Tips, tricks, and cheats for Poptropica - Poptrickia

Careful What you Wish For

7/5/2015

The long-delayed final episode of Arabian Nights Island, "Careful What You Wish For," has released for Poptropica Members! This completes the first island so far to be suggested by a player in the Create Your Own Dream Island contest. Sorry about the late response; I've been on vacation and very caught up in other stuff. But now I have time and the full written, illustrated and video walkthroughs will be up on the Arabian Nights page in a couple of days.

UPDATE: The full written guide is complete! Click here to see it. And here's the video guide below:

And just another quick bit of news before I let you play the new episode... there are new Common Room chatting options! Those were getting boring before because they haven't been updated in years, but this should finally spice up multiplayer rooms for a while!

Realms Sharing and Membership Changes

6/26/2015

First of all, sorry for the lack of posts over the last 2 weeks; I've been on vacation and only just got Internet access. Okay, some much-awaited exciting news is finally here: Realms sharing! Members can now make any of their realms public, which means that anyone can see or rate them (by pressing the "like" button). The Creators apparently have to approve each realm before it's published, though. In addition, every public realm has a unique code that you can share directly with a friend, like Multiverse rooms. Here's the official guide:

In other news, beating an Island now gives you 150 credits instead of the previous 50! (Of course, longtime players know that it used to be 100). It's not clear why they did this; perhaps they will be adding more items to the Store which can be bought by non-members. But there is another, more worrying possibility...

Image credit Poptropica Help Blog

Nabooti Island just recently became closed to non-Members! This is the first time a previously free island later became Members-only (well, except Poptropolis Games, Mythology and Shrink Ray, but they were being upgraded to have sound and the bigger screen size). It's a worrying sign that Poptropica is going to such lengths to expand to TV, comics and mobile while neglecting the original game. Not only that, but recent island releases have been delayed significantly, or been of lower quality (Mystery of the Map, and the third episode of Arabian Nights is still not in sight). Oh well; the message being sent clearly here is that Poptropica is for paying players, and you know what? It's a high-quality game that most people wouldn't mind paying for. Anyway, enough ranting. Enjoy the summer and play Poptropica!

Poptropica Acquisition, Hide & Seek Winner, and more

6/11/2015

The results for the latest Poptropica Hide & Seek are in! Congratulations to Gentle Scorpion for winning the last Poptropica Hide & Seek competition! In case you're new to the party, every two weeks I post a screenshot of something on Poptropica, and anyone can guess what it is. Whoever answers in the most detail wins! This time, Gentle Scorpion guessed this image:

If you want to know the answer, or participate in the new challenge, head on over to the official page.

Some exciting news... Poptropica (the company) has been bought by Sandbox Partners! It's a company based in the U.K. Previously, Poptropica was owned by Pearson (you know, the ones who write all your textbooks). The amount it was bought for hasn't been revealed. It seems like this is for the best, as Jeff Kinney and the CEO of Sandbox Bhav Singh were optimistic in their interview. The important phrase was "helping to bring the brands to new markets." So Poptropica could be expanding in the near future. Already there is speculation that it will become a TV show. Seems more likely now, right?

And finally, Mystery of the Map Island has just today been released to all players. Check out the walkthrough if you're stuck, and have fun!

MOTM Review, Poptropica Hall of Fame, and more

5/31/2015

It's been a little more than a week since Mystery of the Map Island released to Members on Thursday. It was also the first island in a long time to have a demo for non-Members. The demo is actually of a nice length — you can get as far as rescuing Octavian — so what did you guys all think about the island? Something about it (and OK, the long weekend too) made me want to write a short review. So, here it is!

Quality

The first thing I noticed was the theme music (click here to listen or download). It fades into the background at first, but eventually it grows on you and it's an extremely fitting piece for the "island mystery" sort of theme. (Of course, technically all the islands are "island mysteries" but this Mystery of the Map is even more so — more on that later).

Next striking feature: the map. The map is a magical device that not only shows the current state of the island, but allows you to travel anywhere on it with a single click. The attention to detail and quality is pretty stunning. Objects on the map are constantly moving, making it seem even more realistic.

Some more general quality notes: the animations were fairly good, and there were few bugs. No complaints there.

Story

Frankly, the story didn't make very much sense. Sure, if you've read the graphic novel you can follow along, but its mediocre on its own at best. And not even an island that's based on another story should be like that; look at Nabooti, Big Nate, and Red Dragon. Main complaints:

Several important plot points seem to happen automatically, and the player feels sort of cheated. For example, the Viking on the beach is guarding the gunpowder at first, but then suddenly goes to sleep later.
The whole gunpowder scheme didn't make sense either. Why would you needlessly demolish a mountain, create a landslide, and change the course of a river, just to get into the fortress? Aren't we as Poptropicans cleverer than that? The island would have been so much more fun if the way to get in was more creative, e.g. distract the guard with the gunpowder and then sneak in through the door. Well, I'm no good at designing an island, but you get my drift.
Side note: causing a rockslide is dangerous at best (more likely suicidal) and changing the course of a river will definitely destroy the ecosystem that is living there. Not trying to ruin your fun, but I wonder if they should include this in a children's game.
You're never given a good motive to find and rescue Oliver, Jorge and Mya. In fact, those characters hardly matter at all to the story, whereas they're supposed to be the stars of the show. Neither did they mention anything about the map. I was honestly sympathizing with Octavian the whole way, since he seemed the most human, realistic character.

Still, some parts were nice and interesting, like catching a fish in a goblet, escaping in an oversized costume, and the goblet trials. Depends on your perspective (have you read the comics yet) and your ability to suspend disbelief. All in all, I would give this island a 2.5 out of 5. It's severely lacking, but not quite abysmal.

In other, slightly more exciting news... The Creators have announced something new, the Poptropica Hall of Fame. Every week, people who have earned medallions are entered into a raffle (the more medallions you have earned, the more raffle entries to your name). Every Friday, some winners are chosen and their avatars will be put into one of 6 islands. So you basically become an NPC in an island quest for that week, as I understand it. Sweet! Start replaying islands and dressing up in your most unique costumes. As always, check out Poptrickia's walkthroughs for straightforward help on Islands.

Mystery of the Map Island is here!

5/22/2015

Mystery of the Map Island has just released for Poptropica Members! It's the latest, non-episodic island that is based on the graphic novel of the same name (you can read it here). Here's the official description:

A lost Viking settlement… an island unstuck in time… a magical map with power beyond understanding… and a devious plot that could unravel the very fabric of Poptropica! Join Mya, Oliver, and Jorge for a thrilling new adventure that lifts the veil from the greatest secret of all: the origin of Poptropica!

Poptrickia's guide has now been completed! Click here to see it. However, the video walkthrough might be delayed a little, since I have lost the computer that I use for recording (I know, shame on me). As soon as I find it (or set up my recording software again), I will make the guide. In the meanwhile, here's the official guide:

Multiplayer on the App and Timmy Failure Island!

5/6/2015

One of the most long-awaited features of the Poptropica App (well, after being able to use your desktop account) is here! Starting with the recent update, there is now a Multiplayer Arcade on the app. If you go all the way to the right of the home scene, past the bridge and shop, you'll see the new building.

Inside, you can meet players who are in at the same time. You can't really chat with them yet; the most you can do is find out their name. And don't forget emoticons! You've got the full suite of them, pictured to the right, which you can access by pressing the emoticon button underneath the Menu.

Then, there are a few arcade games to play, scattered about the area. Sky Dive and Star Link (my favorite!) are ready to play, with Balloons coming up. There are little variations from the desktop version, except that you can't chat, and you play with a random opponent each time. Maybe that's a good thing?

Click here for the Creators' Blog post on it, which has some more details.

Moving on to sneak peeks... recently we got a little bit more behind-the-scenes than usual, with actual photos of the Creators' offices via Twitter! Here they are, to the right. What an astounding collection of Poptropica swag! Sadly, I didn't find any hidden sneak peeks, but comment if you do.

They also expressed an interest in decorating offices to look like Poptropica scenes.The perfect place to work! I call the Astro-Knights cubicle.

In other news... we've been awaiting an island based on Timmy Failure for a while now. It was hinted at, confirmed by Thinknoodles, then denounced as a rumor. But now it seems like it may come true! Check out some of these Daily Pop sneak peeks:

@liopingu “We don't need no stinking badges." We just do Poptropica. Just took photos of office. Convinced? pic.twitter.com/vmsfZ1Ur7v
— Poptropica Worldwide (@Poptropica) April 22, 2015

They're in a very distinctive art style, not like normal Poptropica, suggesting it is going to be a sponsored island, and have something to do with animals at a zoo. The crate on the giraffe's head seems to say "Boom Boom Shoewheels," which are something from the Timmy Failure universe. On the other hand, the character designs seem to be normal Poptropica style, so I'm not sure what to think. Any insight?

M.O.T.M. Island, Graphics Quality, and Sneak Peeks

3/31/2015

UPDATE: Mystery of the Map Island has been confirmed today by the Creators!

Earlier this month I discussed the possibility of there being a Poptropica Island based on Mystery of the Map; and now these recent sneak peeks definitely confirm that suspicion. Behold, the concept art for the upcoming island (after the last episode of Arabian Nights of course).

Looks like it really captures the essence of the comic really well (which you can read to completion on the sneak peek page). In other news, there's a new "Graphics Quality" setting in the settings menu. By default it's set somewhere in the middle, but to be honest, even though it's a sliding scale, it doesn't seem to offer much of a variety of options. It only lets you choose between a really low resolution and the one you're used to.

I had a dig through the code (click to see it), and it seems that there are really only three quality modes, let's call them low, medium, and high, and low is only available on phones. Beyond that, the way the quality level maps to what is actually displayed is pretty arbitrary, and it doesn't make sense to me that the players decide what quality they want to see. We want to see the highest quality possible for our computer. Most games can automatically detect what this value is and automatically use that. I think Poptropica should try to do this.

Last but not least -- the Sneak Peeks browser has had some issues/bugs, but it is now restored to working order! Click here to see it now. In case you forgot, it lets you browse at a glance through all of Poptropica's official sneak peeks, from when they started, even a couple that haven't been released yet. Enjoy!

Reign of Omegon Out for Members!

3/26/2015

The third and last episode of PoptropiCon Island, "Reign of Omegon," just released today for Members. If you'll recall from the end of the last episode, Omegon crashed the costume contest and left the fate of the PoptropiCon unknown. Now here's the description for the last episode:

Omegon has taken over PoptropiCon, and he won't stop until he's transformed everyone into a hench-bot. Only you can acquire the powers of the Mighty Action Force to battle Omegon and free the convention goers. Join the resistance today!

I'm pretty sick right now, so my friend Larkwing will be filling in for me and working on the guide for the last episode. UPDATE: The island guide and video walkthrough are both complete! Click here to see them. You can also watch the video guide below:

And also, the Creators released something else fun today that non-Members can also play with; Bingo for PoptropiCon! Each tile has one character, and as you play each episode, you can mark which characters you saw. Interestingly, now we finally know the names of these characters! Here's the link for you to print out and play.

New Realms Features

3/15/2015

New features have been added to Poptropica Realms! I'll go over them all in this post, but the major points are "Nightmare Fairies", new props, costumes, weather effects, and new abilities for high-level players. The new mining abilities are the Ground Pound, Hammerang, and Super Jump .

Ground Pound is unlocked on level 5. It lets you clear lots of land in one hit.
Hammerang on level 10. It is basically a boomerang of destruction. You throw the hammer and it destroys anything in its path. Best used with Ground Pound to completely decimate an area.
Super Jump on level 15. When activated, you jump about twice as high as normal. Somewhat underwhelming, but it synergizes well with Hammerang. Basically, press 5 to let the hammer loose, then 6 to jump up and let it spin around in circles.

When you reach Level 15, you can get the prestigous Master Creator costume. To the right you can see me wearing it. There's another new costume, the Realms Builder costume, which you can get by typing in the promo code GOREALMS on the home screen when you log in.

And the coolest thing -- weather! Each Realm type has its own type of weather phenomenon, such as snow for the Snow Realm. The effect is really detailed. The snow, for example, doesn't just go through the entire scene, but it can go down through holes in the ground. I'm really quite impressed with it. You can see how it works below:

The Master Builder impersonating me.

And also -- new interactive props! They each do something when clicked on (if they're interactive), or when stepped near (like trapdoors and explosive platforms). Be careful though, props cost a lot -- 1 Poptanium for each square that they take up, rounded up. And they don't count towards leveling up.

But not all of the new changes are favorable. New are the Twilight Pixies, little blue fairies that will fly out of nowhere. When you touch you, they steal 10 Poptanium. Ouch! Thankfully they are pretty slow to move and to maneuver, and they're nocturnal. But they come in swarms. First one, then 2, then 4; the longer they go without hitting you, the larger their numbers get. And they can pass right through walls if they want to. I call them the Nightmare Fairies. If they get overwhelming, move to the area right or left, or click the Relams button in the lower left to escape.

The Pixies are another reason I liked the old Land better than Realms. I think the old one made it easier to create things, by not taxing your Poptanium for it. And now these fairies are making it even harder, even stressful. You just can't take your time to create something big anymore without a swarm swooping in.

Still, it feels great to just be walking around in an arid volcanic desert and suddenly find a tower with a chest full of 500 Poptanium in it :)

Last but not least. The winner of last week's Hide and Seek challenge is Barefoot Sky yet again! She's won more games than I can count right now. The image that she correctly guessed is below. This week's image was surprisingly trickier than I expected. There's another picture and another challenge waiting on the Hide & Seek page!

Mystery of the Map, Dressgate, and more

3/1/2015

Our favorite Poptropica comic has now grown into an epic graphic novel! The novel is being published page by page daily on the Creators' Blog and the official page. Here's the description:

A freak thunderstorm during a hot air balloon ride rips brother and sister Oliver and Mya and their companion, Jorge, from the "normal" world to the dangerous, unpredictable, and mystical world of Poptropica. The kids embark on a perilous journey to discover the truth about this mysterious place... and the shocking reason they were brought here.

Trust me, this is not just another marketing shenanigan. Mystery of the Map is going to explain Poptropica's backstory, the secret history of why Poptropica is the way it is. Sounds exciting to me! You can read it here.

So far, what has happened is that Oliver, Jorge and Mya are on a blimp ride, when the evil Octavian time-travels the entire blimp to the prehistoric times of Poptropica, where they meet several dodo birds. They have just discovered a Viking ship. We haven't gotten to the real action yet, since they only release one page a day. If you're like me and want to read ahead, then I made this page that lets you read all the pages at once, including the unreleased ones! Check it out.

But even more exciting -- judging from some recent sneak peeks, it seems very likely that Mystery of the Map will become an island (or, I'm guessing, an episodic island) on Poptropica. Check these out:

Looking closely, they give clues about where the comic book will go (and it is going to be made into a book). But the images look like they're in a very early stage. Who knows if it is on the Island track or if it's just an idea they're throwing around? Only time will tell.

UPDATE: The Creators explained on Twitter why and how the graphic novel is different from the original comic strip. It clears up quite a lot, I think:

Wow, you’re really paying attention! Great questions. It’s all about being on Poptropica, not how one arrives. Comic Creators used school experiment, graphic novel creators used balloon trip. Comics will go on and on, for laughs, no substantial story or targeted end. Graphic novel, 12-book series, beings with Mystery of the Map, will introduce many more characters & pursue a substantial & complex story completing with 12th book. Other stores could then evolve.

As you might remember from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, when things go viral, they can make their way into Poptropica once in a while. If you log in one of these days, you'll get a special, limited-time Dressgate costume.

In case you aren't familiar with it: this image of a black and blue dress makes it look gold and white to some people (myself included) because of the light coming from behind. Apparently people get really upset when they see colors differently from someone else, so it has gone viral. And now you can support your side through Poptropica!

Last but not least! The winner of the previous Poptropica Hide & Seek contest is Incredible Coyote! Here's the image that she successfully guessed. If you missed this challenge or want to know the correct answer, there's a new one up at the Hide & Seek page. Happy guessing!

Before I go (I'm bursting with news since I've been gone for a while, sorry about that) -- have you noticed something new on the bottom of many pages on Poptropica? It's a little seal that certifies it as kid-friendly. Like we needed any convincing ;). I wonder why the Creators went for that all of a sudden. I suppose we'll never know.

Later this week I'll be back with some cool sneak peeks for upcoming episodes -- like PoptropiCon 3. Stay tuned!