Hello, everyone! It’s Lucky Joker here to walk you through a Lego Minecraft advertisement on Poptropica Original.
You can easily find the ad on the second page of the map. Go ahead and click the icon and walk right in! Talk to Steve to start the minigame.
There are three things that you need to build: a zombie, a ghast, and a chicken coop. To build each, just drag the pieces from the left into the template.
The game progressively gets harder for each construction, with more pieces to put together (but it really never gets too difficult), so you’ll be given more time to build. Here are the completed constructions pictured below for reference:
Once you’ve successfully built all three objects, you’ll be rewarded with Zombie Power and Pickaxe prize cards!
Thanks for reading, as always! Talk to you in the next one.
Captain Crawfish is back with a new video walkthrough for the newest island release, Greek Sea Odyssey—complete with sass and sarcasm!
We’ve also got a written Greek Sea Odyssey guide here on the PHB, and it’s got more than just walkthroughs—we even have trivia and museum info.
But back to that video… well, we’ve got some news. If you watch all the way to the end, at around the 15:55 mark, Captain Crawfish (who we know is voiced by Mitch Krpata) makes an unusual closing statement that’s rather sentimental:
Friends, Poptropicans — I’m Captain Crawfish. It has been the privilege of my life to bring you Poptropica over the last ten years. I love you!
Although it’s very subtle here, other sources show us that the Captain, aka Mitch Krpata, has parted ways with Poptropica, after ten years of service. Shocked? So are we.
Mitch Krpata, in case you’re not familiar, is a senior story developer and narrative designer for Poptropica, and author of three of the Poptropica graphic novels (The Lost Expedition, The Secret Society, and The End of Time).
The same day the Greek Sea Odyssey video came out, Krpata tweeted:
I always imagined that if I were unemployed I would have the opportunity and the inspiration to follow my dreams. I guess now I get to find out!
He’s also updated his LinkedIn page to show that he no longer works for StoryArc Media, Poptropica’s parent company:
And he’s not the only one.
Nate Greenwall, who went under the alias Shark Guy (formerly Shark Boy), and was the inventor of beloved Poptropica icon Dr. Hare, also put out this tweet about working for Poptropica, in past tense:
I’m grateful for the chance I had to work on Poptropica, and make it become an important part of many kids’ lives. Also Dr. Hare will always be one of my favorite creations. It has been an epic adventure, now on to the next chapter! #poptropica#drharepic.twitter.com/7fTDDVKd0e
Greenwall also had a few tips to share about his experience doing game design for a younger audience (or any age, really):
As the UX/UI Designer on #Poptropica, here are just a few things I learned designing for a younger audience (or any age): •Cut down on text •#Prototype and test early •Add in delight and "ah ha!" moments •If the experience isn't fun for you, your audience will likely hate it. https://t.co/xn9guu3MjK
And we know of one more who’s gone: Lance Fry, a senior artist at Poptropica. You may be familiar with some of the work he’s done, featured here in this Pop Portfolio.
We also haven’t heard from Creators Dave and Stephaniein a while, either, suggesting that they may not be around either—though there isn’t any solid evidence on this yet.
The PHB reached out to Krpata for comment, and he confirmed that he and several others were let go this week. He also adds: “I’m so proud of the work we did and I can’t tell you how much your support mattered. Whatever Poptropica’s future, I’ll always be proud to have been a part of it.”
And Greenwall gave the PHB a shout-out:
Thank you PHB for the amazing years of support! I always loved reading your thoughts, feedback, and Poptropica stories. 👍
One thing to consider is the dwindling popularity of the game. It’s no secret Poptropica isn’t as popular as it once was. Krpata even stated this himself in an interview on The Oddball Show, which we covered here on the PHB.
As far as numbers go, Mitch reports that there are well over 500 million avatars created, and over 100 million players. However, he also says the game is “definitely not as cool now as it was before.” If you go to a school now and ask, “who knows Poptropica?” you might get about a dozen or so hands raised. But at the peak of Poptropica’s popularity, in 2010, every kid would be raising their hand – it was, for that while, the biggest site in the world for kids.
When companies become less popular, there is less of a need for a large number of employees to work for them, since the demand to produce content isn’t as high. This means that they’ll have to let some employees go. Poptropica is no exception.
This leads us to an even bigger question: What does this say about how Poptropica is doing financially?
When a company lets employees go, it usually indicates that they cannot afford to keep them around. It’s especially telling that these guys—Krpata, Greenwall, and Fry—all had senior positions, years of experience (a whole decade, even), and did not seem to want to be let go (the job searching indicates that it wasn’t like they had planned to move on elsewhere). We can’t confirm financial motivations, but we can speculate…
The fact that StoryArc Media chose to drop some of their most valuable team members (as opposed to those less experienced, if there were any) is pretty alarming. It could be that they had to make budget cuts because they couldn’t pay their best workers the salaries they deserved, or perhaps they had a falling out with the higher-ups that we don’t know about. Whatever the case may be, we’re sorry to see them go.
Update: Mitch Krpata published a blog post on his website about his current unemployment that offers some more insight into the incident, saying:
On Monday, I was informed that my position was being eliminated. Here I am.
Hello, everyone! Lucky Joker popping in to show you a pretty rad ad on Poptropica Original.
The temporary game this time around is a multistage game for the upcoming movie, A Wrinkle in Time — which is based on the 1962 fantasy novel from the Time Quintet series by Madeleine L’Engle.
Okay, enough for your history lesson. Let’s pop into it, shall we?
Go on in and speak to Mrs. Who. She’ll send us off on a quest that will help Meg save her father.
First, we need to find Mrs. Whatsit, who’s somewhere on the planet Uriel. This task can be easily accomplished.
Just run straight ahead to the right, and climb up the rope. Run to the left and jump up to the next level. Run to the right, jump up again, and then run to the left and… tada! You found her! Now it’s off to the dark planet, Camazotz.
Woah! Kids who are all bouncing their bouncy balls in unison! Isn’t that a spectacle?
Anyways, here, you need to trace the light to find Mrs. Which. This task is also a very simple one.
Just follow the orange light trails until you make your way to the top right corner of the scene. Congrats, you’re finished!
The two prizes you earn from completing the ad include a Mrs. Power card as well as your very own Teleporting Spectacles — epic!
A Wrinkle in Time hits the big screen, March 9th, in the US. Anyone plan on seeing it?
Well, that about wraps this post up. Thanks for reading, as always! Talk to you in the next one.
Hiya, Silver Wolf here with news about a new island on Poptropica Worlds!
Only a day ago, Brave Tomato posted a trailer for an upcoming island, Greek Sea Odyssey, and it’s already here! It came out on mobile that same day, but now it’s available on both the app and browser, so you can play at home or on the go.
Right now it’s in early access for members only, so if you don’t have a membership you’ll have to wait a little longer to play.
So what is Greek Sea Odyssey about? Well, when you drop off the blimp, the first person you meet is Georgios, who explains that people are trying to build a city ruled by its citizens (or a democracy, as your Poptropican points out), but Zeus, ruler of all the Greek gods, keeps interfering. That’s not that unexpected; I mean, Zeus wants to rule all of Poptropica, after all.
The island seems to be a continuation of Mythology Island on Poptropica Original, with all the gods having left Olympus except for Zeus. Athena asks for your help to overthrow him, but in order to do so, you need to — guess what — go on an odyssey across the sea and gather sacred artifacts. Will you topple the great god of Zeus, or will you fall to his wrath? And what do these sacred artifacts include?
I don’t want to go too much into detail because of spoilers, but if you really are dying to find out what happens or need help on a section of the island, you can check out our island guide. 😉
Update:There are also Greek Sea Odyssey costumes in the store, including two members only costumes and two costumes for everyone.
From left to right, we have: a generic Greek female costume, the queen Hera, a skeleton, and emo Icarus—my personal favorite character. It’s pretty cool that you can be actual Greek Sea Odyssey characters, and that there’s something for everyone!
What do you think of this island concept? Is it too similar to the classic Mythology Island or do you like the idea of a sort of sequel? And which costumes do you like? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Hey guys, my name is Brave Tomato, and I have arisen from the dead yet again to bring you some very exciting news: for the first time in 4 months (7 months if you’re counting solely full islands), a new adventure on Poptropica Worlds is ahead of us.
Guess what, everyone? As the title says: a storm is coming. The trailer for this new adventure had just dropped, so Poptropicans all around the world, brace yourselves, for Greek Sea Odyssey.
Now, from alltwo of the preview images that we had gotten so far, we knew that a form of Mythology Islandwas coming, but it was up in the air as to what form it would be in. The trailer, and its YouTube description, seems to imply that this is an entirely new storyline to possibly conclude Zeus’s now three-island arc. Then again, I could be wrong on that assumption. Speaking of the description, here it is!
Set sail on the newest adventure in Poptropica Worlds: Greek Sea Odyssey! Travel through Ancient Greece and beyond in search of the items that will allow you to topple Zeus once and for all!
If I have to guess how this island is going to go beyond “oh no, Zeus is wreaking havoc“, this island seems to be focusing more on a traveling direction, on dare I say, an odyssey. I have a feeling that there will be a series of lands with challenges, each relating to an item that will help in your battle against Zeus. This would likely therefore have somewhat of a Skullduggery Island kind of feel to it, and since one of the most famous stories from Greek Mythology is Homer’s The Odyssey, it would make perfect sense.
Then again, this could also be simply a fresh coat of paint on the story we already know from Mythology Island. Only time will tell on which direction this will go.
As a side note, Zeus has gotten a bit of a design revamp. Alongside his new wardrobe, he’s also looking more disheveled than before:
Whether this is a simple redesigning choice or this appearance was a consequence of being locked up in a sleep chamber for 5 years, this… will take some getting used to for me.
There’s no release date yet, so the most we can do is sit back and see what happens! I know that I’m excited—after all, Mythology Island was my favorite Island.
Where do you think this will go? Are you excited to finally get something out of the Creators? What about dealing with Zeus… yet again? Make sure to keep posted to the Poptropica Help Blog for more updates, and don’t be afraid to comment!
🦄 Ponytropica 🦄 