I can show you the world… — “I DON’T WANT TO SEE IT!” Oh, but you’ll want to see this!
Hey Poptropicans! So last week’s buzz was about the release of PoptropiCon Ep. 1 for members, and Mission Atlantis Ep. 3 for everyone — but looking ahead, let’s see what we can find out about the upcoming Arabian Nights Island — in particular, the first episode: “How Bazaar”!
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW (but that’s what you want, isn’t it?)
:: overview ::
About a month ago, the PHB posted sneak peeks of some backgrounds of places we’d be visiting on the island, which had some rough notes on them. These have since been updated with backdrops, foregrounds, and the like. (Special thanks to Poptrickia for putting these together into corresponding images and allowing them to be used in this post!) First, here’s a look at the Cliff area (click to enlarge):
To the right of the cliff image with the notes, it says “to cave” — that’s because we’ll be venturing into one! Here you can see the updated Cave scene (where the bag of salt lies in a lower corner):
Anyway, at some point (perhaps the beginning), you’ll speak to the Sultan, who resides in a beautiful palace (with its lovely exterior illustrated by Nate Greenwall):
It’s not so pretty on the inside though — that’s because, as per the episode’s plot, it’s been ransacked by the Forty Thieves! The palace is in disarray, but more importantly, the sultan’s precious lamp has gone missing… and as those who are familiar with Arabian legend know, that lamp is supposed to contain a genie that has now disappeared!
image of the Sultan from Nate Greenwall’s portfolio site
You: What happened here? Sultan: The forty thieves happened! They ransacked my palace and left me with nothing.
You: You mean, you’re broke? Sultan: Money can be replaced, but the thieves took one precious thing from me: a lamp that is like no other. Find it, and I will grant you a fabulous reward.
You: How can I find the lamp? Sultan: I don’t know. But perhaps you can start your quest with this. It is my last jewel. Trade it wisely.
So, remember Blake’s post showing the items you’d obtain in Arabian Nights? You’ll be trading some of these in the Bazaar (a Middle Eastern market), and based on the above, it looks like you’ll be starting off with the Sultan’s crown jewel.
Inside these pretty patterned stalls, you’ll get to trade/barter with the store owners, which may or may not involve the items pictured below, placed in the various stall scenes:
And we can’t forget the Daily Pop sneak peeks! These can give some insights to the island as well, like the fact that the oasis may just be a mirage, that the palace is heavily guarded, and that the telescope item can be found atop a palace minaret. The Creators even referenced CliffsNotes! Oh my.
Open Sesame: Into the jaws of defeat.
Cliffs Notes: There are no shortcuts to knowledge.
Spelunky: At the end of our rope.
The Saddest Snowman: Think chilly thoughts, think chilly thoughts…
Camp Value: The pup tent sleeps one.
Missing: This place is a shadow of its former self.
Sleep Tight: Don’t let the desert locusts bite.
In Spired: I can see my house from here.
Whattya Buyin: Got some good things on sale, stranger.
The Sting: Watch your step.
Hump Day: Dromedarius to the maximus.
Shuttered: This place looks deserted.
Crystallized: The caves have come around again.
Palace Intrigue: Don’t let your guard down — or, better yet, do.
Mirage: Don’t trust what you see in the desert.
How Bazaar: Every time I look around.
By the way, for more Poptropica behind-the-scenes, particularly files and music, check out the PHB’s Behind the Scenes page, which includes part of the soundtrack for Arabian Nights Island and more!
On Arabian Nights Island, Poptropicans go on a quest across the desert to rescue a sultan’s genie from the Forty Thieves.
Now, onto the theories! From what’s been gathered here, it looks like the Sultan’s palace has been ransacked by the infamous Forty Thieves, and his most precious belonging — a lamp containing a (wish-granting?) genie — is now missing. Once you get past all the palace guards and manage to talk to the Sultan, he asks you to help him retrieve it. He gives you his last jewel to trade in the bazaar, in the hopes that you’ll eventually win his lamp back. Along the adventure, you’ll venture into a cliff, cave, and desert to look for various items requested by the barterers at the bazaar.
Hey Poptropicans! Issue #19 of the PHB magazine, known as The POPCORN, has just been released, with all sorts of Poptropica fan creations, including a gripping tale about baker Jane from Ghost Story Island, a collection of Dr. Who costumes designed by Cool Smarticle, several Poptropicans doing the ice bucket challenge, and more!
…clicked it yet? If not, you’re missing out on a piece of the PHB legend. 😀
For more information about The POPCORN, check out our Magazines page to find out what kind of entries we’re looking for and how you can submit something in for publication!
The deadline for emailing entries to phbpopcorn(at)gmail(dot)com is October 5th if you’d like to be a part of our next (and potentially last) magazine!
Hope you enjoy our pop-pop-Poptropica Help Blog fan magazine!
One of the first posts that I ever made here on the PHB was titled “10 things you DIDN’T know about Poptropica!“, and from the looks of the title, you probably have gathered that this is the sequel. Hope you enjoy it. 😀
1. Lunar Colony: Flag of Poptropica
This was mentioned by deviantArt user “Child-Of-Hades“, so you can check out the original post here. In Lunar Colony you can see the first instance of Poptropica’s official flag, somewhat like one of the United States’ numerous flags from over the years — after counting the stars, you will find that there are 28 stars in total — and Lunar Colony was the 29th island! Well played, Creators. 😛
2. Meeting the CYOA Book’s Author
You can meet R. A. Montgomery, author & founder of the Choose Your Own Adventure books, in the CYOA hut on Main Street of Nabooti Island.
3. Customizing Secret
On Time Tangled Island in Timbuktu, you can customize the silhouettes from inside the buildings!
4. Wimpy Wonderland inspiration
The scene in Wimpy Wonderland island where you climb the Leisure Towers building is inspired by a Simpsons game called “Bart’s Nightmare”, in which he is “Bartzilla” and climbs a tower while people throw random items down on him from windows.
5. S.O.S. Common Room
While this may be known by some, it may surprise others — S.O.S. Island does in fact have a common room on the far left corner of the Main Street entitled “Daggoo’s Fish Market”.
6. Vlad the Viking
The old Creator, Vlad the Viking, had a Poptropican account with an unknown username. It is the only known account to have three prefixes (Vlad the Viking) instead of the regular two. Here’s a picture of him (on the right) from one of his old Creators’ Blog posts, when he ran a series called Snapshot Sagas:
7. Job Requirements: Poptropica flash developer
According to this Google Forum post by Poptropica Creator Jordan Leary (Dr. Hare) from 2010 (one of Poptropica’s most active years), you must meet the following requirements met in order to be a flash game developer at Poptropica —
Submit a strong portfolio demonstrating solid game development experience.
At least 3 years experience in AS2 or AS3 with expert level skills.
The ability to work well both on a team and independently.
Experience using object-oriented design methods.
Good code organization and knowledge of ActionScript best practices.
AS is the acronym for ActionScript, the code that Poptropica used to run on (I don’t know for sure if it still does). Read the full job posting here, it’s pretty interesting!
I was mowing my lawn one day when the idea for Poptropica sprang up. It’s changed a lot from its initial conception, but the basic idea is still there. We publish every story we come up with that feels like it has merit.
9. Strange Poptropica cityscape
This photo, released by Poptropica Creator Nate Tufts back in 2009, shows an apartment building with an insane-looking Poptropican in front and a leaf monster on the top. The image document is entitled “CityScape”. What could this have been made for? Monster Carnival? Or another unreleased island?
10. Ad Creator
Coralee Lazebnikova is a 2D animator, and if you read all of her profile, you’ll find that she’s previously done work for Poptropica and Family Education doing advertisement design. Like Nate Greenwall (senior graphic artist at Poptropica), she may have had a hand in designing ad games for Poptropica!
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That’s all the cool facts I have for you today! 😀 Tell me in the comments your thoughts on these – did you know them? If so, how many? The person who knew the most facts gets a cookie!
Shark Boy may have been alienated from Poptropica, but his alter ego (otherwise known asNate Greenwall, Poptropica’s lead graphic artist) is still out and about, churning out some really cool (and even unreleased) Poptropica imagery. They’re available for viewing on his portfolio website (scroll down for more info!). Here’s a look at some graphics of interest (as usual, click to enlarge):
Wow, did you catch all that?! Anyway, Nate has several pages on his portfolio site dedicated to various works he’s created for Poptropica (not all of which are posted above, but some may be familiar). If you’re interested, you can browse through them by clicking the links below:
Advertisements – designs for Poptropica ad buildings & characters
Character design & animation – various Poptropica character designs (if you look closely, you’ll see the Sultan to be encountered on Arabian Nights Island!)
In-game illustrations – some full views of areas in the game, including the area by the sea in Ghost Story and even a palace for the upcoming Arabian Nights Island
Merchandise – among various things, the most noteworthy of all are the iTunes music CD covers and kids’ tattoos/face paint designs, both of which it looks like Poptropica is planning on releasing one day! (you can listen to Poptropica’s music at the PHB’s Behind the Scenes page too)
Logos, web, mobile design – graphics relating to Poptropica’s user interface (UI), including an array of buttons and icons, some of which have never been released
There’s a lot of creative work that goes into making Poptropica what it is and what it will be, and the artistic geniuses at Poptropica give us beautiful results. Enjoy the Nate Greenwall collection! 🙂
Hey Poptropicans — friendly reminder that the PHB’s Land Construction Contestends this Friday, Sept 5th, so if you haven’t sent in your greatest Land creation to us yet, get building and click here for the post with instructions on how to enter! Or, if you’ve made something that caught the Creators’ eyes like Magic Fire‘s self sculpture (she’s a PHB reader too – hi MF!) and Young Fish‘s panoramic port city have, you might even be featured on the Creators’ Blog! (click to view full images)
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Have you ever wondered why Poptropica tends to release islands on Thursdays? While this doesn’t explain why Thursday exactly (Friday in some time zones), they did recently address the question (brought up by Poptrickia) via their official Twitter:
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PoptropiCon (guide here) had its first episode debut just last week for members, but if you’re wondering what’s up next, a good place to look are the Daily Pop sneak peeks. Let’s take a look at what we’ll be seeing inside the convention center (click to enlarge images):
Collect Em All: Keep them in the original packaging and they may be worth dozens someday.
Victory: It’s in the cards.
Hall Pass: Low-pill carpet for a high-traffic area.
The Help: With an attitude like that, you’ll go far.
Look Closer: It’s what’s under the cap that matters.
Silver Age: This archer gets right to the point.
Marvelous: A real stand-up comic booth.
History Lesson: Golden age, silver age, outrage… we’ve got it all.
Brony: Don’t say no, here we go, off across the plain.
You Hall: The swag bag is loaded, but where’s the exit?
Off-Screen: But we’re monitoring the situation.
Among all the random tidbits, it looks like there’ll be a booth for a comic hero called Elf Archer — created by some guy called “Stan Ditko”: a reference to Marvel Comics co-creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Plus, there’s even a Balloon Boy collectible that can be seen on a table!
And not far from the My Little Pony mimicry (“Pony Bros”… even the Daily Pop’s caption is “Brony”), there’s a poster for “Lava Twins” — it may be a long shot, but could this be a reference to a film called The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl? Yes, you read that right, “Shark Boy”: like the beloved Poptropica character who no longer is. (You can read all about the Shark Boy Mystery here!)
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Although it’s been about two years and ten islands since Super Villain Island, Brave Tomato recently uncovered this little snippet of Poptropica Creator Jeff Kinney working on it on a computer. It may not look like much, but it’s a pretty neat find nonetheless:
This came from a “making of” bonus feature on the Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days DVD, where they talked briefly about Jeff and Poptropica. (Jeff is also the author of the Wimpy Kid series.) Speaking of Jeff Kinney, I wonder if/when we’ll get to see his ice bucket challenge? 😉
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In other news, issue 19 of the PHB magazine, The POPCORN, releases this Sunday, Sept 7th, so be sure to have your creative entries sent in to phbpopcorn(at)gmail(dot)com before then! That’s all for now (or TAFN, as HP the hip one likes to say)! Keep on poppin’ on, Poptropicans. 🙂
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