Behind the Scenes: Development Testing Rooms

Our first image is of a SUI (sound-updated island) Back Lot! The way you can tell is that not only does the screen appear to be bigger, but also, the menu icon is on the top right instead of the top left (as the classic islands have it formatted). We’ve also had hints way back when that other islands were about to get the same treatment, yet we haven’t heard anything since. Whether this island is being re-released sooner or later, it’s interesting to say the least.

Our next room is a multiplayer room with emote mechanics like the ones used in the mobile Poptropica app! In common rooms online, you’ve normally got 8 emotions (with four categories that picks one out of two emotions at random): proud, small cheer, cry, shock, frustrated, head-popping mad, laugh, and jump for joy).  The mobile version has only 6, however: three old (cry, head-popping mad, and laugh), and three new (faint, dance, and greet). How this would affect the future of emoting is up in the air, but only time can tell.

This next room has some interesting dialogue referring to bugs. It seems like the room itself is a debug room, and one of the buttons leads to a halting crash. This might be one of the line of defenses for glitches, and the crash feature could very well be used in case of emergency. Who knows?

This next one has multiple NPCs, one capable of changing size. This was most likely for creating larger Poptropican models, like the gods, and a few brute characters such as the large Viking in Mystery of the Map, as well as the tinier ones like Mr. Silva and what the Minimizer store card does. Strangely enough, to do this, you’d have to click on the mohawked Poptropican. That’s… interesting.  This one can also test multiple dialogue options.

This one I like to call “Tetris Land”. Not a lot is in here, besides the odd floor, space background, and three handsome Poptropicans. If you try to speak to the first of the three, he’ll say a line of dialogue, and the other two next to him say, “What he said.” The main purpose of the room, however, is to explore certain special abilities in the game.

This one here is a sound testing room, and even the Afro Guy here serves as a test! There can be a lot of different types of grounds a Poptropican can walk and jump on, as well as object sounds, music, and even the rarer voice acting snippet. Seeing that this is a sound-testing area, this probably ensures that there isn’t glitchiness, sound skipping, or other issues. These kinds of rooms, therefore, would be perfect for this kind of quality testing.

Lastly, check out this cool item card I found! Psychedelic flavor PopGum – if only they had released this. Looks like it might bring more happiness to the world.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this peek behind closed doors. Now I’m off to stalk what you guys will say in the comments section!

–TechWizard