Tag: poptropica

PHB Specials

PHB Sunday Special: Poptropica Doodle!

Slanted Fish

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.

For more Poptropica videos, please check out the PHB’s YouTube channel, the PHV (Poptropica Help Videos)! The user is MyPoptropicaHelp.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the video! 🙂

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Despicable Me 2 and Non-Stop Summer Games!

Fuzzy-B

Get your fart guns ready, because there are two new advertisement buildings on Poptropica!

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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!

DM2a

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!

DM2c

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!)

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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.

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Which mini-game is your favorite to play? I personally enjoyed the Bop-a-Minion.

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The (Epically Awesome) Poptropica Island Creator Kit

Icy Comet

(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.

According to Captain Crawfish’s post,

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!

~IC

Pop 5

5 reasons Poptropica is the best virtual world for kids

Slanted Fish

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.

DubitHeader

Anyway, onto the good part! Here were 5 reasons James cited as what makes Poptropica a better kids’ virtual world than any other game:

  1. We are not building a game. Let’s create a collection of narrative driven quests.

  2. Ask for age and gender. If they want to register, ask them after they have played around for a while.

  3. 2D is faster, cheaper… and none of us know 3D.

  4. We will use pre-scripted / random chat.

  5. 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.

Want to know what we at the PHB think about Poptropica? Check out our Poptropica: Game Review article in the Cool Stuff section!

Now the question is, why do YOU think Poptropica is awesome? Let us know in the comments! 😀

Uncategorized

Mother knows best

elmopwns

Every once in awhile I keep getting this little feeling in the back of my head like I forgot something…yeah, well maybe that sort of feeling was right and should’ve reminded me more than ever once in awhile despite whatever troubles I still have to be concerned about xD. Ladies, gentleman, err, and whatever you are in the crowd over there since I can’t tell, thank you for putting up with me for the last period of time! I had some personal adventures to deal with…ahem, digging deep into the boughs of the earth to discover a rare mineral that would one day secretly save humanity…no xD.

What day is today? If you’re past the International Date Line, maybe this is a bit late for you…I’m talking to you, Australia! Just kidding. It’s Mother’s Day! Say thanks to your parent or guardian or your ma! And what better way than sending her a big hug rather than another “Just five more minutes before I get up, mom.” Poptropica decided to kindly remind us with a few mothers from some old and new islands:

Some mom this was! As the creators stated, the queen didn’t even know of her child’s missing state.

Hey, my son too is reliving Jaws on a deserted island whilst I wait around with my purse doing nothing! 😀 What a great mother.

It seems to me that I’m seeing a trend her; this mom never knew her child was the size of a hair or a pea. “Hey look, I just stepped on an ant…wait a minute…”

Katya’s mom sure had some common sense. But according to the story, did the person ever listen? Nopa. Obey your parents, kids. You won’t earn 200k a year flipping burgers as a runaway xD.

Who forgot about Greg and his silly adventures? I read in a Chinese translation by an editor that claimed even the boy in the series was more clever and funnier than his parents. Unfortunately, his adventures were often ruined by his mom. At least that was the funny part.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Oh, mom, if you’re reading this: sorry I didn’t get those chocolates the day before xD.