Customization in the age of Haxe (or lack thereof)

July 22, 2020July 21, 2020Leave a comment

Hey Poptropicans, you need look no further for the news—and this time, it’s all about the looks. Let’s pop in.

First, new store items are here! Poptropica actually missed last week, which is the first time that’s happened since they made the store rotations weekly.

The non-costume categories haven’t changed since the last rotation, so only the store’s costumes are pictured above. This week’s items are:

Costumes: Lumberjerk (male and female), Boho Chic*, Furry Monster 4 (two different versions)*, Magician (male and female)*, Friendly Face Masks, Mud Pie, Rockstar, Mech Pilot*, Clown, Pig#, Bottle Cap#, Ringmaster*, Cool Boy Plush#, Shark Plush*, Milk Box#
Followers: Deer, Dryad, Dolphin*, Mini Astroknight*
Powers: Hypno-Powder, (Cinnamon Fire) PopGum, Raven Swarm*, Fireworks*
Pranks: Hypno-Powder, Octo Prank, Silly Streams
Misc: (Cinnamon Fire) PopGum, Coconut Drink#, Cool Boy Plush#, Shark Plush*, Colorizer*

As is the norm these days, about half of the store stock is for members only. Still, both non-members and members have the chance to snag some great deals with several items at 75 credits (marked with #): the Pig, Bottle Cap, and Milk Box costumes, plus the Cool Boy Plush and Coconut Drink.

Interesting detail: the handheld plushie of the Shark Tooth Island character previously known as Shark Boy before his erasure is not called “Shark Guy” as he later came to be known, but now, the item is simply “Shark Plush” despite not being a shark but rather a dude in a shark suit. 🦈

If you’re playing in Haxe, you may also notice that a couple of NPCs have gotten makeovers! The person in front of the store is now a golden-haired girl, and the lady by the New You building has gotten a glow-up.

(You can see what they used to look like in our post about summer coming to Home Island on Haxe.)

That’s not all that’s new in looks. If you head over to the home page to create a new character with one of the default picks, you’ll be taken to a screen where you can further customize your character before diving into the game.

We’ve seen this orange customization screen before, back before “pick a character” became a thing. And new players can still access it by speaking to Amelia, the girl on the Home Island bridge. But it’s interesting to now have it show up right after picking a default character design, when it seemed the whole point of that was to skip the step of customization from the beginning.

However, when the “pick a character” update first rolled out, players had commented on how it took away from the fun of carefully crafting one’s character right from the get-go. For them, this reversion may be a welcome update. But having both a simplified selection screen and a customization screen seems odd—what about the new player who carefully selects a default character only to realize it could’ve been altered all along? Will this inclusion of both features be temporary?

Speaking of customization, there’s been a startling development: the beloved Costumizer tool—the green shirt button which allows you to “steal” clothing parts from other characters—has disappeared from most areas in Haxe. Will it return, or are the Creators sabotaging the fun in yet another way? We can only hope this is temporary, but it’s hard to tell…

That’s all for this post. Be sure to check out our previous posts to catch up on other Poptropica news, and see you at the Poppies this weekend! 🏆

~slantedfish 🐠

Curious icons and hare-raising items for Poptropica Worlds

August 21, 2017August 21, 201710 Comments

Hey guys, my name is Brave Tomato, and I have returned from the post-making dead to bring to you some miscellaneous items and assorted goodies from within the Poptropica files, shared courtesy of Pop glitcher idk.

This collection is all about icon designs for Poptropica Worlds, some of which we’ve seen multiple times, and others that are never-before-seen. Let’s take a look, shall we?

Among the first batch, there’s a strange lightning bolt symbol and crystal symbol. There has not been anything associated with these symbols in menus of Poptropica before, which makes their presence here curious. The closest thing I can associate with the crystal is Realms, but there is a likely chance I’ll be wrong. Only time will tell.

Here we also find what appears to be costumization button. This begs the question of whether the Creators are going to implement a Costumizer feature any time soon. After all, it has been a highly requested feature for Poptropica Worlds since day one, and already, players are missing the ability to steal that nice-looking shirt from some random guy on Main Street. How soon that will be is still up in the air.

There are also some icons that appear to have originally been planned to be used for the home decorating aspect of Worlds gameplay, including an ability to rotate or flip objects. We do have a rotate option in player homes that looks similar, but it’s only two-dimensional: we can’t, for instance, make a couch face the TV.

I feel like the flip aspect would have been very useful for any of the furniture, and the rotate would be cool for pictures hanging on the wall or anyone looking to make a topsy-turvy house. Whatever the case is, what else will come of this completely new aspect of gameplay?

Finally, among a collection of items from the new new 24 Carrot Island, the files also show some unused items. Among these are the curiously absent teleporter to the outside of the factory that was in the original 24 Carrot, and a post-it note with “Command: Eject” on it. The cinema ticket also looks different.

Why these were not included in the game is probably a matter of refining during the creative process of making the island, but it is still cool to see what might have been.

So with these findings, we not only get a high-definition look at some of the icons and symbols within Poptropica Worlds, but we also get to see stuff that did not make it in the game. From there, it allows us to draw our own conclusions on what could have been, or what might become in the future. Although things in Poptropica have been more… spontaneous than usual, there is still an instinctive curiosity to make guesses based on what we know.

Speaking of icons, we’ve recently had a makeover with the one that represents our Poptropica Help Blog site! Taking the iconic Poptropica blimp design to fit the letters “PHB,” Slanted Fish put together this new one, hoping to capture the Poptropican spirit of adventure. Although we’ve been using our classic blue-circle, white-lettered icon for years, it felt like time for a change, and we hope the new one tells a better story!

Until next time, BT out!

Costumizer’s Sister: the Colorizer

May 29, 2009March 6, 201040 Comments

Meet the Customizer‘s sister, the Colorizer! Like “sisters”, they both serve a similar purpose – spicing up your Poptropican character! Similar to the Customizer, this new wowing peek from the Creators (Dr. Hare this time) shows something called the “Colorizer”, where you will soon be able to edit your character’s colors!

Blog Post Title: The Colorizer
Description: The Colorizer will make coloring your character a breeze… anywhere, any color.
Image URL: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_AkTCxo8C1Ys/Sh6r1s3v_hI/AAAAAAAAAGI/QO9pNaCsqd4/s1600-h/colorizer.png
Image Name: colorizer.png

With this cool upcoming feature, we won’t have to use cheat codes or travel to faraway islands just to change our character’s colors! This sneak peek shows that we are able to color hair and skin with a never-before-seen shade of green as well as some other cool color tones to pick from. Maybe someday they’ll even let us change the color of our outfits! Speaking of outfits… the example character is wearing a really cool Robin Hood-like costume, complete with bow and arrows! I hope we’ll be able to Customize this on Astro-Knights Island, especially since it looks so medieval-themed!

Oh, and if you look closely at the background (which shows Main Street on 24 Carrot Island), you’ll notice a star symbol next to the Inventory, and the Games button is gone! Many think that the star button could either be the Colorizer or the Poptropica Credits thing from the post below, because the credits sneak peek also shows the star button there.

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There’s also a new poll on the PCB: Which are you most excited for? This time there are only two options – ‘The Poptropica Store’ and ‘Astro-Knights Island’. AK Island is by far winning this one, with 77% of all votes at the time of my posting this. Therefore, the Poptropica Store has 22% of all votes.

Learn more about The Poptropica Store in the post below: https://poptropica.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/poptropica-credits-stats-store-and-more/

Costumizer Update and Cinnamon Toast Jump Game!

October 21, 2008April 2, 200920 Comments

If you don’t like your character’s mouth, don’t worry! Costumizer has just been updated so that you can now change your mouth on Poptropica! 😛

You can also find some new hairstyles and outfits on Poptropica you might like to Costumize!

Next, there’s a new advertisement building called Cinnamon Toast Crunch Jump Game. It is located on Main Street (I don’t think it matters what island!). The prize is a Cinnamon Toast Crunch Adventure suit, but it is temporary so when the building leaves, so will the suit. I recommend playing this game on Super Power Island if you have the flying power because you can use the flying power to help you move around better. 😉

Also, if you haven’t already, check out the post below; we have a new staff member! Everyone give a warm welcome to Codien!

Poptropica Help Blog

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Tag: Costumizer

Customization in the age of Haxe (or lack thereof)

Curious icons and hare-raising items for Poptropica Worlds

Costumizer Update and Cinnamon Toast Jump Game!