How to best implement a depressing town theme idea for my island,what items do I need?

[The friendcode exchanger]

So I have not played Animal crossing New horizons in a very long time I have no idea when I last played it and I have been debating to myself whether to get back into the game or not considering the lack of items compared to New Leaf and a lack of interest in the game. If I do get back into New Horizons(I lost my physical copy and lost interest in finding it) I want to make a major overhaul to my island because I am just not satisfied with my current island and I am struggling to figure out what items I am going to use.

I want to implement a specific theme to my island and not just any theme but a theme that is beautiful but in a depressing way where you get to appreciate the surrounding nature in it's full glory like in my old New leaf Town when there was flowers like black roses ,blue and pink roses ,trees ,natural paths and benches everywhere but still I want it to tell a story with some small clues mainly in the houses and some smaller ones outside but I still want to avoid making rooms that are outside of houses even if it's to show or tell something because I just find that it looks really unappealing because it lacks a roof and a door and I find that keeping them inside looks much better and I don't have to hear the day/night music of New horizons because I don't like it .

I want to tell a story of a child having to deal with the effects of being neglected by a depressed single father who would rather cry and sleep all day because of his wife who passed away than take on the responsibility of taking care of his child but not just that.

I want to implement symbolism through specific items like that item that plays a loud noise when approached but also clever use of qr codes like putting youtube or image links in a qr code and then displaying them in a specific place like a room or hidden outside.

I also want to implement some very dark themes in there as well like having a room that looks like it's in a children's hospital with a bed that is supposed to look like a baby bed and it's supposed to look like the infant sibling of the main character is seriously ill and I will include a qr code to one of those links for the visitor to figure it out on their own what that is(hint) it's going to be something scary but I won't tell you what that is.

I want each house to tell a story on it's own that is linked together with one of the other houses and each one representing a different theme like ,depression,sibling favouritism,and separation anxiety and issues like this during early childhood ,along with possibly other issues related to psychology and developmental psychology.

Of course I also want to balance it out by making some rooms or houses that are wholesome like a regular children's room with lot's of toys a bed and either k.k lullaby or stale cupcakes playing on the music player(I used to play them on the music boxes in New leaf and I hate how they are still not in New Horizons)

I am honestly not sure how I would go about making an Island like this and I feel it would honestly take me a long time to make an island like this unless I got some help with gathering items and finding design ideas.

*edit* well I reset my Island to start fresh after being away for so long and because I did not have that big of an attachment to my town nor had I made much progress beyond terraforming, my new island is now known as drömskogen which when translated from swedish to english means dream forest and now I will have to unlock the online features again after I have made a certain amount of progress before I can really start working on my island.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

That's an interesting idea for an island. As far as items go, the ones that come to my mind are the rusty variations of some items like the gas pump and the oil drum. I think a graveyard would be really suitable for a depressing island. Maybe place some fossils around, and furniture with more muted colors. The barbed wire fence, iron fence, and country fence could also work really well. Dirt paths and maybe abandoned looking streets that are all cracked (I know there are designs like this, I've seen them).
I find it helps to look through all the possible furniture and their variations on a site like NookExchange, to give you ideas and make a wishlist that you can then post here in the Nook's Cranny thread.

 

[The friendcode exchanger]

That's an interesting idea for an island. As far as items go, the ones that come to my mind are the rusty variations of some items like the gas pump and the oil drum. I think a graveyard would be really suitable for a depressing island. Maybe place some fossils around, and furniture with more muted colors. The barbed wire fence, iron fence, and country fence could also work really well. Dirt paths and maybe abandoned looking streets that are all cracked (I know there are designs like this, I've seen them).
I find it helps to look through all the possible furniture and their variations on a site like NookExchange, to give you ideas and make a wishlist that you can then post here in the Nook's Cranny thread.

The thing I noticed about Aika village is that it starts out beautiful but get's progressively more run down and filled with trash the further one goes in the village so I could probably implement something like this.

 

[smug villager]

i remember seeing an urban/abandoned village build on reddit somewhere, i'll see if i can find some images for it.

they used a lot of custom designs for concrete and roads and construction signs and whatnot. i think something like a decaying suburban type set up would look cool with that theme.

 

[CanuckChick]

The thing I noticed about Aika village is that it starts out beautiful but get's progressively more run down and filled with trash the further one goes in the village so I could probably implement something like this.

This is exactly what came to my mind, too bad we don't have the dead trees anymore like in NL. But yeah, contrast will be good to show neglect.

I can't think of a lot of items atm, but something simple as colours can have a big impact to create a depressive atmosphere if you don't have the items you want yet. For ex. the monotone playground gym.

 

[Mr.Fox]

The 'Natural Garden' (chair, square table, table) set has a 'shabby' customization option which makes the paint look old and chipped, so that might be a good option for villager yards.

 

[Serabee]

Hmm. I know you said you didn't want to do outside rooms, but it might be worth considering if you wanna do rundown- you could add one or two houses/hospitals/etc. that are fully rundown to the point of missing walls, roofs, pieces of the floor, etc. Of course, that's up to you! But it might be fun to hide a small one somewhere.

Otherwise, I agree that starting sweet and turning dark is always a good idea. I haven't done a creepy/haunted/dark island, but I am a horror writer, and that's my go-to for making good stories- start with the nice and relatable. In your case, happy playrooms and family bliss. Things people can relate to. Then slowly twist things. In your case, perhaps there could be a sort of record scratch finding of the nursery? From what I've seen, that tends to be a good way to creep people out- make them feel at home, then pull the rug out from under them (and reveal creepy things hiding under said rug).

Sorry I can't give more specific ideas, I'm not super creative when it comes to using furniture in-game

 

[Valzed]

You may want to include villagers whose homes or character designs fit the different areas of the island. More colorful home exteriors & villagers in the beginning and then maybe more natural or muted homes/villagers and then finally dark colored homes/villagers in the deepest parts. Also cranky villagers might add to the depressed theme of things.

 

[PuellaMagiMe]

I have a similar themed island. I used black flowers, lots of candles everywhere and only cedar trees

 

[The friendcode exchanger]

You may want to include villagers whose homes or character designs fit the different areas of the island. More colorful home exteriors & villagers in the beginning and then maybe more natural or muted homes/villagers and then finally dark colored homes/villagers in the deepest parts. Also cranky villagers might add to the depressed theme of things.

One of my favourite villagers in New Leaf was Maple so I will make sure to have her as well,Pietro would work as well and many people do find him creepy but some find him to be cute too,Rodeo could work for the deeper parts of the town with his demonic eyes and his horns,Limberg and Rasher would fit in well too as would Chow, Tabby and Coco.

 

[CanuckChick]

One of my favourite villagers in New Leaf was Maple so I will make sure to have her as well,Pietro would work as well and many people do find him creepy but some find him to be cute too,Rodeo could work for the deeper parts of the town with his demonic eyes and his horns,Limberg and Rasher would fit in well too as would Chow, Tabby and Coco.

For the children rooms/houses area there are also Stitches & Hopkins, who are both toys. You can give them a raggedy outfit if you don't want to make them cute & cheerful.

 

[The friendcode exchanger]

W

That's an interesting idea for an island. As far as items go, the ones that come to my mind are the rusty variations of some items like the gas pump and the oil drum. I think a graveyard would be really suitable for a depressing island. Maybe place some fossils around, and furniture with more muted colors. The barbed wire fence, iron fence, and country fence could also work really well. Dirt paths and maybe abandoned looking streets that are all cracked (I know there are designs like this, I've seen them).
I find it helps to look through all the possible furniture and their variations on a site like NookExchange, to give you ideas and make a wishlist that you can then post here in the Nook's Cranny thread.

Well I did do just that and I took a look at the NookExchange website and so far I have found a solid set of items for my first house and of course I am going to need a boatload of bells to pay off the loan of my main house and the others as well.

*edit* I just made a post on the nook's Cranny detailing the things I need to get started.

 

[The friendcode exchanger]

I have a similar themed island. I used black flowers, lots of candles everywhere and only cedar trees

I recently got my hands on both Black roses ,and some purple roses through a trade so I should be able to achieve a 5 star rating much more easily now and I even upgraded my house completely thanks to me being given a large amount of in game bells.