as a catalyst that shifted the brand away from the simplistic avatars in promotional material, as well as an eventual attempt at in-game implementation with Poptropica Worlds avatars. (Funny enough, Kory actually wasn’t very keen on including the ridge on his Poptropicans.)
The in-game implementation of Kory’s design was, at least in my opinion, disastrous. Poptropica Worlds’ avatars are not very nice to look at, the fluid hand-drawn form clashing with the rigid vector-based shapes and lines.
Kory’s version was the last major evolution of note, at least that I’m aware of. We could talk about the 3D Roblox models, but to be honest I don’t think it’s really worth spending more time than this sentence on. However, there is one other prominent Poptropica artist who I would argue pushed the Poptropica style forward: Jon Pitcher. While not part of the official game, his Popstorm! series of sketches showed us a new, dynamic way to draw Poptropicans, especially when it came to head and body variation. This is where things were just getting good! Too bad Poptropica never became a household name like Jess M. Brailler dreamed.
Male/Female Dimorphism
A feature notably absent from virtually all official Poptropican representations (besides some very rare instances from Kory’s work) is male/female dimorphism, which is a distinct difference in size or appearance between the sexes of an animal. This is a pattern that most species on Earth follow — one sex is distinctly physically different in appearance to the other. Take peacocks, where the male has a beautiful saturated feather pattern, while the female is rather unsaturated and less ornate in comparison.
And this also applies to humans, where everything from our skeletal anatomy to where we grow hair is often a result of the difference of our biological sex (of course, gender is a different discussion). Poptropicans have NEVER been represented as dimorphic (besides those rare exceptions from Kory) — check out these identical boy/girl versions of the “Anatomy of a Poptropican” wallpapers.
It is true that the ONLY consistently dimorphic feature in the original game was the inclusion of eyelashes on the female models — a trope dating back the 1920s, when characters like Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck were essentially just clones of their male counterparts with minimally “feminine” features being added like eyelashes. In Poptropica’s case, this seems like an intentional choice to be as kid-friendly as possible, steering away from any reference to sexuality.
Community Designs
On the community side of things, experimentation has always been the name of the game. Fan artists give their Poptropicans unique eye shapes, floating eyebrows, stick limbs/human limbs/no limbs at all — and often give their characters more realistic body shapes instead of the classic oval (usually implementing male/female dimorphism). Fan artists have been pushing the boundaries of the Poptropican form from the very beginning, testing out thousands of different unique design elements. Each fan artist brings their distinct visual style to Poptropicans, resulting in near-infinite variation.
There is one particular recurring design element that I’d like to identify here: the flat eye design. Some fan artists draw whichever eye is furthest from the focal point of the drawing in such a way that it appears less like a spherical shape and more like a flat disc. This creates a unique effect, evoking the way a more… terrestrial eye might look from the side — and it’s definitely a popular idea within the community.
All of these stylistic choices beg the question: what makes a Poptropican a Poptropican? Which elements are essential, and which can be removed/altered while still being recognizable?
Essential Features
Well, a few things are definitely essential. I think the most important element that makes a Poptropican a Poptropican isthe absence of a nose above all else. As soon as you add a nose (ignoring a few canon characters who like making things difficult), you’re no longer in Poptropica’s orbit — at least stylistically.
The “frog” eyes are another non-negotiable – the way they ‘pop’ out from the top of the characters’ heads is iconic (they needn’t even be spherical, they just gotta pop!).
I would argue that the last essential feature would be a large head to body ratio — Poptropicans tend to boast some pretty massive domes relative to their real-life counterparts.
Besides these three features, the level of humanoid morphology that an artist decides to use is probably optional. This is not to say that artists who draw Poptropican characters without those features are somehow invalid in doing so – only that their characters may not always read as Poptropicans visually.
Poptropica: Legends
These considerations and nuances have been brought to my attention as I’ve been working to establish the optimal style to represent Poptropicans in Poptropica: Legends. Poptropicans in Legends have historically been some of the most humanoid interpretations to date, in large part due to the level of maturity I want to bring to the Poptropica universe.
However, it’s hard to ignore the value of the wonderfully nostalgic simplified forms of those good old in-game avatars. Because of this, Legends will feature two different versions of Poptropicans — one for overworld avatars, and one for dialogue/cutscenes. The dialogue/cutscene version can be thought of as the “true” depiction of the character, while the overworld avatar is a simplified, abstract form (though there are clear through-lines between the two).
I like to think of the Legends style as if Poptropicans were designed by Walt Disney — and I’m naming it Whimsical Style. It’s clear that there is a delicate balance when it comes to depicting Poptropicans in-game, as we can see how that might be poorly executed with Poptropica Worlds. Because of this, overworld Legends characters (we’ll call this Overworld Whimsical Style) are close but not too similar to their more fleshed-out depictions (we’ll call this Detailed Whimsical Style).
With both of these styles, there will be a large variety of different head shapes, eye shapes, and body shapes, unlike OG Poptropica’s single standard. These variations have been inspired both by community artwork and by what might serve the story better — Poptropicans can’t all be the same height, right?
This project has been evolving ever since it first was conceived back in 2016. Our latest significant shift in vision is having both a Story Mode following the adventures of Meridian and company, and a Free Play Mode which will allow you to create your own avatar and explore Poptropica like the original game. This is a big change from previous concepts, and I hope you’re as excited for it as I am.
Poptropica: Legends has recently ramped up production, and we’re heading towards a demo release in late May/early June! Get ready to experience this next chapter in Poptropica history — made by fans, for fans. 😀
Thanks for reading this rather long-winded essay. I hope you enjoyed, and maybe you can employ some of the techniques outlined here in your next Poptropica art piece. Just don’t forget the ridge!
The Poptropica Help Blog welcomes interesting Poptropica insights from anyone in the Poptropica community with thoughts to share. Interested in writing for the PHB? We’d love to hear from you!
Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by HPuterpop. Enjoy!
Hey Poptropicans! It’s been a while since my last announcement, which if you missed, here’s part 1 and part 2 — but I’ve returned with a lot of fun stuff to show you. Poptropica: Legends has officially launched its campaign and website!
There is plenty to explore over there, including character pages, an island tour, and maybe even some hidden secrets… Please note that for the best viewing experience, the website should be accessed on a desktop.
So what can you expect from this game? Poptropica: Legends will be a return to form for classic Poptropica islands – get ready for puzzles, action, detailed locations and beautiful character art! Legends will feature sidescrolling AND top-down isometric gameplay, and buttery smooth overworld combat. We hope to rival the original game’s mechanics (especially the AS3 and Haxe versions 😬), while harkening back to the best of that game engine.
The first four chapters of Legends are heavily inspired by classic islands, with Chapter 1: Pendulum Island being the in-world name of Time Tangled Island from Classic Pop. This island also combines other locations found in Classic Pop, like River City from Shrink Ray Island and Poptropica Towers from Early Poptropica. Pendulum Island was named after Peter Pendulum, who helped invent time travel and put the island on the map, so to speak. But he’s not the only classic character you’ll meet in chapter 1 — look forward to Dr. Hare making a simply hopping appearance, among others!
Before Meridian can begin his adventure on Pendulum Island, however, we’ll need to establish a few locations that will return throughout the game. That’s why our first goal is to release Northern Skydock, a kind of prologue to the Legends saga. Meridian lives here, in this small town that serves as a pit stop for travelers passing through. With shops, restaurants, and colorful townsfolk, this will be your first look at Legends in action. Northern Skydock will also include a visit to the Bureau of Heroic Poptropicans, or the BHP, where Meridian works alongside Poptropica’s brightest adventurers.
We don’t have a concrete date for this first launch, as building Northern Skydock will be a daunting and time consuming task — this is where we will need to build UI, controls, and other concrete parts of the game.
And this is where you come in — all of this is going to be pretty costly to produce! For a full breakdown, please view this spreadsheet for a ballpark of what kind of costs we’re looking at. I’m planning on asking for $16,900 USD to get Northern Skydock off the ground, which is a conservative estimate — every bit helps!
We will be running a Kickstarter campaign to fund this project, which hasn’t launched yet, but will soon. On top of this, please consider contributing to our Patreon, Creator’s Blog! You’ll get to see exclusive behind the scenes previews, get your name in the credits of the game itself, as well as access to developer livestreams (usually with me)!
The game will be free to play, so any funds sent our way will only make Northern Skydock a reality faster.
(PHB editor’s note: All donations are handled by the team at Poptropica: Legends, independent of the Poptropica Help Blog. Donations will only be used for the fan game’s production, pending Poptropica’s go-ahead.)
Thanks for reading, and I hope you’re excited to experience Poptropica: Legends!
The Poptropica Help Blog welcomes interesting Poptropica insights from anyone in the Poptropica community with thoughts to share. Interested in writing for the PHB? We’d love to hear from you!
Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by HPuterpop. Enjoy!
Like with Cobalt in Part 1 of my adventures in meeting Poptropica friends IRL, I had known Pixel by many names throughout our years of adolescence. But through all the names, she was still the Nice Dragon I had met on that fateful day in 2013. It wasn’t until 11 years later, on January 7, 2024 in Franklin, North Carolina, that we met in person…
The morning air was filled with optimistic adventure, and the two-hour drive from my home in Greenville, South Carolina had felt like 20 minutes with the destination in mind. We were meeting exactly in the middle: she had driven two hours from her home, too.
I got out of my truck and gave Pixel a long overdue hug. For years, I yearned to meet her and bridge the gap from the internet to real life. Upon meeting, there was nothing but love between us. As digital as our relationship was, the truth was that we knew each other better than all of the people I had developed friendships with in person.
Then off we went on our real-life Poptropica adventure. On our way into Franklin, we had both spotted plenty of places to check out, starting with the Franklin Cafe.
Waltzing into this small town diner, both of us larger than life, we made ourselves at home at a booth. The walls were decorated with entirely discordant memorabilia, which was perfect for both of our focus-devoid brains. We had years of catching up to do, and the chefs at the Franklin Cafe seemed to take notice, as they took their sweet time preparing our food. But after what felt like forever, our food arrived — well worth the wait!
After the cafe, we drove to the American House Cat Museum, which was every bit as amazing as it sounds. Walking through the entrance, which itself was a large wooden depiction of a kitten, we were bombarded with everything feline — and I mean EVERYTHING. Cat carousel, cat pipes, cat paintings, a 6,000 year old cat mummy, a cartoon-sized Garfield clock.
We were even fortunate enough to meet the owner of the museum, Dr. Harold W. Sims (hey, that’s an interesting name, isn’t it?). He and his cat Mimi seemed to follow us around the museum, and he gave us the unique experience of listening to his collection of cat-themed music boxes. While the mechanically melodic chords chimed away, he told us facts and trivia about his museum, and cat art in general. On our way out, we picked up these simply unforgettable key chains, which we both kept on our car keys. If anyone asks, this guy was my grandpa!
We then headed to Lighthouse Baptist Church, which had a replica lighthouse in the front of the building. Echoing concepts from a Poptropica fan game we dreamed of years ago, we took pictures: Meridian and Sorrowyn, standing by Meridian’s lighthouse in the Skylands north of River City.
It felt like more than coincidence being in this small town, where these perfect Poptropican treasures were waiting to be discovered by the two of us.
Once we were satisfied with the lighthouse pictures, we returned to downtown Franklin. Most shops were closed, but we found two open seats at an outdoor table with a checkerboard set up. So, we did what Meridian and Sorrowyn might do in this situation. We fought a good fight, and both pulled out all the stops. But the truth of the game was inescapable: for one to win, the other must concede.
Pixel and Spencer are more real to me than the friends I made in high school or college, and they serve as a testament to the power and persistence of love itself. These experiences have made me even more appreciative of my time spent in the Poptropica community, and has made me want to honor it in the best way I know how.
Poptropica, as a game and as a community, was and is so important to me. Back in 2016, I began work on a fan game titled “Orb Legend”, featuring characters like Cobalt, Meridian, and Sorrowyn. This was a huge undertaking for adolescents with a little too much free time. Even though we had a team of around 11 volunteers at the height of its production, it wasn’t meant to be that time around. Simply put, we would have needed funding to bring the game to life, which we as kids didn’t have.
But we are no longer children. We’re now in our 20s, with the skills that we once dreamt of. And with how the game’s been going lately, on top of the recent branding changes that Poptropica has undergone, I think it might be the perfect time to try this once again. With a crowdfunding plan to launch soon, I am very excited to present to all of you…
The teaser trailer for Poptropica: Legends will be dropping on February 15! Be sure to follow us on all the socials so you can be the first to see it.
I often think back to my time writing on the PHB, and while I made a lot of mistakes and let my ego get the best of me far too often, I also have many treasured memories in this community. It was an extremely unique experience at the height of the Poptropica community, one that I’m afraid will never really happen in the same way again. We were all born at the right time, in the right place, to experience the magic. A fandom run by children, all with a simple shared passion for a game that wasn’t too incredibly popular, to prevent any one person from taking the spotlight.
Thank you all for being such an influential part of my story. I hope I made a positive impact on yours. And with Legends, I hope to continue that alongside the rest of you.
The Poptropica Help Blog welcomes interesting Poptropica insights from anyone in the Poptropica community with thoughts to share. Interested in writing for the PHB? We’d love to hear from you!
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