What Do You Look For In A Map?

HHoney

Fireworks!
Joined
May 30, 2015
Posts
2,151
Bells
1,592
Eggs
0
Old Eggs
0
Tasty Cake
Tasty Cake
Tasty Cake
Tasty Cake
Tasty Cake
Tasty Cake
Tasty Cake
Tasty Cake
Mother's Day Carnation
Tasty Cake
With springtime interest in resetting...perhaps now is a good time to share what you personally look for in a map.

What is important/ essential in a map?

- East Beach vs. West Beach
- Pirate Beach (accessible only via wet suit) vs. connected
- center town tree vs other locations
- Re-Tail close to the beach dock or near Train Station
- Color of Train Station and Town Hall
- Private Mayoral Estate - a place all to yourself with villagers far away vs. villagers nearby
- number of ponds
- beach ramp - horizontal vs. vertical
- Harvey's Campground ⛺️- Where would you prefer him to be? When you updated we're you happy or upset with the Campground placement?

- Other features I haven't mentioned - feel free to be specific!

Here are a few things I look for in a map:

- no Train Station pond - but I am amazed at those who landscape them so beautifully!
- I love visiting center town tree towns but they've never worked for me
- Green Town Hall is my least favorite
- if it's a side waterfall I love it when it's showing not hidden
- if it's a South waterfall I prefer the dock to be not too far away
- Campground to the North not near anything else preferred

Ok your turn!
 
In general I really look for a lot of things in a good map.

I don't want too many or too less ponds. I think that two is the perfect amount.

I want retail close to the beach. That shortens the walk when I go island bug catching.

I don't want more than 6 rocks. Sometimes they are right where I want a neighbor to live, or where I want to build a publice works project.

I want the Town Hall close to the top. I don't want it right in front of where I want to put a bridge.

I want a tiny little miniature island that you can't go to without a wetsuit. You can do a lot of stuff with it.
 
I have restarted a couple of times... From that, My dream map would have the following:

-A centered upper waterfall, moving towards a south-faced waterfall.
-The Tree Plaza leaning on the land-sided edge of town, with the RV Campground leaning right next to it.
-Retail somewhat close to the south beach.
-The Beach having a very large circular area of land facing southward - Very nice for breeding!
-The town hall having plenty of space around it - I love leading villager homes and building works projects around the town hall.
-The river creating a little Peninsula to build my home on that is somewhat isolated from villagers.
-The number of ponds and rocks don't matter, but I long for a town map where they aren't blocking the way of the train station.
-The campsite placed in an isolated corner of town.
-A fully accessible beach.

It makes me wish I could have multiple towns on one cartridge to try and get something like this...
 
In both my towns I was able to line up town hall, retail, the cafe and the police station to make a "Main Street" and I really like this. I also like having all my player houses lined up so having enough room for that is nice.

I also like continuous beaches. Split beaches are a deal breaker because it makes fishing a pain. And I like my little private islands.

I wouldn't want more than 2 ponds because they take up valuable space that can be used for something else.

Naturally, it's great that no rocks were in places I wanted to build.

I have an east and west beach, and a town with retail near the dock and one with retail near the train station. I like both, so no preference there.

WeeHaven%20Update.jpg
 
Last edited:
- West Beach. I'm from California so I like my "west coast."
- Connected. I've seen some pretty cool concepts/stories done with the pirate beach but it makes me feel uneasy. I like easy access to all parts of my town.
- I wish I had a center town hall but mine is near the train station which isn't too bad.
- I think closer to the train station is more useful.
- YES, this is super important to me because I use the original town hall and train station in my town. I went for the blue town hall and I was lucky enough to get a red train station. Ideally, I would have blue for both.
- Villagers nearby.
- Two ponds.
- Beach ramp - horizontal and vertical.
- Harvey's Campground ⛺️- I'm pretty upset with his placement as he ruined the theme I had going for that area but it's not too bad. I think I could make it work if I redesigned the area a bit.

Some things I look for:
- River runs halfway through the town. I like symmetry so I prefer maps with rivers that evenly divide the town. I like horizontal rivers more than vertical ones. It depends on what you want to do with your town.
- Grass pattern: The circle grass is most aesthetically pleasing to me and I love the snow pattern that accompanies it (star-patterned).
- Even and symmetrical cobblestones for the town hall, train station and plaza, meaning the overall shape should be as rectangular as possible.

It's impossible to get everything you want so pick certain "deal breakers" and look for those in a map.
 
My main want was a remote area in the north for a campsite that wouldn't be around anything else. Ideally I'd have more space between Re-Tail & Town Hall but that didn't happen in one of my towns.

I like having a peninsula in town for a spot for my mayor too!
 
- East Beach vs. West Beach: - I'm used to East beaches so West beaches seem magical and rare
- Pirate Beach (accessible only via wet suit) vs. connected - I love connected beaches for fishing
- center town tree vs other locations - Non center just because it makes the other features the way I prefer more
- Re-Tail close to the beach dock or near Train Station: my favorite is half way - Pixel is half way between the dock and Re-Tail
- Color of Train Station and Town Hall - anything but green
- Private Mayoral Estate - a place all to yourself with villagers far away vs. villagers nearby- private! My first town before I learned plot resetting they all moved near me
- number of ponds - as few as possible only because of limited space. And rocks. Extra ponds means extra rocks? No.
- beach ramp - horizontal vs. vertical - I adore vertical ramps
- Harvey's Campground ⛺️- Where would you prefer him to be? When you updated we're you happy or upset with the Campground placement? - It depends but I'd prefer if he wasn't near everything. It depends on the entire town and then the type of town theme - Zen, Fairy Tale, Modern, etc.

- Other features I haven't mentioned - feel free to be specific!

- I will not keep a map if the ramp from the dock is horizontal in one direction and you have to pivot to get to Re-Tail in the opposite direction. Do you know what I mean?
 
For me:

East Beach vs. West Beach
I don't have a preference. Either or works for me

Pirate Beach (accessible only via wet suit) vs. connected
I prefer to have access to my entire beach without having to use a wet suit

Center town tree vs other locations
Center. Before I didn't have a preference but in my current town, it actually looks pretty nice

Re-Tail close to the beach dock or near Train Station

I prefer Re-Tail close to the dock since I sell stuff from the island a lot

Color of Train Station and Town Hall
I really like brown and red for the colors. My current town has brown for both

Private Mayoral Estate
I prefer to have my house far away from the villagers.

number of ponds
The less the better. 3 is the max for me. They can be a hassle to work around

beach ramp
I don't really have a preference with which way the beach ramps go

Harvey's Campground
No preference with this either to be honest


Other things
I look for maps where the river is not taking up too much room. I like rivers that are mainly off to one side and not cutting through my town. I also prefer rivers that are more vertical than horizonal.
I like a lot of space to work with. I like town hall to be close to the Train station


This is my current map and it has all the stuff I like
WVW69kU56rsrPeugqf.jpg
 
Last edited:
I'm not too picky. I just look for one pond, and I like to make sure there are nice little areas for my 4 characters houses. I don't really care about aything else, and I don't mind what fruit I'm given either.
 
It absolutely MUST have a long beach.
Not cut in half.
A small private beach is ok. Good for growing hybrids where villagers can't ruin it.
 
What is important/ essential in a map?

- East Beach vs. West Beach - I prefer having my beach at the East
- Pirate Beach (accessible only via wet suit) vs. connected - I'd rather have two beaches with their own ramps
- center town tree vs other locations - I love the idea of center town, but I've never been able to get one withenough other perks I like, So i like mine to the far west
- Re-Tail close to the beach dock or near Train Station - BEACH!
- Color of Train Station and Town Hall - Color never mattered much to me, though both of mine are yellow/brown (natural ish?)
- Private Mayoral Estate - a place all to yourself with villagers far away vs. villagers nearby - PRIVATE AREA :D
- number of ponds - Less than 3
- beach ramp - horizontal vs. vertical - I like both honestly
- Harvey's Campground ⛺️- Where would you prefer him to be? When you updated we're you happy or upset with the Campground placement? - I like it right off another building. In my case, its right off my plaza

Here are a few things I look for in a map:

- no Train Station pond - but I am amazed at those who landscape them so beautifully! (I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU ON THIS)
- I like that my current town have the campground right off the Plaza. It flows right into each other very nicely in my opinion.
- Generally I don't like having permanent building on the edge of anything. (like train tracks, cliff, etc) I like them out in the open as I like to do front/back yards
- I personally like that most of my rocks are placed right around my plaza! It's niiice
 
I'm a very picky person.

-East coast with south facing waterfall. (I don't really care about beach layout, although I do like the private ones)
-Circle grass.
-Apples.
-Town hall & plaza near each other.
-Re-tail close to train tracks or train station.
-One or two ponds.
-Town hall any color except yellow.
-One or two peninsulas created by the river. I always build my house on them. (Despite having a long river, I have plenty of space available!)

I don't really care if my villagers homes are spread out - I like it that way. Although, when I recently reset, I placed random patterns in obvious areas for pwps.
 
I prefer the towntree is in the middle of the map. And I want a place where I can place the campside isolated with pinetrees.
 
- I look for easy movement around the town with no backtracking, so no windy rivers for me.
- I like expansive areas, so no thin strips of land.
- I like to have a private beach for growing hybrids.
- I like Re-tail, the town hall and boardwalk to all be relatively​ close by. I don't want to have to run all over town just to sell a few items and take care of business.

That's it really, I don't mind anything else.
 
I like the entrance of Harvey's campground to be near something. In Novis it's near the town tree, and in Grimault it's near the town hall which is great. I just don't like it being by itself anyone that can pull that off amazes me.

That said I try to make the police station next to town hall or retail. I'm not picky about the cafe too much, as long as I put it in a centered location that's easy to get to.

I usually have the beach split in two (except I'm trying something different for Grimault).
Villager houses in groups of two or more.
Ponds I usually keep too a minimum of 2 unless they are close to each then I go three, and I like them to be close to a main building.
 
I had no idea the pond being in front of the train station was such a common complaint. If anything I've liked getting a pond there, but it depends on the theme I'm going for. I used to do urban with roads which meant I needed 4 tile wide open space. Ponds being in front of buildings would then become an annoyance of course.
 
I have a pond opposite the train station. I don't mind it. Better than just paving. It's nice.
 
I just want full access to the beach(or beaches), the Town Hall and Re-Tail on the same side of the river and a river that has some interesting bends and that's about it.
 
- Vertical waterfall
- A lot of space in the beach for several rows of palm trees (I think it's not possible with vertical waterfall, tho :()
- Every building in the north, alligned with the train railway
- Event plaza in the center, or if the river cuts the center, then a bit at the north
- Only 1 pond, so I have a lot of free space for pwps
- Color of town hall and train station: any but yellow
- No private beach.
 
All I wanted was for the two main buildings to be on the upper half of the map, near the train tracks. I was able to get this and I was lucky enough to also get the town hall to line up with the tow plaza which I love. Many people don't like having many ponds but I don't mind them as long as they all have a different shape. I'm really happy with my map and I plan on keeping it always.
 
Back
Top