New Leaf Apocalypse Challenge

So, This is my first time posting anything, so let me know if I'm doing something wrong. Thanks!

This is a challenge meant to make Animal Crossing New Leaf harder and more fun to play. Hope you like it!

Idea: You’ve just moved to a new town, but you were not prepared for the disaster zone that you stepped into. The villagers beg you not to leave, hoping that you will be able to help them. Realizing that even if you had the bells to buy a train ticket out of here, it is doubtful that one would be coming any time soon. So, you decide to set up camp in this derelict town. The shopping ‘high street’ of town consists of only a few old stores that are run down and carry little stock. There is no work to be had, and there seems to be little hope for the citizens of this post-apocalyptic town. You hope that one day, this town will be a bustling hub of activity and excitement, but until then, you have a lot of work in front of you.

Rules:
1. There are only a few methods by which to make bells. These are:
- Bell rock
- Coins falling out of trees
- Selling mushrooms, ore, perfect fruit, shells, and unwanted furniture and clothing (at the Nookling’s shop)
- Selling pitfalls, flowers, beehives, coffee beans, and garbage at re-tail
- Selling anything (not contaminated) in your inventory to a villager
- Selling anything to Leila on the island
- Selling gyroids at re-tail (Gyroids must be kept in the basement as a tribute to all those who have died in this town. Once all basements are full, then they can be sold at re-tail)
- Selling a capped amount of turnips (each time Nooklings upgrade you get an extra 50 turnips), but you cannot check the Stalk Market prices and must accept the first offer.
2. The only methods you can use to get furniture and other items is:
- Balloon presents
- Island souvenirs
- Mushroom furniture
- Police station Lost and Found
- Meow coupon purchased items
- Villager trades/sells/gives you one of their items
- 1 item can be bought per day using bells from each store (as the Nooklings store upgrades you can buy 1 extra thing per upgrade (Gracie's and Lief count as their own store)
- Villager/parent sends you a gift via mail
3. You cannot do fishing or bug catching in town! These animals are unsanitary and must either be donated to the museum to be cleansed or released back into the wild. Bugs and Fish tournaments are not to be participated in.
- Once the Museum has 30 bugs donated, bugs from the town can be decontaminated and sold at any store
- Once the Museum has 30 fish donated, fish from the town can be decontaminated and sold at any store
- Once the Museum has 5 artworks donated, furniture and clothing can be decontaminated (from bringing things in from the Island)
- Decontamination is done in the display rooms. Display the item/creature in the room, leave the room, and come back in and it will be dis-contaminated.
4. Things found on the tropical Island are safe, BUT they cannot be taken back to the island unless they are a piece of furniture, clothing, or a single piece of fruit. These things can only be transported ONE AT A TIME so they are not in danger of being contaminated by the waters around town. Bugs and Fish and multiple pieces of furniture/clothing are not allowed to be brought back to the town until the museum can offer a decontamination service.
5. Due to lack of materials, Cyrus can only do ONE refurbishment per week.
6. Until there are five PWPs completed, no bells may be stored in the ABD.
7. Due to lack of materials, PWP take longer
- 0 to 49,999 bells take 2 weeks
- 50,000 to 99,999 bells take 3 weeks
- 100,000 to 149,999 bells take 1 month
- 150,000 to 349,999 take 2 months
- 350,000 to 499,999 take 3 months
- 500,000 and above take 4 months
8. You can only stop ONE specific villager from leaving. This Villager is the only other permanent resident other than the player character(s). They are your best friend and must have been one of the original villagers (Specifically, they must have been one of the ones to welcome you to the town).
- ALL other residents must be allowed to leave when they express the desire. After they say they are leaving, you are not allowed to talk to them. They are being quarantined to make sure none of the town’s diseases get passed on to other towns.
9. Villagers MUST be left alone (quarantined) for two weeks when the following happens (only exception is your BFF, but you can't interact with them for the rest of the day):
- You see them fall into a pitfall
- You see them cast their fishing line into the water
10. YOU must not interact with any villagers for two days (one day if you take medicine or use the natural remedy of honeycomb) if you:
- Fall into a pitfall
- Get stung by bees
- Go fishing, diving or bug catching in town
- Interact with a villager on quarantine
11. You MUST leave two new FULL baskets of plain native fruit in the town plaza per day, this is for the villagers to eat so they don’t get sick. You can pick up and sell this fruit at re-tail after a week.
- Once a week, if you add 4 full baskets of non-native, non-island fruit, the time taken for a PWP is halved. This can only be done once per PWP
12. You CAN interact with campsite villagers, but they CANNOT move in.
13. You can ONLY enact the Early Bird Town and Nightlife Town Ordinances.
14. Fossils and art not accepted by the museum MUST be thrown away (if you have no garbage can, keep these items and throw them out as soon as possible, DO NOT SELL THEM!)
15. Time Travel is NOT allowed.
16. You cannot visit other towns (unless via dream suite) to stop the spread of any possible diseases, but others can visit YOU at their own risk.
17. Once you have obtained a clean slate, you can play normally again, your once post-apocalyptic town has recovered and is ready to re-join the main-stream world

How to obtain a clean slate:
1. All existing player character houses must be fully renovated (you do not NEED multiple player characters, however some may choose to)
2. Main street must be fully occupied (and Gracie must have her shop open above the Nooklings)
3. The town must have the ‘Perfect Town’ Status or very close to 'Perfect Town' Status

Here are also some ways to make it a bit easier:
- Having the Gas Mask on allows you to go fishing, bug catching, and diving without getting contaminated, so you don't have to be on quarantine, but they must still be dis-contaminated at the museum. Additionally, with the Gas Mask on, you can interact with villagers on quarantine. AFTER one week of use, the gas mask is broken and cannot be used anymore until replaced.
- For each bronze badge you earn, you can buy one item. For each Silver badge you earn, you can buy two items. For each Gold badge you earn, you can buy three items. DO NOT break the rules to get these badges. Additionally, these are onetime buys, so use them wisely
- Having all hybrids (genetically modified plants designed to withstand the wasteland) displayed in your house allows you to enact the beautiful town ordinance as you have now found a way to grow plants safely.
- Having a HHA score of 100,000 and over allows you to have unlimited access to house renovations as Lyle and Tom Nook will now prioritize your house over others.


So yeah, that's my challenge. I don't know if there's one already like this or not, so if there is, I didn't steal this idea. I have tried most aspects of this challenge myself, and it does make the game much harder, but it leaves me more excited to keep playing and I am considering resetting my main game to try my own challenge. I also understand that there are a lot of rules, but when I was brainstorming the entire challenge, it didn't seem like that many in my head until I started typing. Feel free to use some or all of these rules, it is just meant for fun after all.

Sooo sorry, but HAHAHA, AS IF! For me, at least, where would be the fun in trying to figure out and keep all these rules? I have plenty of challenges in real life; in my game I would never do this. I suppose I'm not the type that would consider this fun.

I can see you put a lot of work into that, but I could never follow all those rules! I'm the kind of person that buys everything from all my shops everyday. XD

It's definitely an interesting idea, and if I had another copy of the game I would maybe try it out, but two things: One, villager's don't get sick anymore. Two, My villager's get fleas far too often for that rule about not talking to them for two weeks to work. And what if your bff decided to move during the two weeks you can't talk to them?

I'd also maybe up the number of item's you're allowed to get from the shops with each new shop that opens/upgrades. That way you feel some tangible progress.

Maybe also include fringe goals that give you benefits if you complete them? Like say if you donate an additional 4 baskets of different non-native fruit (not from the island) one day your villagers have enough food to allow you to take a week off your PWP completion time, and you can do this once a week.

Or once you complete a branch of the museum full research has been done on that category, allowing them to be decontaminated and sold again.

There should probably be either a huge benefit to having another PC to make it worth raising another 8 million or so bells. I suppose an extra item a day is nice, as is more help for Gracie/Katrina, but it seems a little weak to justify expanding a whole other house. Or else there has to be a specific rule about having more than one PC.

This idea is really neat! I love seeing the creativity that comes from people who make self imposed challenges in games like sims or pokemon. This falls right along those lines!

Thanks for your suggestions, Voldecourt! I didn't realize that villagers didn't get sick anymore either since I only recently updated my copy, but now I think about it, I haven't had a villager get sick in a while. As for having multiple PCs, that is just for people who choose to use multiple PCs. I use all four, but others may only use one, it is purely up to the player how many slots they want to fill.
I'll go change the rules a bit to follow your suggestions because they are genuinely good. Also thanks for the complement, it makes me feel like I've done something right when that happens (and this is my first time posting a thread, soo, nerves). Yeah, I'm going to shut myself up before I start rambling.

i'm honestly too lazy to read all of that.

I'm glad you liked my previous suggestions! I thought of a few more ideas for this last night. You don't have to implement them of course, but I feel like this needs more fringe goals to make the player feel like they're not just grinding? It comes down to personal feelings, of course, and conjecture. Trying to balance this type of thing to make it feel difficult but possible/rewarding is the key, but you won't really know how easy or difficult it is until it's tested.

What if for each badge you earn you can buy one additional item? Not per day, just a one time use extra purchase of something, to be redeemed whenever you want? You can't earn badges that would break the rules, obviously.

Maybe have something for creating every hybrid in the game and having them displayed in your house? These flowers have been genetically modified to withstand the diseased environment. Once you have all hybrids you can enact the beautiful town ordinance maybe?

Getting an HHA score of over 100,000 gives you the ability to make one additional interior or exterior remodel a week? Or something? This would be hard to do, I feel, so it deserves a good reward.

You may want to limit how many turnips you can buy? Or maybe not. Without being able to travel to other towns the stalk market is riskier. It is a potential way to make a bunch of bells however. And would there really be that kind of economy in an apocalyptic wasteland? Maybe up the risk by only being able to check turnip prices twice a week? Or just leave it be.

You've mentioned it, but I don't see an actual rule for when you have to take medicine. Definitely add Diving to that list. Also make it mandatory that you take medicine after being stung by bees? but you still must quarantine yourself.

Maybe if you purchase a Gas Mask item you don't have to take medicine when you fish or catch bugs? But the gas mask is broken after one week/3 days.

There should maybe be some kind of reward for shaking regular trees? Or else the chance of a few hundred bells and two pieces of furniture isn't worth the risk of bee stings. Maybe the honeycomb item dropped is a natural remedy and can be used as medicine?

After a perfect fruit tree looses it's branches it must remain that way, and can not be cut down until either a certain amount of time passes or you have beautiful town ordinance? Or maybe you must donate a basket of perfect fruit for the villagers to be able to cut down a barren tree?

Still really digging this idea.

I just read the entire thing, and I was all like, AC:NL hard mode.

But y'all like, who cares about this thing?

Then I say, whatever.

I really like the concept ^^
Could give it a try

Holy Kabuki, I read the whole thing and wow, now that's a really hard challenge. I'm always fascinated of
players who create challenges to get a different experiences from several games. This here sound pretty
interesting and I would maybe try it if I had two copies of the game. I don't know if I could go through
this challenge to the end, but I would try at least to come far as I can get. I will think about it if I will
try it in the future. Really nice challenge though!

whoa, that sounds cool! it seems challenging (as the title suggests lol) but also really fun. it'd be cool to see its own game based off this but acnl is too friendly and positive to make a spinoff like that there's something so crazy and interesting about this to me, maybe the fact that i love reading about abandoned places and such, lol.

but yeah, awesome idea! i'd love to see like a playthrough of someone doing this challenge.

Wow that's intense

I, too, have designed rules to playing in a particular way... It was, however, aimed at making a carefree, low maintenance type of town design - as opposed to enforcing a survival mode in nearly every function of game play. I have even listed the rules in a thread, should you wish me to repost them.

I really really liked this and would give it a go if i had a second copy of acnl. Ahh! I really want to do this.

I LOVE your moxie and originality to suggest this type of challenge! It shows so much creativity on your part. It's not how I would ever play the game since I have thirteen towns and have a system all my own that makes playing fun for me. But for anyone who undertakes this formidable challenge, good luck and have fun!

I'll pass.

the only thing more boring than this concept of complete tedium is the post explaining it

Although it is a bit complicated, the general idea sounds really fun! I'd probably do something like this if I had a second copy :0

I stopped reading after the part of obtaining furniture. No way...

You know how much furniture you get from your villagers though? It wouldn't be that bad. Your house wouldn't win any contests, but it could be fun to let the whims of providence dictate your look. The most annoying part about it would be buying enough to expand the stores fully. But considering how slow money making would be I feel like it would work out. And the point of this challenge isn't to make a perfect dream town anyway.