Hey guys, BT here. Now, the Creators actually posted TWO pieces of big news over the short span of two days! The first piece reveals the next classic island to get an update with sound and bigger screen… Time Tangled!
Yes, it seems that Poptropica’s 3rd island will be next to get this update.
And there’s a bigger piece of news that has spawned…
Well, the Creators finally announced it with everything but the Poptropica Store Members Only Gold Cards and the exact date of its arrival. Here’s the video trailer for the island:
(Is that a reference to the weird YouTube viral video “Cows & Cows & Cows” I see in the trailer?)
So I was right when I said that the Creators are parodying themselves (yes!). Anyway, the info page has some interesting info including the island’s approximate release time…
Brave Tomato: Looks like someone missed their morning coffee…
Coming mid-December!
Poptropica is under new management, and it’s falling apart at the seams! The newest Island isn’t finished, the staff is nowhere to be found, and you can’t take two steps without running into a game-breaking bug. Get ready to go behind the scenes for your most important adventure yet — because this time, you’ve got to save Poptropica itself!
An island about making an island? ISLAND-CEPTION! Time to break the fourth wall, peeps, and save our game! (Although I wonder if this is just an excuse to get away with ACTUAL bugs and glitches that can occur…)
Speaking of saving our game, here’s an odd bonus quest that… may bring in a new villain! O.O
Brave Tomato: Who’s that? And why did I think he was a girl when I first saw the pic?
Bonus Quest
A rogue programmer has conquered a rival website and now rules it like a king. You must venture outside the safety of Poptropica to bring him back — if you can last long enough to find him!
Who’s that? Is the rival website MegaFightingBots.com, that battling robots game showed in the island trailer? So many questions, yet so little answers…
By the way, the Creators just made that website real, although coming soon. This is what you’d see on the website:
It’s tiiiime for another PHB special! You may have seen my Poptropican in the header or sidebar, but have you seen her doodled? ‘Cause I’ve got a speed drawing video of exactly that right here…
I started out with a rough sketch, traced it in black, and under that layer I colored it in – all that took about 50 minutes, but it’s been condensed into less than 3 for the video. Digital artwork was done by me on Sketchbook Express using a pen tablet. Also, if you’re interested, the PHB has a guide called How to Draw a Poptropican under the Cool Stuff tab.
Get your fart guns ready, because there are two new advertisement buildings on Poptropica!
First off, there is a new ad on Main Streets for Despicable Me 2, in theaters July 3rd.
Inside the building there are three different games you can play. The first of which is Bee-Do: The Emergency Minion response game. This game is very similar to the old game Donkey Kong. You have to climb up through Gru’s lab using the arrow keys and put out the fire with a fire extinguisher. Make sure to dodge the falling cups that come at you! Pick up cupcakes, unicorns, and bananas for bonus points. Your prize is your very own Minion Costume!
The next game is a training mission from Lucy, an agent of AVL. This game is like a scavenger hunt. You have to find four items that have been scattered throughout the mall. They are a lipstick taser, a blue car, a freeze ray, and an AVL badge. You are provided with a radar which shows you where all of the items are located so it isn’t too difficult. Once all four are found you win the Lipstick Taser Power which lets you give other Poptropicans a little shock and the Fart Gun Power which lets you knock over other Poptropicans with that gnarly stink.
The last game is Bop-a-Minion. It is very similar to Wac-a-Mole. You have to hit the minions as they pop up. Hitting minions holding coins will earn you in-game money towards unlocking new minions to bop. Minions holding a 200 sign are worth 200 bonus points. Make sure not to hit minions holding bombs because that will mean game over for you. Your prize for this game is the Freeze Ray Power which lets you freeze other Poptropicans in blocks of ice!
Next is a new building for Disney XD’s Non-Stop Summer. Once you enter the building on Steamworks Island you can hop on a bike and make your way to the adventure. Once you have won all of the games, you get a special bonus prize, but that will have to wait until July 8th when the last game is released. (Note: You may find this ad in the transition area between places. Just click to go to the Disney XD ad!)
I see, it’s clever because the bike tires make an infinity sign.
The first stop on this summer road trip is at the Kickin’ It: Race the Black Dragons game. This game is a plain old race to the finish. Beat the Red Dragon bike to the finish by hitting green speed boosts and dodging puddles and pot holes. If you win you earn the Kickin’ It High Kick Power!
Next up on our road trip is the Crash and Bernstein Burp Along game. Hit the arrow keys in the correct order to copy Bernstein’s burp pattern. Once you match him burp for burp six times you win the Crash Follower.
The last stop on our road trip as at the Lab Rats: Virus Eddie game. This is a matching game, so you have to find and match both of pictures of each character. Once you have matched all four pairs you win the Adam’s Laser Vision Power which lets you shoot optic blasts where ever you point your mouse.
Which mini-game is your favorite to play? I personally enjoyed the Bop-a-Minion.
(Before I begin this post, I just want to say sorry for not posting in ages! I know that my last two posts have started this way, but, like I’ve said before, life’s been kind of crazy and hectic for me recently. Nothing bad has happened, I’ve just been super busy. Hopefully, now that it’s summer, I’ll have time to post more!)
Creating an island on Poptropica must be extremely complicated. I know that you’ve probably never had that thought cross your mind before, and, honestly, before today I never thought about it either. But take a moment to sit down, calm your brain, and just think about all of the things that the Creators have to do to design an island. They have to come up with a story line, bad guys, good guys, they have to design the backgrounds, buildings, all of the items, all of the clothing, they have to do all of the drawing, they have to do all of the coding, and they have to do about a million things more to make sure that Poptropica is the wonderful place that it is.
So, how do the Creators do all of that and what steps do they take to do it?
On August 1st, in the form of a book, the Creators are going to reveal all of their secrets. …Well, maybe not all of them, but that’s beside the point. Yesterday, the Creators announced a new book that will come out in a couple of months. The book is called the Poptropica Island Creator Kit.
The Poptropica Island Creator Kit is an activity book that will walk you through all the same steps we take when we make a new Island. You’ll come up with a storyline, create characters, and design puzzles. There are some surprises in store, too.
The book is available for pre-order on Amazon.com. Click here to go see the page.
Right now, the book is priced at $7.19. And, like I said before, the book comes out on August 1st.
So, what do you think of the book? Do you think you’ll be getting it? Hopefully we’ll find out more about it soon!
While surfing through the waves of the web, I came across an article called “Five things learned from five years of Poptropica“, which you can click to read if you’re interested. It’s written by Director D – I mean James Lema, the director of product development at Poptropica.
Anyway, onto the good part! Here were 5 reasons James cited as what makes Poptropica a better kids’ virtual world than any other game:
We are not building a game. Let’s create a collection of narrative driven quests.
Ask for age and gender. If they want to register, ask them after they have played around for a while.
2D is faster, cheaper… and none of us know 3D.
We will use pre-scripted / random chat.
We are NOT Facebook for kids.
Interestingly, Poptropica started out with a staff of just two artists, one of them being Lema, and Poptropicans spend an average of 30 minutes per session on the site! If you’d like to read more, check out Lema’s Poptropica article on Dubit, which explains the 5 things more in-depth.
(Before I begin this post, I just want to say sorry for not posting in ages! I know that my last two posts have started this way, but, like I’ve said before, life’s been kind of crazy and hectic for me recently. Nothing bad has happened, I’ve just been super busy. Hopefully, now that it’s summer, I’ll have time to post more!)
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