Guest Posts, Home Island, PHB Sneak Peeks, Sneak Peeks

Skydock Island: the new Home Island?

Slanted Fish

The island of many names is about to get another mouthful: Home Island, also known by its alternate names Hub Island or Tutorial Island, could soon become Skydock Island.

skydock

We’ve mentioned before of the Daily Pop hinting at upgrades to Home Island, including a ship-shaped renovation and the possibility of a personal home to display your medallions…

The rest of this post is written by Nice Hawk. He first made these findings on his site, Poptrickia, and allowed them to be shared here on the PHB. Enjoy!

…But it gets even better. Poking around in the unreleased files of Home Island, I found these highly interesting scenes and schematics which (partially) confirm my theories:

This first image is a preliminary look at what the Main Street of the new Home Island will look like; apparently it’ll be called “Skydock.” The buildings in this image will lead to the rooms below, the Town Hall and Saloon (click to view full size):

Town Hall
Saloon

These are actually scenes by the Creators that are in the earliest stages. Even though they’re mainly just line drawings and text on a black background, the descriptions are already getting me excited for the update. 🙂 It looks like the Creators are planning a lot of creative additions to Home Island this year.

Another thing that I found while looking at the code for Home Island, is that these rooms (Skydock, Town Hall, and Saloon) might even be common rooms! That’s right, you might be able to chat, friend, and battle with other players while also enjoying Home Island. Now I’m not 100% sure if that’s true based on the code, but it would be a reasonable enough assumption. 😉

​It looks like the Creators themselves are still working out the details though, like for instance how the rooms will look like and how they’ll be connected, so the final product may be different from what I’ve outlined here. But so far this looks like the gist of it. And I’m definitely looking forward to this huge update!

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Ever wondered why exactly the medallion shards are scattered all over the place when you play the Tutorial, and why there’s a pilot there talking to you? Well, another update to Home Island (that might be coming sooner than the ship-related one) gives the backstory to that. This dialog file shows what seems to be you talking with the pilot while you’re both up in the blimp:

You: The view is great from up here!
Pilot: Ahoy fellow traveler!
You: Ahoy!
You: Are you on your way to Poptropica too?
Pilot: I sure am! But first, a minor course correction.
Pilot: Woah!
Pilot: Oh no! The medallion!
You: Oh dear!
Pilot: I see where it landed, I am going after it!
Pilot: Want to join me in an adventure?

Then the pilot offers you a choice to either do the medallion-shard-finding tutorial or to go to Home. So basically, the medallion is in pieces down there because the Pilot dropped it from his own balloon. Interesting backstory.

pilot

Anyway, those are all the exclusive Home Island sneak peeks that I’ve got so far! Looks like the upcoming update is full of fun new things to do or to just enjoy looking at. The Creators haven’t officially announced it yet (though they did give hints of it in their New Year’s post), so we don’t know when it’s coming. But it sure is something grand to look forward to. 🙂

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Again, thanks to Nice Hawk for this guest post on the PHB! Be sure to check out his site, Poptrickia, which is full of tips, tricks, and Poptropica goodness. Stay popping, Poptropicans!

Contests

Week 5 Sweepstakes Winners and Twitter Roundup!

Ultimate iPad Expert

Heyyo Poptropicans, it’s Ultimate iPad Expert here. The Creators announced the winners for the final weekly Island Hopper Sweepstakes winners! And here they are:

Congratualtions to Greedy Turtle, Happy Heart, Lucky Club, Skinny Tiger, and Sleepy Sky! 😀 If one of these Poptropicans is yours, you’ve just one yourself a one-month membership for Poptropica!

Be sure to tune in soon, because the Creators will be announcing the winners of the overall Island Hopper Sweepstakes including the winner of the grand prize, a 30 minute call with Poptropica Creator, Jeff Kinney.

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Now onto a little segment I like to call the Twitter Roundup!

TwitterRoundup

(Thanks to HPuterpop for help on the logo)

First off, the (currently unknown) Creator running the Poptropica Twitter account has begun a really cool “series” of tweets, in which they show off Poptropica fan blogs.

The PHB was lucky enough to be the first blog to be shouted out, which is a super big honor!

Even PHB author, Slippery Raptor, got a shoutout for his blog:

Also, apparently Poptropica has moved to a new HQ, while still staying in the city of Boston. The official Twitter has been tweeting out some images from the new headquarters, which you can check out below:

Speaking of Mystery of the Map, you may have noticed that the main trio is pretty racially diverse – according to Kirkus Reviews, Oliver is white, Mya is Asian, and Jorge is Latino. But Oliver and Mya are siblings – how does that work? Well, it turns out they’re half-siblings!

So, that about wraps up this post. Are you excited to see the winners for the overall Island Hopper Sweepstakes? What do you think about the  series? How about the new Poptropica HQ? Comment below.

• Ultimate iPad Expert •

Guest Posts, Popspiracy Theories

Popspiracy: What’s in Poptropica’s Future?

Slanted Fish

(Continuing our Popspiracy series, PHB reader Tall Cactus speculates about the direction of Poptropica’s future in this guest post. Keep in mind that Popspiracy posts are not to be taken as fact. If you have a Popspiracy, let us know – more details are below! Enjoy! –SlantedFish 🐠 )

popspiracy

Hello Fellow Poptropicans!

My name is Tall Cactus! You might know me as a commenter on the PHB.

Not too long ago, we all said goodbye to 2015 and welcomed a new year. But what will 2016 bring to Poptropica? What will the future bring to Poptropica? That is what I will be discussing in this Popspiracy. But before we begin, I just want to note that I’m not trying to criticize the game in anyway, and that everything said in this post might not even happen. Now that that’s over with, let’s begin

In 2016, I’m guessing that Home Island will get a huge update, more new islands will be released, and volume 2 of the graphic novel series will make its debut. But Poptropica may also be doing even more work to fully convert Poptropica to SUI. While it’s great to have bigger screens and music, there will just be even more glitches. See, Poptropica needs to realize that if they want to expand to things like the mobile app and TV, they need to fix the glitches in the original game first. I actually think that’s the problem- Poptropica’s so busy with other things that the quality of newer islands is just getting worse and worse. Hopefully one of their New Years Resolutions was to fix this.

But things may get interesting farther in the future. I think one of three possibilities will happen, ultimately changing how successful and how long Poptropica lasts.

Scenario 1: Slightly more or less popular

The first possibility is that Poptropica will stay more or less the same as it is now. New islands would be released every few months, along with giveaways and other fun things. The new islands will hopefully start to get better like Pelican Rock. However, the creators might still be converting to SUI, which means that some glitches and bugs might never get fixed. Poptropica might become more successful, but maybe only a little bit more or less popular. That all depends on the quality of the islands and the game itself.

How long will Poptropica last? – 5 to 10 more years, maybe a little more or less.

Scenario 2: Failing

But what if the islands DON’T get better? Would Poptropica slowly end in a few years? With glitchy SUIs, more sponsored and members only islands, and a focus on expanding, the game could suffer, with less and less kids playing the game each year, until Poptropica doesn’t make enough money and shuts down. If it did, would the website be deleted, or would it still exist, just never updated? Never mind. Let’s not think about Poptropica ending, but we need to know that it might still happen. However, with support with fans like all of you, this future might not happen.

How long will Poptropica last? – 2 to 5 more years.

Scenario 3: Most popular it’s ever been!

And lastly there’s that last possibility, which is more likely than the terrible second one, but wouldn’t happen for a while. It would happen if Poptropica’s dream of having a TV show and stuff like that DID happen one day. The good news? Poptropica would be the most popular it’s ever been! The bad news? The game itself would suffer. Less and less islands would be released each year, and even if kids did find out about the game that inspired their favorite TV show they might not want to play it. But you never know how successful this “TV show” could be.

How long will Poptropica last? – Who knows?

Well, we don’t know what the future will bring, but no matter what ends up happening, I’m sure 2016 will be the best year yet. What do you think will happen? Sound off in the comments below!

–Tall Cactus

Share your Poptropica conspiracy theories in the comments – we’d love to hear them. If you’d like to develop your thoughts into a full guest post like this one, contact the PHB (minimum 500 words) at [email protected]. Stay popping!

Advertisements, Guest Posts

Bear in the Big Apple! (Norm of the North ad)

Slanted Fish

(Heyo! This guest post is written by a friend of the PHB, Spencer, with app pictures by Slippery Raptor. Thanks for the tip-off goes to Maroon Cheetah. Enjoy the post and the ad prizes! –SlantedFish 🐠)

Hey Poptropicanos, it’s Spencer! Alas, I have returned! Get your beautiful Poptropican self some candy, some popcorn, an extremely overpriced soda (or pop, shall I dare make a pun?), and let’s get ready to watch Norm of the North. Well, it’s not exactly the movie we get to watch. But, it is yet another Poptropica advertisement!

2016-01-05

This ad is sponsoring the upcoming Dreamworks movie Norm of the North, in cinemas January 15th, 2016! From what I read, Norm and his friends wind up in New York City! Hey, that’s where I live! 😉

Anyway, you’re confronted by Norm the Polar bear to come into this peculiar looking building. (Remember kids, you shouldn’t always listen to strangers telling you to follow them if your parents aren’t around! 😉 ) There are two different versions of this ad: one for the mobile app and one for the web. Let’s start with the app.

Once you enter the building, you get to play a mini-game! Lucky you! (I admit, it’s a lot better than usual Poptropica watch-the-trailer ads.) Glad Poptropica stepped up its game this time around!

You’re presented with the quest of catching a bunch of anthropomorphic rodents in a condensed amount of time to win clothes. I can’t make this stuff up. Basically, you have to run around New York City collecting the three lemmies! They look just like they do in the picture, can’t miss ’em. 😀 (I noticed that this was incredibly similar to the mini-quest Don’t Be an Energy Hog, available in the Poptropica Store!)

Anyway, once you win, you get to have these fabulous prizes!​

Oooh, incredibly fashionable Lemming Rider! Wearing this rat on your head is definitely socially acceptable behavior, in my book! This stylish cap is not the only thing your Poptropican gets to obtain: now, you get to impress all the hunnies with these designer sun Glasses. I love all the NYC references, by the way! 😛

If you’re playing on the web, it’s also the norm! (Do I seriously make a pun every paragraph?) Hop onto any SUI, and the building looks about the same. Except, it’s a common room! Hop directly up, and you can snatch this rad Norm the Polar bear costume.

lemmy2

Hop up again, or click anywhere it asks you to, and you can play Lemmy Launcher, which is different from the game on the app. Hit 8 tourists with your awesome lemmy aim and win! No prize, though.

lemmy1

High up in the left corner, you can grab a Tumbling Lemmies power. When used, a bunch of lemmies will roll on your screen.

lemmy3

Well, I guess my time is up yet again! Take it easy Poptropicans!

PMFM (Poptropican Meme Face Mondays)

Poptropican Meme Face Mondays: Round 7

Ultimate iPad Expert

Heyyo Poptropicans, it’s Ultimate iPad Expert here.

RunTheMemesAreComing

Round seven of PMFM (Poptropican Meme Face Mondays) is coming right at ya!

PMFM-Round7

The lucky meme-faced Poptropicans this week are Super Drummer, Massive Fire, and WhiteCheetah216! And here are the memes:

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

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 seven 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 •