Hey, Poptropicans! It’s me, Invisible Ring! I know a lot of you have talked about the updates on home island, but do you know the history behind those updates? 

As a highly active veteran Poptropica player since fall 2014, I know for a fact that Home island did not start out as a center to return to your game or to swing by the store or the arcade. No, it actually started out as a fetch quest. Snagglemast is known as a fetch quest too, but the play area in that island strikes me as something much like that of the original home island...

Back in 2014, you were to visit a random guy that needed you to find 8 broken medallion pieces and put them together into 1 medallion. Once you did that, you got to keep the medallion and then get on your way to a new island. 

Later on, at the start of 2016, Home island completely changed. The space to search for the broken medallion disappeared, and a new quest emerged. Veterans, you know what I’m talking about here, don’t you?... That’s right, Monkey Wrench Island!

This island followed right after Pelican Rock, and it was made especially for new players. Was I a new player? Nope. But was the island good? ...I don’t know about everyone else’s opinion, but it was one of my favorite islands EVER! The adventure was so awesome that I replayed it 7 or 8 times. It never got old! I probably would have kept replaying it if the Monkey Wrench Island wasn’t taken down. 

So why did Monkey Wrench island go away? Let’s review the facts, shall we? During those 2 years Monkey Wrench was around, new features were added to the Home island. A wheel of loot was added and so was a movie theater. (I loved the movies but they didn’t last, so I compiled a playlist of those movies on my Youtube channel. But on with the story…) 

The Monkey Wrench quest wasn’t removed until the actual island changed again in 2018. The Pop store turned into what looked like a button factory, and a pet barn and arcade rocket came out. Then in 2019, the ultimate treehouse home island came out. You can still find the treehouse home island on the Poptropica app if you don’t know what I am talking about here. Then in 2020, the year of flash conversion, home island came out like this. In retrospect, it wouldn’t have been useful to set up a fancy home island right before Flash gave out.

My memory is not perfect, so if any of that history overview was wrong, then my bad. But my point is that Monkeywrench was connected to Home island and since Home island was changed so many times to let in new features such as pets and clubhouses and holiday and seasonal themes… Monkey Wrench’s connections must have gotten cut off. How could Amelia land her airplane on Home island if Home Island won’t stay still and the landing pad keeps changing? I don’t think she can. Nothing to do but circle the skies with Balloon Boy, and watch the snagglemast island from the sidelines...

But wait! What about the home island we have right now, in the new age of haxe? This one is definitely not like the home islands of the past. The music… the art… the atmosphere… this one’s a masterpiece! It really screams Poptropica! Could this be the official home island for Poptropica to stay? I sure think so. Otherwise, the creators wouldn’t have put so much skill into it. This home island is like none I have ever seen before. 

Ok!... Now we know all about the home island. But what about Monkey Wrench? Don’t worry. I’m getting to that. ...After reading countless blog comments in the past year and finding Monkey Wrench posts on the PHB, I found out just how many poptropicans wanted Monkey Wrench Island back as much as I did. I sent an email about that to the Pop Creators, and I got an answer back from them.

Guess what, guys? Monkey Wrench is planned to return! No, we don’t know when it will be back, but for all of you veterans who lost hope long ago, take heart. It’s not gone for good! And for all of you who never played Monkey Wrench Island before… well, now you have another island to look forward to!

So there you have it. Now we all know about the history of Home Island and the Mystery of Monkey Wrench! ...Hey, I like those alliterations! But I have one more hypothesis mixed in with all of these facts. If this newest and best home island really is set in stone, then the monkey wrench island will return there. To think, that after everything these 2 islands have been through in the years prior to flash conversion, they are laying new foundations and reuniting at last! At least, that’s what I think. It makes sense to me. How about you? 

Hope this guest post satisfies you all as much as it has satisfied me. Thanks for reading! 

This post is courtesy of Slanted Fish from the Poptropica Help Blog! She interviewed the Poptropica Creators to give a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process!

Where do you get your ideas from?

We get a lot of ideas when we’re together talking about our favorite things. That inspires a lot of creative fun ideas. Pets came from the idea that almost everyone on the Poptropica Creators team as pets and the types of pets varies from dogs to cats to rabbits and more.

We also get a lot of ideas from players. Poptropica players are always sharing super cool stuff that they want to see in the game. We get awesome fan mail and see people’s ideas on social media too.

What does the process of making something on Poptropica look like from start to finish, whether it’s an item, island, or character?

We’ll use the new store we’re working on as an example! First, everyone on the team does research. We go through player feedback on what people have and haven’t liked about the Poptropica store over the years. We also look at other stores, including stores IRL. Then we start to concept what we want the store to be like. We have to come up with designs that will be easy to use both on your computer and on mobile.

After the sketches are done some of the artists will start to design the actual scene with color and place items so we get an idea of how big it needs to be. Once everyone feels like it has what it needs it goes to the developers.

The developers are the ones who bring the whole thing to life. They code the entire experience and that’s the first time any of the Poptropica Creators can actually play what they’ve designed! We just did our first play-through of the new store and were psyched with how it’s come along.

Everything we make requires the whole team and takes a lot of time. It’s totally worth it though!

Can you share some snapshots of what you’re working on?

Here is some more sneak peeks at the new fairy tale island!

What kind of stories do you hope to tell?

We love unique stories with a fun twist. Elements of surprise are always super fun too. When we’re brainstorming new ideas or choosing winners for the Dream Island Contest, we’re looking for things that we think we would love to read as a book. If it would make a good book, then it would make a great island!

How do you gather player feedback and how does it influence the game?

Players share their feedback in a lot of different places, from actual mail to videos online. There is always a lot of feedback and it ranges from super fun ideas to questions about why we’ve made changes to Poptropica. When we get a lot of the same feedback from different players it can definitely influence what we do. For example, there have been a lot of requests for more ways to customize your character now that New You is gone. We’re already incorporating that into the new features we’re working on. 

What advice do you have for young creatives who want to work on a game like Poptropica one day?

If you’re passionate about making games start learning no matter what age you are. One of the newest developers on the Poptropica Creators team started learning how to code when they were 12 and that was before there were so many amazing online courses! Always be open to learning new things and be willing to put in the hard work and dedication to become really good at it. Sometimes starting something new can feel hard but with practice, anyone can become great!
 

Hi Poptropicans! Sorry, it's been a little quiet around here. We had to dust some things up with the blog and now we're baaaaackkk!

There's a lot of new stuff on the horizon including the new store, the new Fairy Tale island, and SO MUCH MORE. We're also got a new guest post with Slanted Fish interviewing the creators, new guest writers, and a whole lot more posting on the blog and YouTube! Also, if you created a Spongebob video let us know with a link to your video on our submissions page!

So without further ado, the latest shop updates in April!

First up is the clubhouse shop with a sweet new gamer desk, a cat planter, and more! Think you've got a clubhouse worth sharing? Let us know in the comments below!

There's also a bunch of new stuff for your favorite little friends! Keep your pet looking their best with the latest items!

Be sure to check out the store for new stuff for your character too!!!

Happy Friday Poptropicans! 

We've got some more behind-the-scenes illustrations for the new Fairy Tale Island! Let us know what you think in the comments! 👇

What's up Poptropicans?! 

 

Happy International Women's Day Poptropicans! 

March 8 marks the annual day to globally celebrate all the achievements of women across the world, like all of the contributions women have made to social, economic, cultural, and political advancements.

This Women's Day we want to highlight one woman in particular: Amelia Earhart! 

Amelia is the first person you meet when you come to Poptropica and for good reason! 

In 1932, Amelia Earhart was the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. President Herbert Hoover presented her with a gold medal from the National Geographic Society! Earhart felt the flight proved that men and women were equal in “jobs requiring intelligence, coordination, speed, coolness, and willpower.”

In 1935, she became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific from Honolulu to Oakland, California!

Amelia Earhart set a lot of records during her time and was a huge inspiration to boys and girls worldwide. 

We have Amelia be the first person everyone meets in Poptropica because she was a true adventurer! She was smart, capable, brave, and willing to try things no one had ever done before. 

Who are other women you think we should celebrate and include in Poptropica? Let us know in the comments below! 

March Member Gifts are HEREEEEE! If you're a member anytime during the month of March (even just the last day) you'll get these awesome FREE & EXCLUSIVE gifts! 

This month includes 3 different plush huggables, a handheld game, and a clear backpack!

What do you want to see as a Member Gift in the future? Let us know in the comments below!