Advertisements, Popspiracy Theories, Social Media, The Missing Link

The Missing Link: Poptropica’s Glitchy Cash Cow

HPuterpop

(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post represent those of the author, not the entire Poptropica Help Blog or its community. Further discussion can be found in the comments.)

Hi Gs,

In 2013, Jeff Kinney was interviewed on Skype. One of his points was that in order to keep up with the times, they would have to update to mobile soon. Now, I for one object. Poptropica is not a mobile game. There are 40+ islands online to play, each taking 1-2 hours, some exceeding, with amazing art, dialogue, story, and overall gameplay. Poptropica is just simply not a flippant game that you play whenever you’re bored. You have to set down and devote yourself to an island.

So the absurd idea that kids aren’t playing Poptropica online any more is, well, absurd. Poptropica is a game for your computer, it’s a desktop game. I’m excited for the day whenever they actually release a desktop version. With that said, Poptropica didn’t really seem to care about the obvious facts. They went ahead and started to pursue mobile.

poptropicaApp-head

And in this process, they became extremely greedy, and lost a lot of their quality. Here’s why:

I’ve extracted the Android Poptropica app, and found some key files that have traces of a company called ‘Milkman Games’. Looking that up, I found that this company specializes in converting flash games into apps – Android and iOS. With this said, you have to realize that Poptropica isn’t solely a flash game. It uses PHP & a number of other codes, which contributes to the majority of the major game play elements.

milkMan

So in an attempt to fix the game and be able to quickly and cheaply convert it into an app, they rebuilt the engine – in a matter of months, and with different developers than from the original game. This lead to what we know as SUIs. Anyone who has played SUIs know – they’re not as good as classic Poptropica islands. They aren’t as fluid, they’re glitchy, and likely to crash.

This is the one bad thing that’s happening to Poptropica.

Now we know the reason, and Poptropica can’t keep it under wraps any more. To prove it, you can just take a peek in the files. They have ‘Home’ Island, which is Tutorial Island on the app – verbatim, and updated to match the app. In fact, that’s where I got the Arcade sneak peaks.

homeIsTheree

So with this said, Poptropica’s little cheap scheme has been unveiled, and sadly, it’s growing every day as something irreversible. Unless the team gets their heads screwed on straight, Poptropica is going to become something not even considered a game, even less-so than what the gaming community once considered it.

TAFN.

-HPuterpop

Creators

Q&A with the Poptropica CEO!

Ultimate iPad Expert

Heyyo Poptropicans, it’s Ultimate iPad Expert it’s been almost a month since I asked you all for some questions for Mr. Jess Brallier, the current CEO of Poptropica. Was hoping I could have the responses for this Question & Answer session up sooner, but time got in the way.

Keep in mind, we couldn’t choose every question sent in, so some questions are not included.

Q&A with the CEO

Muddy Kid: Are there gonna be more classic islands updating to SUI Islands, and when?

Jess Brallier: Maybe. No specific plans. Nothing in the works. But it’s a weekly discussion.

Skinny Ice: When can we share our Poptropica Realms with other Poptropicans?

Jess Brallier: We’re aiming — but not promising — for a basic sharing function by end of June. You’ll start to see teasers for it on the site this month.

Prickly Monster: Any hints to the next island after MotM, Timmy Failure, and Arabian Nights Ep. 3?

Jess Brallier: Some place you don’t wanna be.

Shaky Bee: What was your favorite island to make?

Jess Brallier: Every Creator has her/his favorite. Mine was Time-Tangled Island.

WimpyKidFan: Since you’re not owned by Pearson anymore, can you change up Poptropica more and what will this mean for Pop?

Jess Brallier: We did what we wanted to do while at Poptropica. We’ll continue to do what we want to do.  And what we want to do is animation and a lot more for our non-English-speaking fans.

Cherry_bombs: Are there certain things that you think that Poptropica should achieve? What are they?

Jess Brallier: Like Disney, we want to stay around for generations.  We like to imagine our grandchildren smiling because of something Poptropica. We’d like to have a best-selling book series, a top ten iOS app, a record-breaking film, a wildly popular TV series, and a much-loved YouTube channel.  We like to imagine a kid in Athens, Greece. He learns English in school using Poptropica English, on the way home he enjoys our animation or comics or novels or virtual world on his app, he might stop and buy a Poptropica comic book or novel, he plays that evening on his desktop, he watches Poptropica TV.  He discovers the world — mythology, history, art, etc. — while laughing his butt off throughout all the danger, adventure, and thrills.  But most of all, we hope that through our storytelling, art, animation, and programming to inspire a next generation of creators (just as we were by Herge, Disney, Mad Magazine, etc.). Each year get us closer to that moment when we hire a Poptropica Creator who actually grew up on Poptropica. That’ll be our best moment ever.

renaldiinfernus: How long do you think it will take to fully convert Poptropica to Poptropica HD (Sound Update)?

Jess Brallier: We don’t know. Not focused on that right now.  Have our eyes on the app, animation, and non-English right now.

Hench-Bot: Does the separation from Pearson change anything about Poptropica in a negative way?

Jess Brallier: Not at all.

Hench-Bot: Will you ever finish ‘Legendary Swords’?

Jess Brallier: Maybe. Doing so is not on our current task list.

Red Spider: How long does it take to make an island?

Jess Brallier: Depends on the island….and vacations, sick kids, maternity leaves, etc. However, on the average, from concept to script to illustration to programming to testing takes about six weeks.

Samwow5: Who are Captain Crawfish & Comic Kid? (their real identities)

Jess Brallier: We’re not going there. Poptropica is about Poptropica and its users, not its staff.  Except for Jeff Kinney, ‘cause that cat’s out the bag, purposely and wonderfully so.

Spotted Dragon: What kind of skills do you look for when hiring Poptropica Creators?

Jess Brallier: A love for storytelling and a desire to do what nobody else is doing. Many can illustrate or program, but do they do what they do because of a love and appreciation for storytelling.  And our success is about doing what others don’t do. We’re not a book publisher, we’re not just another game, we’re not just another world with weird penguins or monsters or dolls running around in it.  We seek not to copy, but to be the first to show up with something unexpected.

HPuterpop: Why are you producing so many sponsored islands?

Jess Brallier: We just sort of hit a stretch for various reasons. We simply love Timmy Failure, think it’s hilarious; that’s not a fact, just a gut reaction; and Stephan is like the most popular comics strip creator out there right now, just seems right that we invite him onto our creative team, along with Jeff Kinney, Lincoln Peirce, etc. As for Galactic Hot Dogs, we own that, were very lucky to have Simon&Schuster publishing it as a book, and we just wanted to do everything we could to make it successful — we think it’s very worth the effort.  And with The Mystery of the Map, we wanted to introduce the Poptropica cast of characters (two of them in the comic strip, all of them in the graphic novel series to start publishing March 2016) and do all we could to position them those characters and their stories for a potential film, TV series best-selling book, etc. We don’t see any other sponsored islands on the publishing schedule right now.

Slippery Raptor: Is there any way for you to make the Daily Pop and the Store more functional and popular?

Jess Brallier: Oh, yet another constant discussion point. Couldn’t agree more. Just difficult to get it to the top of the to-do list.

Spotted Dragon: Will an island map ever be added to the SUI Islands?

Jess Brallier: Maybe. Never say never.

HPuterpop: Will there be more graphic novel islands following the adventures of Oliver, Mya, and Jorge in the future?

Jess Brallier: We have a story arc for the graphic novel that spans at least 12 books. If successful, we’ll surely find another story arc even beyond those 12.  Abrams Books will publish the first four — March, 2016; Fall, 2016; March 2017; Fall, 2017). If successful, we’ll surely expand that four-book agreement to 12 books. Second book is now being written by a great writer by the name of Mitch Krpata, and it — like the comics and first book — will be illustrated by the incredibly talented Kory Merritt. Working title for the second book is “The Secret Society.” The editor at Abrams for the series is the same guy who does Kinney’s books.

HPuterpop: Do you ever plan to fix any of the HD islands’ glitches and overall lazy engine design?

Jess Brallier: Sure, in the plans. Again, it’s just a matter of getting to all that stuff.  Meanwhile,  it’s hot out, summer’s arrived, we’re feeling lazy….

★Brave Tomato★: Out of the staff at PopHQ, what percent of them do certain jobs (programming, art, writing, etc.)

Jess Brallier: Essentially all of them have a leading skill, but the creative process around the islands and the site and the app is all a team effort.  Lots of discussions with everybody involved, then when it’s time to move forward, tasks are assigned per an individual’s talents.

So, this concludes our Q&A! Big thanks to Jess Brallier for participating and helping make Poptropica as great as it is. And also a big thanks to everyone who sent in questions! Feel free to comment your thoughts on Brallier’s responses!

• Ultimate iPad Expert •

Hall of Fame

Welcome to the Hall of Fame… Dangerous Glove!

Blake

Obligatory reference to The Script & will.i.am… ACTIVATE!

What’s popping, Poptropicans? Blake here, with a little Poptropica news! First up, as you can see with the title and all, the first winner of the Poptropica Hall Of Fame contest has been announced.

This week’s winner is none other than Dangerous Glove, who has completed every island except Galactic Hot Dogs and Mystery of the Map!

dangerousGlove

You can now find Dangerous Glove on Main Street of Night Watch Island! She’s replaced a boy NPC (non-player character) who used to be at the end of the line outside the mall, and has taken over his line of dialogue as well:

Also, the Creators have confirmed via Twitter that the any Hall of Fame winners will stay on the island permanently, although they will stay in the outfit they were in when they won the contest.

So if you want to win the Hall of Fame, you’re going to want to wear something nice! Remember, this is your Poptropican going up in an Island for the remainder of all time!

Anyway, that’s all for now, Poptropicans! Tune in next week to find out if I overcome my crippling social anxiety enough to save my aunt’s farm from an evil oil baron, and if HP can learn to surf with the help of Reese Witherspoon! All this and more on the next episode of Days of Poptropicans’ Lives.

Popstorms, Realms, Web Development

Sandbox acquisition, animation confirmation, & more

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! As you may recall from recent news, Poptropica is no longer owned by Pearson, but for those of you with an even keener eye, you may notice the copyright adorning the bottom of the homepage now being accredited to Sandbox Networks.

sandbox poptropica

You can read more about the Sandbox acquisition in this article. Family Education Network, formerly a division of Pearson, was recently sold to this London, UK-based company, and along with it went Poptropica. Both the leaders of Sandbox and Poptropica seem positive about this change, so here’s hoping this’ll make Poptropica bigger and better in due time! 🙂

In fact, the article mentions a quote from Jeff Kinney revealing that “…we’ll be seeing the stories and characters from FEN brought to life on the big screen.” And this tweet from Poptropica confirms that they are indeed working on an animated show – the question now is “when?”

On a different note, here are a couple of Popstorm illustrations that have recently popped up:

Popstorm #28: Fish!
Popstorm #29: Parading Pigs

Also, Captain Crawfish has posted a new Remarkable Realms video on the official blog, which you can check out below. This one showcases a waterpark made by Fast Lizard – and better yet, a comment made by the Creators on the video assures us that we’ll soon get to share our Realms with each other: “by end of June, we hope to have function that allows users to share on their own”.

And, just in case you haven’t been keeping up with our Twitter timeline (either on the sidebar of the PHB or by following us), here are some tweeted tidbits that may be of interest:

  • Between the site and app, Poptropica gets about 4.5 million different users a month, playing from 100+ different countries. (see tweet)
  • Even Jeff Kinney hasn’t completed every Poptropica island. (see tweet)
  • Arabian Nights Ep. 3 is currently scheduled for late June. (see tweet)
  • The unnamed underground cave island (hinted at in past sneak peeks) has been an idea from the Creators for years, but the storyline is still uncertain. (see tweet)
  • There are plans to offer Poptropica in Spanish in late 2015 or early 2016. (see tweet)
  • There are 31 Creators at Poptropica offices. (see tweet)
  • Among the Poptropica Creators, there are two Jeffs, two Jennifers, and two Jons. (see tweet)

That’s all for this post, but be sure to catch up below for news on the Poptropica Hall of Fame, new Poptropica-comics-based games on the mobile app, and more. Stay popping, Poptropicans! 😉

Uncategorized

Poptropica Hall of Fame!

HPuterpop

Hi Gs,

Rawfish just announced that a new program is going to be available for the next few weeks: you can get your Poptropica character on a Poptropica island Main Street! The more island medallions, the more of a chance you get – so collect as many island completions as you can! There will be six avatars added to six different islands. Whether these will be old islands or new is unspecified.

HoF

Have you ever wanted your Poptropican to be featured on a Poptropica Island? Now’s your chance: introducing the Poptropica Hall of Fame!

We’re giving players the opportunity to have their avatar appear on Main Street on one of six Poptropica Islands. Simply play through any Island and earn that Island’s Medallion, and you’ll be entered to have your avatar chosen.

It’ll still count if you’ve completed the Island before, and there’s no limit to how many times you can replay. So the more Islands you complete, the more chances you have to be a star!

Each week, we’ll pick players at random from those who have earned Medallions. Those players will have their Poptropicans placed in one of six different quests. We’ll announce which players, and which Islands, after the first drawing.

This looks really exciting, and I’m looking forward to seeing who the first avatar will be!

Also, I see what he did with the “hot dog costume” comment – trying to draw attention away from his tasty crawfishyness. You’re not fooling anyone!

TAFN.

-HPuterpop