Surprise, surprise! Here’s another post, even though I said I was shutting this blog down many months ago. I guess laziness did me good there.
In my last post, while I stated that I would be making an overall slow transition away from Club Penguin and moving on to other things, I’ve had a little change in heart after reading some of the things that they’ve posted on Facebook (and I don’t even have an account on there)…
It made me so glad to see them acknowledge the complaints and criticism that has made things so rough for Club Penguin fans this year. Props to Joe for being so sincere and honest about the whole situation. I can now say that I have a better understanding for why they couldn’t keep Club Penguin open.
Club Penguin’s decline in 2016 drove me away from the game a bit, and since then I’ve discovered other things I enjoy besides just Club Penguin. If anything, Club Penguin’s closure was just a reality check for me; I need to start moving on. I will continue to pop in every once in a while and see what’s new, but I know I’ll never be obsessed with it like I used to be again. Seeing this new, previously more unknown side of them though, I really want them to succeed with Club Penguin Island and pick themselves up from what has been a very rough year for them so far. So I’ve made another list of things that they must do in order to save Club Penguin Island from its current slump and secure a better future for the game (not including igloos and puffles). Who knows, maybe I’d become a somewhat active player again if they improved enough.
PC version
I know the team really wants to do this, but I’ll put it here anyway. While I know they went to mobile first because that’s where most of the kids are these days, there are also a lot of people- including kids who played CP classic- who play games on desktop computers. Lots of little kids don’t (and shouldn’t, honestly) have smart phones of their own to play the game on, so it’s important to cater to multiple audiences as was done with the original Club Penguin.
I’m also going to use this section to complain a bit about graphics, which is out of character for me. I’m accustomed to the polished, hand-drawn artwork of the rooms in classic Flash Club Penguin, and transitioning from that to… sub-par looking 3D environments made for a mobile app was a little off-putting. I just can’t get used to the pixely graphics suited for iPhones. It honestly looks hideous on a larger device, such as an iPad. If they do decide to make a PC version of CPI, I’d like to see much better graphics. I’m really not one to complain about graphics in games, but if they port it to PC as it currently is, it’s going to look awful.
Significantly less Disney content
Whenever I see news about an upcoming batch of costumes in the Disney shop for the next update, I groan. This isn’t something I did in the original Club Penguin. When Disney crossed over with the island for parties, you could tell (most of the time) that they were actually trying to deliver a quality experience despite the parties being sponsored. For example, when Disney bought Lucasfilm years ago, fans begged for Club Penguin to have a Star Wars Takeover, and sure enough there was one the following year, despite no big movies or anything coming out. I hadn’t seen any of the Star Wars movies back then, and even I thought that party was awesome. And even if you weren’t a fan of these parties, or at least some in particular, the island would go back to normal in a couple weeks, and you could continue playing classic Club Penguin to your heart’s content (let’s try to forget about the awful summer of 2016 here…).
Nowadays, with every update to Club Penguin Island, it’s… TANGLED! CARS 3! DESCENDANTS 2! DUCKTALES! They have to have some kind of Disney-related content for every update, and I’m not happy with that. I’m doubt there’s a ton of kids asking for these franchises in Club Penguin Island (at least, not enough to warrant a Star Wars Takeover or ONE Frozen Party). I’m pretty sure no one even asked for a Disney shop in the first place. Even the app icons have been filled with Disney characters and franchises for months. It almost makes the whole app feel like one big Disney advertisement, which is not what I want to see out of a game that’s meant to succeed Club Penguin. They say they want to recapture the Club Penguin magic for a new generation, but monthly Disney stuff is NOT Club Penguin magic. The EPF, puffles, Card-Jitsu, and Club Penguin’s original characters and stories are just some of the the things that made Club Penguin feel so special. I know the Disney shop’s not going anywhere anytime soon, but please Club Penguin, tone it down. Instead of working on pumping out Disney clothes every month, focus instead of making more unique blueprints, decals and fabrics that will allow players to express themselves beyond outside characters and franchises that should not be taking up precious developing time every month. I’m not expecting them to make catalogs a thing with new stuff every month again, but if they’re going to let players design their own stuff, then focus on making that a better and more worthwhile experience for the player.
Mini-games
I’m not talking about party games like Ink or Swim that get old extremely quickly. I’m talking actual games like from the original Club Penguin. There’s no reason they can’t do this; they ported several of them to the Club Penguin app and created some fantastic standalone apps like Sled Racer and Puffle Wild. As well as providing a much-needed infinite way to earn coins in the game, mini-games would also provide something to keep you coming back if it’s good enough. Club Penguin classic already has a ton of great mini-games in those archives, and even adapting these for the new game would add something to do after you’ve done your dailies, none of your friends are online, and there’s nothing left to do besides wander around aimlessly and go on mascot adventures.
Fossil Four is a good example of this, and while that seems to be more in the “party game” category, it honestly suits that. For most others though, it would be better to be in the same vein as the other classic mini-games. Even making some multiplayer mini-games would also add a lot of buzz to the game. Wouldn’t a multiplayer Sled Racer-style game be awesome? (And no, the current sledding thing at Mt. Blizzard doesn’t cut it.)
They could even port some of the games they already made for the CP app to CPI under the label “Club Penguin Classics” or something like that. Just an idea.
Less restrictions
Non-members still don’t have enough to do in the game. In the original Club Penguin, they could still wear certain items, decorate their igloo a bit, play mini-games and participate in the big parties that came out every month. Granted there were some things wrong with how it was handled, but it was much better than CPI’s current situation. They will have to make some massive changes if they really want to sell a lot of memberships. Or better yet…
Micro-transactions. *cue dramatic music*
If Club Penguin wants to fit into the modern mobile-gaming landscape so much, why not ditch the old membership system and let users pay small fees for access little things, like creating an awesome outfit or to unlock a new set of adventures? If they want kids to play their game, they have to adapt to something like this, or they won’t want to play it for very long. Something that’s key to running a successful game is knowing your audience. Kids today aren’t like the kids from 2005, and adding micro-transactions might make parents a little more willing to open their wallets rather than pay $60 a year for some mobile game.
That in mind, if CPI does keep the membership system, they will have to learn from the mistakes that they made in classic Club Penguin (and have already made in CPI). For example, when puffles come out, they should be able to choose which species they want to adopt, as opposed to just the red and blue ones in the classic game. If they decide to bring back puffle creatures too, then they should be able to adopt all of the classic colors. When they raised the puffle limit for members to accommodate the new puffles, non-members were stuck at a limit of two forever. Balance is key here.
Expanding horizons
As a modern successor to Club Penguin, Club Penguin Island should be so much more than just another mobile game kids will eventually forget about. As the game itself improves, branching out into new areas once again would be good for Club Penguin. Real-life events are a decent start, but it needs more. Why not revive the old Club Penguin TV specials and make new ones starring the characters on the new island? If I remember correctly, the last one left us on a cliffhanger that was never touched upon again. Air more commercials, preferably ones that aren’t so cheesy and don’t feature the same Disney kids over and over again. Bring back merchandise if the game does well enough. I’d honestly love to see them take another shot at making a video game, but that’s just me.
All I’m saying is, now’s the time if Club Penguin really wants to make a comeback. They can’t expect to do so if the game doesn’t receive its much needed improvements or work on listening to its players. Which leads me to my most important point…
Listen to the players
This wraps up basically everything I’ve talked about in this post. Club Penguin did listen a little bit for the classic game, but the important things went completely ignored by them most of the time. For example, even though they’d already seen everyone’s reaction to having two Frozen Parties in the past, they decided to do it a THIRD time due to “overwhelming requests” or something like that, which I highly doubt. Anyone who asked for a third Frozen Party was in the vast minority, because everyone was furious when it was announced. Then they brought back the Music Jam months later due to legitimately large amounts of requests, thanks to Megg, but by then they had to have known the game was going down in a matter of months.
There’s not much else to be said here; if Club Penguin wants to continue to grow and thrive or even have a chance at matching its predecessor’s performance, they need to LISTEN. I don’t want to see them crash and burn in less than a year like the infamous Disney Mix. In order to avoid that, they need to listen to what makes them successful -the players- if they truly want to build a new island from the ground up. The first half year has been rough, but by taking player feedback into account, they can also build a much brighter future for the franchise.
This is the last time I’m writing a massive feedback post for Club Penguin. Now it’s up to them to do their part for the players.
Club Penguin: Eye on the Island 