Tag: halloween

Ghost Story Island, Great Pumpkin Island, Monster Carnival Island, Sneak Peeks, Vampire's Curse Island

Disturbing Drafts: The Conceptioning

gianthawkpoptropica

Greetings Hawk-tropicans! This is Giant Hawk speaking, and I’ve got some spooky news for all of you.

Over the course of the past few days, the Poptropica Creators have been releasing early concept sheets from some of their eeriest islands on their Twitter. So let us journey together, if you dare, into the world of the initial and the uncanny…

Our first concept art is from the early stages of Vampire’s Curse. And as someone who loves the creepy architecture of this island, I must say – this sheet is pretty great! I find it interesting, however, that it is listed as Dracula’s castle…

PoptropicaEarlyConceptDraculasCastleVC

Our next piece hails from Ghost Story, and appears to be a preliminary representation of Prisoner 24601’s jail cell. Maybe it’s just the color and shading, but I think this is my favorite of these concept pieces. The eerie message is a nice touch too.

PoptropicaEarlyConceptJailCellGS

Next, here is an early sketch from Monster Carnival. Clearly, what we’re seeing here is some original character models for the Monster Duck Hunt Carnie. I do like his current form the best, but seeing these other possible appearances of this creature is fascinating. Which form is your favorite? Comment below with your opinion!

PoptropicaEarlyConceptMonsterDuckHuntCarnieMC

Now here’s a little something extra for you! Here we have some concept art from Great Pumpkin, which depicts the early days of a few of this island’s mini-games. To be specific, we have ‘Find the Biggest Pumpkin’, which takes up most of this art, and ‘Apple Bobbing’. I do love both of these games, so it does intrigue me to see their humble beginnings.

CRiP7WSWIAA92VW.jpg-large

On Halloween, the Creators tweeted several sketches from the spooky-themed islands of Vampire’s Curse, Great Pumpkin, Ghost Story, and Monster Carnival respectively.

So there we go! Whether or not the Creators decide to post any more of these (update: they have, and they’ve been added to this post) I must say they are all visual treats. But most importantly, they help us fans peer into the making of these islands and assist us in really beginning to appreciate the work that goes into each one. And for that alone, I sincerely believe that they are worth our viewing time.

Until next time…

– – Giant Hawk

Contests, Photo Booth

The PHB’s 7th Halloween Competition (and 20M Hits Bonus!)

Slanted Fish

7thPHBHalloweenCostumeContest

Boo, Poptropicans! Halloween is approaching, and that means… it’s time for another Halloween costume competition here on the PHB! This will be our 7th year in a row, but we’re adding a special twist: with the recent Photo Booth added to Poptropica’s Home Island, you can enter a picture creation for a chance to win a membership from the PHB! Sound spooktacular?

Part I: Costume Competition

Traditionally, Poptropicans submit their best Poptropica Halloween costumes in the comments section by giving an Avatar Studio link and/or posting their username. Keep in mind the following tips:

  • Be original! Mix and match to create your own unique costume(s).
  • There are some great Halloween costume parts at the ghoul gathering from the end of the Haunted House quest from the Store, as well as the collection of free costumes in the Store, but be creative and search in other places too!
  • Keep your costume intact until after the winners are announced, or we may not see it! If you don’t want to keep the costume on your main account, create a new one and post that instead.
  • To post your entry, go to the Avatar Studio, type in your username, click Load, click on the Link to highlight it, right-click and choose Copy, go to the comments section on this post, right-click and choose Paste, type in your comment and submit so we can view your costume by clicking the link! Name your costume and post the username if you want.

PRIZES: On Halloween (October 31st), we’ll make a post featuring the winning costumes, plus they will also be immortalized on the PHB’s Costumes page, where you can also see examples of past winners. We’ll have 10 winners for the costume portion, but wait, there’s more…

Part II: Photo Booth Competition

This year, to celebrate our recent milestone of 20 million views here on the PHB, we’re adding a new portion to the competition: the Photo Booth, where we’ll pick another 10 winners for a total of 20!

If you haven’t checked out the Photo Booth on Home Island yet, now’s the time! Poptropica recently added lots of Halloween props to the feature, and you can check out the PHB’s Photo Booth guide here. The objective of this competition is to create the best Halloween picture with your character in it using the Photo Booth, which means you’ll need a snazzy Halloween costume on (see part I)!

For anyone entering this part of the competition, you’ll also need to complete Part I and share a link to your Poptropican to prove that you own the character you use in your Photo Booth pic. This part is optional, but like the first part, we’ll be selecting 10 winners, and the PRIZES get better…

  • First place: 6-month membership
  • Second and third place: 3-month membership
  • 4th to 10th place: 1-month membership

That’s right, you can enter for a chance to win a membership paid for by the PHB!

Important: If you are selected to win one, you must be comfortable in privately contacting us with your login credentials (username and password) so that the membership may be awarded. If you have a currently active membership and are selected, keep in touch with us about when it expires and we will work something out (or, you can donate your membership prize to an honorable mention entrant). 🙂

How to enter:

  1. Create your picture with the Photo Booth on Home Island, being sure to include your character wearing a spooktacular Halloween costume somewhere in it.
  2. Press the green checkmark button to save the image to your computer.
  3. Upload the image somewhere on the web (for example, tinypic) that will give the image a URL.
  4. Copy and paste the image URL into the comments section along with the instructions from part I (Avatar Studio link of your costume and/or username). This will allow us to see the image online.

Note: For both competitions, you can submit as many entries as you like, but you can only win a maximum of one time. Have fun! You have until Halloween.

Happy Halloween, Poptropicans… 😈

May the spookiest rise from their graves.

Labs (Land), Popstorms, Shrink Ray Island, Sneak Peeks, Store

Best of Land: Haunted, Shrink Ray re-release, & hair PopStorms

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! Now that the final “Best of Land” challenge has ended, the Land public preview is now over (alpha version 2 is back to being members only). On Halloween, while we here at the PHB announced the winners of our 6th Annual Costume Competition, the Creators featured the best “Haunted” Land entries they received – and here they are (click to enlarge):

From Brave Owl, this is one forest we wouldn’t want to walk through at night.
From Cuddly Ring, a house of horrors with three levels of thrills.
From Dangerous Tooth, a classic haunted mansion.
From Fast Lizard, an amazing paranormal panorama.
From Fearless Lizard, a floating fear factory.
From Friendly Raptor, these are two great tastes that taste terrifying together.
From Invisible Octopus, this is one great pumpkin.
From Popular Fish, it’s a ghost ship adrift on a sickly sea.
From Prickly Fish, we’re just going to assume this gargantuan skeleton creature is reaching out for a big hug.
From Red Singer, there’s a surprise around every turn in this haunted house.

Captain Crawfish sure enjoys incorporating alliteration in his captions. 😉 You can vote for your favorite over on the poll in the sidebar of the Creators’ Blog. Right now, Brave Owl’s intricate tree and Fast Lizard’s grass monster are in the lead. Here are the results thus far:

  • Brave Owl (24%)
  • Cuddly Ring (4%)
  • Dangerous Tooth (5%)
  • Fast Lizard (24%)
  • Fearless Lizard (10%)
  • Friendly Raptor (3%)
  • Invisible Octopus (3%)
  • Popular Fish (3%)
  • Prickly Fish (10%)
  • Red Singer (11%)

Also, congratulations to Silver Lightning for being the readers’ choice for best “Obstacle Course” Land!

From Silver Lightning (another repeat Land challenge champ), this multi-screen course is truly a-maze-ing!
From Silver Lightning (another repeat Land challenge champ), this multi-screen course is truly a-maze-ing!

Poptropica Land is currently no longer available to non-members, but the Creators have stated that, with the help of our feedback and Land creations, they’re preparing for an official launch early next year – which may even be available to everyone (we’ll have to see)! 😀

—–

As mentioned earlier, Shrink Ray Island will soon be re-released as a SUI (sound-updated island), with bigger screen, sounds, and all the gimmicks of the newer islands! According to an official tweet, this update is coming in November – sometime this month! The official Tour page has even been given a makeover, now with a desktop wallpaper and printable poster (see below):

Oh look, it’s the protagonist CJ, from whom my Poptropican got that awesome striped hoodie! :mrgreen: And… I know we’re miniature, but that’s a creepily big cat. 😮

Also, Members can now claim two new free Store costumes: the Milk Box and Bottle Cap!

(Maybe you recognize them from a sneak peek related to one of the “Inside Poptropica” videos. Speaking of videos, they’ve also re-uploaded the Shrink Ray Island trailer, but it is basically the same as the previous except for the “now with sound” emphasis and new soundtrack composed by Jeff Heim.)

As a classic island, Shrink Ray will come as a one-part story, rather than episodic (multi-part) – and according to Poptropica, more one-part islands will be released for both online & mobile starting January 2015. However, whether this means new one-part islands or just old ones re-hashed into SUIs remains to be seen. Hopefully it’s the former. 😛

—–

Over on Poptropica’s Twitter, two new sneak peeks called PopStorm (Poptropica brainstorm) have surfaced – perhaps a continuation of the Hair Potion idea? I still think it’d make a cool gold card item or something, and these sketches look goofily grand. 😀

—

Last but not least, plans for an Android app are looking steadier! According to this tweet, it will be ready in just 5 more weeks, which at this point means it’ll be available in the first week or so of December.

That’s all for now – be sure to catch up on the posts below for all the latest Poptropica news and more! And here’s the popping bad pun for this post: Pop on like popcorn, Poptropicans. 😀

Ghost Story Island, Great Pumpkin Island, Store, Vampire's Curse Island

The 31st is finally here!

elmopwns

Hey, everyone. It’s RD here, and I’d like to start this post by thanking everyone that wished me well :D. I’m getting a lot better. Today’s post is obviously dated on the 31st, and therefore…

Halloween!

That’s right, the long tradition of the Celtic Holiday Sahmain spread down throughout European history until it reached modern day traditions. It’s a shortened version of “All Hallows Eve”; but I’m sure you’re all out of history class by now, so onto Poptropica’s Halloween scares!

The creators gave us a reminder post on how we could choose to celebrate a few Halloween thrills. You can catch three adventures that are put on Poptropica. There are many more costume cards you can also purchase for this. The creators said that they were “going as zombies this year.”

Edit (slantedfish): Check out the Creators’ avatars on their blog! A purple background and green skin – great zombie costumes, guys. I did catch Hades and Master Mime with just their normal ones instead, though. :c Even Thirsty Whale, who never posts anymore, managed to join in.

        

(And now for the Poptropica Halloween festivities…)

First up we’re all familiar with the first Halloween quest: Great Pumpkin Island. It’s, as you all know, based off of the beloved Peanuts comic strip where Linus awaits the arrival of the Great Pumpkin, but does so hopelessly every year. Poor Linus 😦

Inside this adventure, you’ll be taken through the world of Peanuts and as we also all know…Snoopy! So head on down to Great Pumpkin Island for a few classic old games with the Peanuts gang. Click here if you need a guide.

Who could forget Ghost Story Island? The thrills and chills of an old New England haunting surely will kindle the spooky thoughts that arises in the player’s daring mind. Will you be brave enough to uncover the mystery of this island and set the wandering apparitions free? Enter if you dare! Click here if you need a guide.

Ghost Story Island

Want to donate blood…to vampires? You got it, just make sure to bring some garlic along with you in case they try to take too much xD. Vampire’s Curse Island is based on the protagonist’s efforts to bravely save a villager captured by the elusive count! And remember to not get hexed by its curse. Click here if you need a guide.

Vampire's Curse Island

Finally, who could forget the very first Halloween adventure that we all embarked upon? Enter an old and abandoned house to find out what spooky atmospheres you must uncover to discover clues. The Haunted House is a destination for a description of such. Eventually everything leads up to an untimely discovery somewhere near the mansion. That is all, since I know everyone despises a spoiler alert.

Although it is technically not an island like the rest, Haunted House remains the first Halloween adventure back in time when Poptropica was still expanding and growing to the virtual realm it inhabits today! Click here if you need a guide.

Poptropica sure has grown over the years, and will continue to. All these islands are completely free, even the Haunted House as it became so some time ago. Members may choose to venture out on an extra quest for some of these islands if they want an extra challenge and extension to the ghostly plot. Have fun at these islands!

Lastly, the creators gave us a reminder we can all purchase a variety of Halloween costumes and abilities in the store. Maybe you want to have a ghost follower as they did come out with many years ago. Or maybe you just wish to see all your neighboring friends turn to bones. Perhaps you have a craving to play an island where you’re chased by the living dead through some abandoned street corner. They got it all :D.

And as the creators put in the final words for this spooky night “Try not to eat too much candy.” No really, try not to xD…unless you’re not afraid of heartburn or strange dreams in which you’re being chased by the Hershey’s Bar you just ate. Been there, done that. Lastly, don’t forget to…

have an amazing Halloween!

Just to get into the spirit, I thought you might all like to enjoy something that Charles Schultz, the author of Peanuts, sketched about the Great Pumpkin:

Store

A stroll down Halloweens past!

elmopwns

Hey guys, it’s Rainbow Dash here, and I’m sorry I haven’t gotten a chance to post very often lately. I am feeling much better, thanks to those of you who emailed me and such :). Lately I’ve been going in and out of places, and busy with some high school stuff if I get a chance to go to school for prolonged stretches of time; but enough about me.

The creators gave us a short and sweet reminder that Halloween’s getting pretty close, and I’m sure they’ve given us much already. It’s scare season, again! What better way to celebrate Halloween than by visiting the first Halloween based adventure that the creators unveiled… Haunted House!

This short quest will lead you through many puzzles and item hunts in order to solve the mystery of the old and worn down house. Trust me, there’s a really cool ending to it to match the spirit of Halloween.

Pick up Haunted House at the Poptropica Store today! You can enjoy old times again, or try it out for the first time if you haven’t played it before. So if you’re brave enough, go in and find out the truth. I promise you won’t be disappointed. If you need help, the Island Help page lists a guide, video, and info page for the Haunted House.

I know I’m certainly in the mood for Halloween :D. So what gets you in the mood for the season? I remember getting about a truckload of candy…then losing it to my pets a day later…did you know that the holiday was originally Hallow’s Eve? Western traditions were inspired by American and Medieval folklore such as Irvington’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a book I’m currently reading. I guess you could say my favorite part about it would have to be “teenage witches” xD. Share your thoughts below.

RD out, have a nice day.