The difficult task of one-upping New Horizons in the next Animal Crossing game

[Boccages]

We will have to wait for the next Nintendo console to get a new Animal Crossing game, for sure. But contrary to what happened with New Leaf, people have quite a vague idea of where the AC series should go next.

Coming off New Leaf, the Bell Tree Forum was full of threads suggesting a lot of new features for the 'next AC', some of which where no brainers for New Horizons :

• Having more City projects to decorate your town outside (Nintendo went with we could put furnitures outside)
• Having a say where villagers would move their house (Nintendo went with buildable house plots)
• Bringing back cliffs and town levels (better than that, Nintendo also brought in terraforming)
• I'm passing over the MORE of the same (furniture pieces, themes, villagers) suggestion we always get

So from there on out, it's not as easy to do the same exercise for the next AC game. People usually go with small adjustments like (crafting in bulk or faster island hopping), and the usual MORE of the same (furniture, villagers or path textures) suggestion. But these hardly make a compelling case for a brand new game : they could easily be implemented in New Horizons.

My humble suggestion

The only thing I would REALLY like to go is the rolling-log aspect of the world that limits the draw distance. I understand why Nintendo kept the rolling-log effect because it artificially limits de distance length the player sees, and enables to keep in-check the load of having to display several items on screen at the same time, a problem that is still apparent when you place too much stuff around the same spot, and the game's framerate gets so bad, it's unplayable.

I would love to have a greater render distance, and a third person perspective like in Breath of the Wild. I am expecting the next Nintendo console will be much more powerful than the current Switch which relies on a 2015 chipset. So I hope they free us from the rolling log effect.

The problem is still here though. It's quite unclear where Nintendo needs to go with Animal Crossing to make the series evolve, and satisfy fans and critiques alike.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

This may be a spicy take but I'd love for Nintendo to make a virtual reality Animal Crossing game. If it had all the stuff that NH/HHP has + some stuff from NL, I think it'd be amazing! And potentially a good workout, what with all the fishing, bug hunting, chopping of trees, crafting, etc.

 

[MiniPocketWorld]

This may be a spicy take but I'd love for Nintendo to make a virtual reality Animal Crossing game. If it had all the stuff that NH/HHP has + some stuff from NL, I think it'd be amazing! And potentially a good workout, what with all the fishing, bug hunting, chopping of trees, crafting, etc.

You know, last week I was thinking about what kind of gimmicky console Nintendo would do next if switch isn't thier last, and I thought perhaps some sort of VR headgear as well. VR interest has been growing, and it's a new way to experience older games since remakes are all the rage as well. Many people have mentioned they would like to see a fully 3d animal crossing with a rotatable camera and rotatable buildings. So why not go VR? I've seen VR games described to not operate only in VR so, that could also appeal to those who aren't interested in VR. Perhaps there could be some flexibility like there is with the docked console and portable console idea.

 

[Ganucci]

I agree with you that small QoL changes don't warrant a new game, even if they are much needed. Nintendo LOVES new gimmicks in each installment of their franchises, so I imagine the next AC game would have something like this. What they would do I suppose depends on which route they want to take.

Do they want to continue taking AC in the direction of decorating and customizing? We already have so many "god-like" abilities with reshaping the island we live on, so what's next? Going underground? Create entirely new islands from scratch with a shovel? Floating island above us? Building an entire city? These sound crazy, but I think a big and crazy gimmick is exactly what Nintendo like.

On the other hand, they could decide to leave the decorating and customizing at about the level it's at and lean harder into the life-sim aspect of AC that has been slowly disappearing with each game. Having a focus like this could mean they dig deep into villagers and have us needing to solve problems and disputes, scheduling when special characters arrive on our island, arranging marriages??, getting a job or assigning villagers jobs. Typing this all out, I imagine a lot of HHP could be implemented onto your island/town and really change things up. Even with what I typed...I don't think any of these are quite big enough to be classified as a "gimmick".

I would personally love a harder lean in on the life-sim aspect, despite me not knowing exactly how they would go about that. Although I supposed a healthy balance between both options is always a good call.

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

I don't think it'd be difficult to one-up New Horizons, considering the many issues people have with the game. NH isn't a bad game by any means; none of them are (except for a couple of the spin-offs, I guess). However, the games tend to be flawed in many ways, and NH, in particular, is bogged down by a lot of poor game design decisions:

• Instead of having every tool break, even when it doesn't make any sense, why not relegate tool degradation to just shovels and axes? Instead of watering cans breaking because the game decided you're done using them, Nintendo should look to Stardew Valley and understand just how smarter it'd be to refill your watering can, rather than having one magically disappear from your PC's hands. Golden tools shouldn't even be able to break, because it ruins the whole point in obtaining one in the first place; get rid of the longer animation for the Golden Watering Can while we're at it, too, because it makes watering stuff slightly longer than it needs to be — just because of a fancy animation that has no reason to exist. Also, axes used to visibly wear over time in games prior to NH. This let the player know that they were degrading over time. Why they thought it was a good idea to remove this visual cue so no one would be able to gauge when axes would break, and make all tools breakable is another thing I can't wrap my mind around. Christ, I hate when developers make boneheaded decisions like these. I know this dead horse has been beaten to the ground, already, but tools are the cornerstone of Animal Crossing. FIX this system, Nintendo; it's problematic and needs to be improved on.
• Villagers. Since I assume most people already know about their dialogue, personalities, A.I., and why each of these facets have been criticized in these last few installments, especially this game, I'm not gonna repeat them. Make these villagers more life-like by having them be correspondent to how the Player Character treats them, and how they greet the player and their overall dialogue should reflect how friendly/unfriendly they are, too. This is one topic that I can spend a few paragraphs elaborating on, but I'll save that for a thread I've been contemplating making for a while, now.
• The dialogue itself needs a MASSIVE overhaul. I'm not just talking about how villagers talk to you, I mean having actual conversations with villagers instead of having only two or three lines of dialogue for the player, with one of them just exiting the exchange altogether. Give us some actual dialogue trees. Make us ask villagers how their day was, what their favorite hobbies/food/events are; have some back in forth between them and us and give us a few choices to pick in response. Conversations in Animal Crossing weren't really possible — or they were, but they were always one-sided and based entirely off of RNG and you barely had any way to respond to them that wasn't asking for something in return.

At the moment, those are all the things I want in the next game. I'm not sure if any of this are enough to justify making a new game, but it's baffling Nintendo didn't conceive of any this when they were updating THIS game, so I guess it's more of a "How to improve upon New Horizons" instead of creating a different experience altogether.

As for your suggestions... I'm fine with something that'd replace the Rolling Log, but it's weird imagining a mainline AC game without the mechanic. I'm not sure what would be a suitable replacement for it.

So far, this thread has posts with some very interesting ideas, though as long as the VR concept is optional, I wouldn't mind having it in AC, and I definitely agree with @Ganucci that the next game should be more focused on being a life-simulator, because that's what the series is, right?

 

[DrewAC]

I definitely agree that the rolling log effect should be removed in the next Animal Crossing game in favor of a third-person view perspective.

I was really hoping that New Horizons would look almost exactly like the Animal Crossing Mario Kart track, with everything scaled up and the world feeling so expansive. That’s not quite what we got, but I am still super happy with the amazing work they did with New Horizons.

And I also think it’s time to bring forest/town life back into Animal Crossing, too!

 

[WaileaNoRei]

I agree it is very hard to think of how the series will really ‘top’ new horizons, except through some pretty radical makeovers, which are tough to imagine.

I know that one element missing is some kind of more structured multiplayer function. While I’m not interested in this, I can obviously see that it would appeal to many, but that seems like something that could be added as a side game or add on, not really a whole new entry in the series. (Would hate a game that focused heavily on or required multiplayer)

Personally, I am of the opinion that the wishlist of QoL improvements is one of those good in theory, be careful what you wish for things. New Horizons is a really laid back game, but I think having nothing ever be inconvenient or annoying or difficult is just…not good game design, and wouldn’t ultimately make people happy, it’d just makes things less valuable/ consequential in the game. So there needs to be a balance of so-called ‘QoL’ with keeping some perhaps less popular features in the game. Basically- fix some things but leave enough things to occasionally frustrate and generate rants for the petty complaint thread.

Next comments are based on my very low level of knowledge of absolutely anything involved in game design:

While the dialogue in NH seems to be an improvement over NL, I know many people dislike the way the dialogue tree system works (probably especially because it is a very popular/ visible complaint, amplified by the ubiquity of social media coverage of the game). As I have said before in other threads, I like the fact that the villagers aren’t too specific in their personalities, because it makes me feel more like I can enjoy them the way I want. And I don’t have to feel like villagers I love are being assigned unlikable personalities (ie - I don’t really trust Nintendo to definemy beloved Tabby or Rodney)

I think a really huge change would be to create more AI like aspects to the villagers. My preference would be to keep them at a baseline sort of blank slate, with the traditional personalities (it would be hard for their dialogue to work in Japanese otherwise) but have them develop differently based on their ‘experiences’ on your island/ town, planet (whatever the next iteration will be, maybe the dodos will be replaced by a group of friendly aliens running a spaceport, idk)

But through conversations and suggestions and etc they could develop different hobbies and interests or something and it would make them feel more unique (and I think be more achievable than creating something like 400 individualized AIs, which seems very unlikely in the near future.

Perhaps they could also have some more organized activities of some sort, like community committees or volunteering or something. I don’t want them to have earn money, or run businesses or anything, not for game design reasons, but because part of why I like this game is escaping from this late capitalist nightmare I have to live in (give me Tom nook and his interest free, never due, reasonably priced loans any day). I’m not going to put my beloved villagers into some horrible 9-5 grind! I’d rather just supplement them by buying their garbage.

Maybe an expansion for the crafting/ cooking element, which would add more ‘life sim’ traits, but keep working for money out of the mix would be to have the residents and villagers able to develop skills? Maybe you could need to help villagers develop skills you need to grow your town/ world - a sort of enhancement of the cooperative social model that already exists in the game. People would get very frustrated, but it could be used to slow the pace of a lot of the game and incorporate more villagers into things.

The villagers are my favorite part of New Horizons, and to me they are the thing about the game that stands out and makes me prefer it to any other similar game, so to me changes/ enhancements to their role would be great (as long as they don’t ruin my favorites for me)

As for some other more technically things people have mentioned:
I have very little interest in AR/VR, and would be pretty opposed to it, as it stands now (I’m old…and I’ve not yet seen any that didn’t seem unnecessary and gimmicky). So that’s probably what will happen.

The rolling log effect too...idk, I have no issue with the game looking like it does now, so it would be a very underwhelming change that seems mostly like an aesthetic thing that would play well online, but I don’t care about that. i think it would make the game look more generic.

TL; DR - give me an enhanced cozy community with cooperative hobbies/skills where I have to work with my villagers to accomplish the goals of the game (not something a minimal or annoying as in New Leaf). Increased ‘learned traits’ or opportunity for character development in villagers would make them feel more personal without locking in too much predetermined personality and maybe we will somehow be space traveling?

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

There are soo many things I would change in the next AC game but I think it all just comes down to my personal opinion on New Horizons xD so I dunno what they can really add??? All past games are so good and stuff that I wonder what the next AC will be. I DEFINITELY WANT TO LEAVE THE ROLLING LOG THOUGH. I remember when they released the Mario Kart 8 track in like 2015 or something and I really hoped the next AC looked like that. It would be so fun! I have said it many times though.... Hopefully it will happen! Whatever the case is, I am excited for the next game and hope its super fun

 

[Verecund]

I'd like to see a good blend of having an emphasis on characters (GC-CF) and customization/control (NL-NH). I lean more towards prioritizing character over control, but since NL and NH have been the most successful games, I doubt we'll ever go back that far. However, I do think it's possible to add more emphasis on character while keeping the control, but maybe by making the player work a little harder for it. All the mainline games have great aspects and not-so-great aspects, and I think if the best parts of each were taken and combined, the result would be pretty amazing! Here are some of the changes I'd like:

Control:

What I would like to see in the next AC game is a return to the forest village life like we had in GC through CF, where you're just some random new person in town with no special authority over the other villagers. One of the draws to the earlier games for me is that you're an equal to the villagers, and this could also partially explain the mellowing of the dialogue over time (after all, who wants to insult the mayor of their town or the resident representative who makes pretty much every decision about the island, who could make life miserable for you? On the other hand, that random new kid in town isn't quite so intimidating). After NL and NH, which progressively handed over more and more control over to the player and making the balance of power between the player and villagers more and more skewed, this is probably very unlikely, but I think they could still do this while also keeping many features that give the player more control by allowing them to prove their worth first (also allowing multiple players to unlock these abilities, not just one):

Terraforming: Could be locked until the town reaches perfect town status and/or obtains the gold watering can (with potentially other requirements such as time lived in the town and relationships with other villagers/special characters), and then Pelly/Phyllis (also an improvement over Isabelle :P) tells the player that since they've worked so hard on improving the town, the citizen satisfaction committee has decided to trust them with added landscaping abilities. Although NH also requires the player to improve the town before unlocking the terraforming ability, the requirements are less strict (three stars as opposed to five stars) and it's part of the main required storyline, so you're forced into unlocking it in order to progress with the game (even though you have to spend Nook Miles for the various abilities, it's still available to you after K.K.'s performance). This alternative would make it so that it's not required to unlock early on and make the pacing more optional for the player, and the player's earning of the ability would be due to their merit, not their title.

Ordinances: Could be locked until the player reaches a certain level of friendship with most/all of the villagers in the town (along with potentially befriending special characters, like Sable, Brewster, etc.) and receives a photo from at least one of the current villagers. Once this happens, Pelly would tell the player that they're thinking about activating more ordinances, but they're not sure which one to pick, and since the player knows the neighbours well and is friends with them, they would probably know what people would like the most. This way, it's also not unlocked as part of the main storyline like in NL and NH, so it serves as a challenge for the player to work towards. Or, perhaps it could work like petitions in NL - if the player wants to suggest an ordinance, Pelly/Phyllis requires that x number of signatures are required from the citizens in order to activate it, so the player has to go around asking for signatures, but whether a villager will sign may depend on their personality and their relationship with the player. These petitions could also be used for bridges and public works projects, too.

Relocating/redesigning houses: I can think of a couple of ways to unlock this one; the first way would require way more content and be less realistic to implement, but it could involve the player being offered a job at the HRA/HHA after getting a certain score in their evaluation (similar to HHP except it requires them to like your house before it's unlocked), and after you design a few houses, Pelly reports that your villagers would be open to your redesigning ideas, too.
The second idea would involve villagers visiting your house - in WW (and probably others), when villagers visited your house, they would rate it on a scale of one to five. They could bring this back and tell you how much they like your room/house (and maybe they have different furniture items/themes that they prefer that could increase your rating). If they give your room five stars, then maybe they'll start mentioning how they've been getting tired of their home decor, but don't have any inspiration - but since they like your interior design so much, maybe you'd have some ideas to give! If you agree, then the villager will go to Nook the next day and request that you help them redesign their house (or it could be done informally where the villager just invites you over and you just lay out the furniture design without going through Nook, although not sure how you could access your furniture catalogue then - maybe the villager has some extra furniture stuffed away in their closet?). Maybe they can ask for relocation ideas in the same way (although personally, I'm actually a fan of the signposts that they had from GC-CF, which they'll definitely never bring back, but even then you could have them relocate to a different signpost). This would be a challenge for sure (my neighbours always gave me 2-3 stars in WW, and I got 4 maybe once) and you would have to unlock each neighbour separately, but this also makes sense - would you let someone you barely know redesign your house if they know nothing about interior design?

These suggestions might seem pointless because it's just different unlocking methods for the same features we have in NH, but the point of them is that the player would have very little power when they first move in, an equal to their other neighbours, and they have to earn that power just like any other villager theoretically could, but it's not forced on them as part of the main storyline, so they could wait a very long time before unlocking these abilities if they wish (unlike NL and NH, where you get handed near-complete control at the conclusion of the main storyline, and your progress is heavily limited until these things are unlocked). Instead of being in charge and having a title like Mayor or Resident Rep that's forced upon you without having to work for it, you're still a normal villager when you unlock these abilities, but you'd get them when your town respects you and the effort you have put into the environment and your relationships. This would change the atmosphere of the game a lot, even though you would have the same abilities.

Characters:

Even more than the balance of power, what I most want to change is the characters. I think this is a very common view with the newer games, but to elaborate on some possible improvements (most of my ideas are based on WW since I've played that game the most and I like it the best in terms of the villagers):

Dialogue: Obviously the villagers are nicer in NL/NH than in previous games and this topic has been beaten to death already, so I won't spend much time here except to say that I'd like more distinctive (not necessarily mean, but at least not instant friendship for each one) personalities and I really don't want Filbert to talk about bugs and smelling things all the time.

Distinction between villagers: Villagers have hobbies in NH, but they're purely aesthetic hobbies and they're never addressed in the dialogue. Honestly, I rarely ever notice my villagers' personalities, and when I do, I don't really think much of them. Sure, Diva works out a lot, but it just seems like a random activity and she never talks about it. Caroline might sing randomly, but Cobb can also sing when there's a stereo nearby. I'd like to bring back the WW hobbies system, where a villager's hobby actually dictated some of their dialogue, their requests to the player, and what they carried outside, and their hobbies can change over time. This made my interactions with them more distinct - in my last WW town, I had Bree and Queenie who were both snooty, but I remember Bree as an avid collector of white furniture while Queenie was into collecting fossils - specifically, the pachycephalosaurus - so even though they had the same personality, they didn't seem like the same character.
In addition, bring back villagers' disliked styles! In NH, villagers will love any clothes you give them regardless of theme, but in WW, if you gave a villager something from their least favourite style, villagers would say they outright hated it, whether you or another villager gave it to them. This would also distinguish villagers and give them their own personal agency - you might think Ruby would look great in a waffle shirt, but if she hates it, she won't wear it; after all, you're not the boss of her! Freckles, on the other hand, might have the same personality, but she loves waffle shirts. Villagers should have actual likes and dislikes and show that they won't be happy with just any old shirt!

Villager move-outs: A more controversial stance here, but instead of making you the prison warden giving you ultimate control over whether a villager can leave, they should be able to leave without your input. I think WW had a good moving system, where villagers would randomly appear in boxes and you could talk them out of it, but if you didn't visit them that day or couldn't convince them to stay (since you often had to talk to them repeatedly in order for them to agree to stay) then they'll move out whether you wanted them to or not. Maybe they could even take influence from the later games and have the villager tell you they're thinking of moving ahead of time if you have a good friendship with them (but if you tell them to stay, they might not be convinced and you'd still have to go to them on their move-out day to convince them one last time), but if they don't like you enough, they won't go out of their way to tell you because they don't necessarily care about your input.

Relationships with other villagers: Villagers in WW could have relationships with other villagers and would sometimes even quiz you on how well they got along with another villager; they could also gossip about whether certain villagers were dating (and these were fairly consistent; the couples mentioned would change over time but I would frequently see the same names mentioned together for days). They could introduce this back into the game to give the villagers more of a life outside of their interactions with the player. You're not their only friend; they have other relationships, too, and I think it'd be cool to see that talked about. Maybe they could even add something where if you bully a villager, another villager who happens to be friends with that villager would confront you later on and be all upset that you hurt their friend, so you could even hurt your relationship with both villagers in the process. :P

Progression of the relationships: In WW it was easier to tell how much a villager liked you than in NH (I'm mainly thinking about how NH villagers call you "bestie" like the second time you ever talk to them, while WW villagers might talk about how even though you don't have a close relationship with them yet, maybe one day you will). By making the progression of your friendship with a villager more apparent, it feels more rewarding to build a friendship with that villager. Also, I think only giving out one of a villager's photo makes it more special as opposed to the sixteen pictures Francine gave me in NL over a period of fifteen months.

Impact and abilities: Villagers are a central part of the game, but they don't really affect the town/island much apart from aesthetics and dialogue and they stay mostly static apart from their relationship with you. What if we gave them more agency? What if, using the idea listed above, villagers could come to you and ask for your signature on a petition for an ordinance or a public works project? They care about the town, too! What if they could even pay off a mortgage and expand their house? (That might be tricky to pull off, but I always feel bad when I live in a mansion and my villagers are still all living in tiny houses.) What if they were on a quest to earn the golden tools too? What if they could get a part-time job at the cafe, too, and one day you might walk into the Roost to see Anabelle making your coffee? What if they knew about other villagers' hobbies and interests? Maybe Nibbles has been begging you for a five-ball shirt for days, but you don't have it catalogued. Then one day, Roald comes up to you, saying he found the five-ball shirt Nibbles so desperately wants, but he wants you to deliver it because he's busy or something. Then it's not just a random delivery, it's something meaningful because you know she wants that shirt, too. (Maybe you can even choose whether you give Roald the credit for getting it to her or keep it all for yourself. :P) What if Judy came up to you one day and asked for your help to decorate her house for a surprise birthday party for Apple? (They throw you surprise birthday parties at their houses and they do all the decorations; they should get the same treatment!) Maybe you could even help get ingredients for the cake or something, or you can collaborate with Judy on picking out a cool birthday gift for Apple (take a shopping trip together?!). Give the villagers more abilities and knowledge that have been exclusive to the players, and let the players do things that only the villagers can do, and they'll seem more like your equals in a close-knit community.

Special characters: The special character episodes allowed you to see the backstory of some of the more prominent special characters in WW, which I think was a pretty awesome inclusion and allowed you to see a glimpse of them being more like real people with real feelings, and it gives a break from them just being shopkeepers who repeat the same set of lines over and over again. And while we're at it, why not bring back the red turnip trade sequence from WW? It was so cool and allowed you to get special items, and on top of that, it gave you an extra reason to look forward to a special character's visit: you might not care about Wendell's patterns, but if you want that golden axe, you're going to talk to him anyway. I think it made the special characters a little more interesting there, too.

Events:

I've never been a fan of the events where you get an item from Isabelle or Nook Shopping and that's it, although I realize it'd be impossible to make each Nook Shopping in NH into an actual event because that would just be insane. Still, I think we could use a few more special events to make the calendar more exciting. Right now, the major ones are Festivale, Bunny Day, Halloween, Harvest Festival, and Toy Day. We also have Fishing Tourneys and Bug-Offs, plus a few others added in NH like May Day and wedding season, but I'd like to bring back some old events, add new ones, and expand existing ones:

Bright Nights, Flower Fest, Acorn Festival: All of these were made-up WW holidays, but they were fun! The Flower Fest was great because you had to compete against your neighbours for the best garden (and I'm convinced there was foul play involved one time because no way should Purrl have beaten me with her lousy garden over my hybrids, but I digress). The Acorn Festival featured the legend Cornimer, and Bright Nights was pretty with the villagers decorating their houses with lights! I think they could change that one up a bit (let us decorate our own houses with lights and compete with the villagers!) but it was a really cute idea. The Acorn Festival could give out the tree's bounty DIY items as prizes, while Bright Nights could let you decorate with the illuminated lights stuff (or maybe you get those as prizes/doing something during the event?)

La-Di-Day: A frequent WW holiday (and potentially annoying if you didn't like it), I thought it was still cool that the villagers would sing for you and that it revolved around the town tune, which is something most people probably don't think about much, or they change it once and never again, so having the town tune updated relatively often via villager competition could be refreshing. What if they had a similar holiday where villagers could submit flag designs, too? That would be interesting.

Hometown Day: Took place on a random day in July in GC. It was a very minor holiday, but I think it's pretty cool because the date would be different for everyone, making your town more unique! It also emphasizes how your town existed long before you moved in and had a history before you arrived. I think it'd be cool to expand this event into something bigger, maybe on the level of Festivale/Halloween/etc, and it would be special since everyone would be celebrating it on a different day.

Lighthouse: In GC, Tortimer will ask you to turn on the lighthouse every day for a week, and if you do it, you'll get a prize. It's another minor event, but it's a more unique challenge and you also have the pressure of making Tortimer happy - who wants to let the mayor down, right? :P

Fishing Tourney and Bug-Off: I liked the pre-NH versions because they made it more competitive; I'm not a fan of the NH ones where all you do is compete against the clock, although I admit that it does make it easier to get the furniture. Maybe they could keep the NH version to get the items but also add a competitive aspect to see who can catch the most fish/highest Bell price in fish within the time limit to get the trophies?

They could even have events dedicated to other existing special characters - what if Gracie dedicated a certain time of the year to give a special fashion contest? She seems like the type who would love to make her own fashion-themed holiday.

---

Okay, this was way, way longer than I originally intended, but in summary: less control/being on an equal level with the villagers and earning control based on merit rather than title, more interesting villagers and interactions, giving them more autonomy and depth, making your connections with them more personal, and adding a few more events to the roster. Also, golden tools not breaking would be great too. :P

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

@Verecund, I really do admire the time you put into all of this. Heck, I might not even have to make my own thread detailing how I'd make my own Animal Crossing game because I can always refer to your post, here! In all seriousness, I find myself agreeing with plenty of your arguments, so I hope you don't mind if I expand on those for a bit.

Control:
-Player Role
-House Ratings
-Unlockables during Story Progression

I sometimes miss the old days when the player character was just another Villager. Becoming the Mayor was a logical step because you, as the player, inherently had more autonomy to begin with, so it does make sense, but I wouldn't mind going back to this role, as long as it doesn't gut the customization abilities and such too much.

I'm not sure about locking certain player abilities behind story beats/town ratings. I don't play NH as often as I'd like to because of how this information is conveyed to the player. Though I'm definitely down for something not as taxing as what we got with that game.

I wouldn't be against villagers rating my house, again. It provides an incentive to invite them over. Although, we should really be able to move furniture around, regardless if we have guests or not. This might be a Japanese thing, but that shouldn't apply to Animal Crossing. In addition, it'd be nice to grade their houses as well, and how they respond should reflect how much effort we know they put into their homes so they aren't hypocrites, criticizing the player for not having tables or whatever, when they barely have any basic essentials for theirs. Dialogue in the older games was especially incoherent.

Characters:
-Dialogue
-Hobbies
-Styles — likes/dislikes
-Moving
-Relationships
-Episodes

In regards to how villagers are much nicer in NL and NH, sure, you may be correct that you being the Mayor/RR could have something to do with the "nerfed" dialogue, but it might also be the result of a more faithful localization. Japanese villagers (at least on GC) weren't as snarky and rude as they were in Population Growing!. I can't help but feel people don't understand that them being "nice" or "mean" isn't even the issue — that the real issue is the dialogue not matching with certain personalities (Peppies being unrelentingly cold and harsh and acting just like Snooties was OOC in the older games; Crankies being jolly and happy all the time in the newer installments is also OOC) or how characters can say things that don't fit at all with a particular situation or doesn't make any sense. The series has always been inconsistent with how NPCs treated the player based on RNG, not because of the actions the player does which would naturally influenced their disposition towards them in other games (such as Stardew Valley, for example). It also doesn't help that the dialogue system that this series has been using for over twenty years now is a bit outdated, and needs a huge revamp; I mean, there should be more options than "Tell me something" and "Goodbye". Already elaborated on how they should approach this in my previous post above. It's possible to have up to four or five options of dialogue in these games, but four or five should really just be the standard, and not tied into an event or favor or something.

It's a bit embarrassing how a 2005 DS game was able to make better use of NPCs having hobbies and fleshing the dialogue to accommodate said hobbies... than a Nintendo Switch game in 2020. It's a shame how people overlook Wild World for its shortcomings and small scope in terms of well... everything. It's arguably the best in terms of writing, and writing isn't particularly Animal Crossing's strong suit.

Villagers in e+ could make comments on what you were wearing, and the responses varied by rather or not it's something they loved, hated, or a thing which didn't fall into either category. Styles were actually something they did back in that game, and WW operates on this mechanic in the same way. Needless to say, they really should being this back; villagers don't have to be positive about everything, Nintendo. This is a LIFE-Sim, so you should make your characters feel like people, because that's what they basically are.

I have to disagree with how WW dealt with villagers moving, because you had to go inside their house just to see if they're moving or not. They don't give a 5-10 day notice (NL) and don't even ping you about how they might leave your town someday (CF). It's nice you can get them to reconsider when they're in boxes (something that's oddly not in subsequent games), but they could still be in boxes within the next day or so. Honestly, WW made convincing villagers to stay tiring. If you wanted your favorite NPC to stay, it was pretty common to go more than five dialogue exchanges before they decided to stay, only for them to remain in boxes again. While I believe villagers should have a say if they want to stay or not, because NH mirrors something akin to a dictatorship, NL did this best; I just wish we could convince them when they're packing. I do agree with the rest of your paragraph, regarding this talking point. If they don't like you or your town, why would they care what you had to say? Those nasty goodbye letters they'd write once they left in WW would actually make sense if their relationship towards you was toxic, or you did a crappy job maintaining your town.

You get an outstanding 100% approval rating when it comes to relationships. Once again, WW is the only game in the series where relationships actually felt semi-genuine, even if it was still superficial in the end, anyway. I love how villagers gave you a photo, and ONLY one photo, and they'll actually ping you just for them to give it to you, as if it was a huge deal — and it was. They'll even ask if you kept it, and would understandably be pissed, disappointed, or hurt if you said no. They were like menentos. Why Villager Pics weren't in CF is something I'll never let down. Speaking of things being removed...

WW's episodes are largely the reason why I hold the game in higher regard than I do with the other AC games when it comes to dialogue. The best writing in the series comes from those alone; they added so much to most of the special characters, especially those who really needed it, like Tom Nook. Tom Nook going into detail about his life, how he's content with his "greedy raccoon salesman" reputation — as he believes this complacency will show young'uns the hardships of life, how he explains his own hardships to the player, a business mistake that resulted in a fractured friendship and cautioning others to not make the same economical mistakes as he did, and his relationship with Sable is just... precious. Wild World showed people (both in-game and IRL) how much of a good person Tom Nook really was. Which makes the fact that none of these episodes were present in CF — the one game where you can have the Nookington's upgrade WITHOUT another player visiting your town, just all the more infuriating. They gave this character such an interesting backstory, but they foolishly locked it behind an online feature; then, when it was possible to get the full requirements to get his backstory, it's not even in the game that's considered just a Wild World port. I don't know why Nintendo insists on removing GOOD content from other games for no reason. Anyway, the one episode with Labelle was fine, but I wish it wasn't just this one episode that only appears once and can never be revisited again by the same player.

I don't think I have anything to add to the "Events" section. I just wish some of WW's events returned in a future game because they at least had neat ideas, even if the execution wasn't perfect.

Okay. I'm done. Again, brilliant write-up. I don't think Nintendo's gonna even considered coming here to read any this, but spit-balling ideas with other people can be pretty fun.

 

[Beanz]

in my opinion, it wouldn’t be hard to top new horizons. nintendo needs to do something to satisfy both long time players and people who were just introduced to the game alike. it feels like this time nintendo was really looking to introduce new players to the series and it worked because no other animal crossing game has received as much critical acclaim as new horizons before. however, many people who played past games from the series such as myself were unsatisfied with the lack of content compared to the older titles even after the 2.0 update.

new horizons did many things right like the ability to place furniture outside, the ability to place villager plots, and villager hobbies like where you could actually SEE a jock villager exercising and it wasn’t just talked about like in the old games. new horizons is not a bad game by any means but there are some features that ruined it for me personally, terraforming is the number one reason why i quit playing, it made customization extremely overbearing. i’ve mentioned this before but i liked it better when animal crossing was a game about exploring and working with what the game gave you instead of becoming a god and controlling every tiny aspect of what you don’t like. i know it’s very unlikely that nintendo would remove terraforming because it’s one of the reasons why new horizons was so successful, as much as i don’t like it i could live with it if it was unlockable further on in the game beyond just a three star island.

like several other people have said i wish that animal crossing would go back to the town setting instead of to the island setting again. also this is unlikely but it would be cool if we could choose what environment we want our town to be in like a town in a forest, a desert, or island again. one of main reasons why animal crossing is my favorite video game franchise is because of the aesthetic, i don’t like new horizons graphics because it doesn’t really look like an animal crossing game. like others have said, i would love it if nintendo used the graphics from the animal crossing track in mario kart 8 in the next game. i’d like the next animal crossing game to have improved dialogue (new leaf was the beginning of dialogue decline but new horizons dialogue just sucks), the return of all past npcs somehow, the return of public works projects (yes you can still place furniture outside but there certain things that you must fund) and customization that is not overwhelming.

EDIT: i wanted to add my thoughts about the rolling log effect, i would be kind of upset if they removed it.

 

[MiniPocketWorld]

in my opinion, it wouldn’t be hard to top new horizons. nintendo needs to do something to satisfy both long time players and people who were just introduced to the game alike. it feels like this time nintendo was really looking to introduce new players to the series and it worked because no other animal crossing game has received as much critical acclaim as new horizons before. however, many people who played past games from the series such as myself were unsatisfied with the lack of content compared to the older titles even after the 2.0 update.

new horizons did many things right like the ability to place furniture outside, the ability to place villager plots, and villager hobbies like where you could actually SEE a jock villager exercising and it wasn’t just talked about like in the old games. new horizons is not a bad game by any means but there are some features that ruined it for me personally, terraforming is the number one reason why i quit playing, it made customization extremely overbearing. i’ve mentioned this before but i liked it better when animal crossing was a game about exploring and working with what the game gave you instead of becoming a god and controlling every tiny aspect of what you don’t like. i know it’s very unlikely that nintendo would remove terraforming because it’s one of the reasons why new horizons was so successful, as much as i don’t like it i could live with it if it was unlockable further on in the game beyond just a three star island.

like several other people have said i wish that animal crossing would go back to the town setting instead of to the island setting again. also this is unlikely but it would be cool if we could choose what environment we want our town to be in like a town in a forest, a desert, or island again. one of main reasons why animal crossing is my favorite video game franchise is because of the aesthetic, i don’t like new horizons graphics because it doesn’t really look like an animal crossing game. like others have said, i would love it if nintendo used the graphics from the animal crossing track in mario kart 8 in the next game. i’d like the next animal crossing game to have improved dialogue (new leaf was the beginning of dialogue decline but new horizons dialogue just sucks), the return of all past npcs somehow, and customization that is not overwhelming.

I don't think it would be unlikely the next game will allow you to choose a biome.

Looking back on new leaf, happy home designer, and pocket camp they used ideas from those to build prominent features for new horizons. Choosing a biome idea would be from the DLC of new horizons.. it is possible

The biome would be chosen at the beginning of the game, just like you choose the northern or southern hemisphere now. Then you would choose a map from that biome, kind of like in the DLC, hhp.
Biomes could provide extra of a type of resource and a lack, but not removed, of another resource. Example a forest may have more wood resources than a desert that doesn't have as many woody plants.
A forest may have mushroom spawns year round but need a greenhouse for cactus fruit and the opposite being true for desert.
A tundra, if it would be chosen as a choice, will still have seasons and so would a tropical jungle, but certain seasons may not be as pronounced as a result. Example, summer may still have very small patches of snow on the ground in the tundra while the tropical jungle in winter may have snow fall but not stick on the ground. Both would still allow snowflakes to be caught and used for crafting.
I couldn't see AC doing away with seasons, and I think this could work. I also couldn't see them doing more than four biome choices, and 4 would be very generous. Maybe a choice of two or maaybee three biomes would be more realistic.

--
I personally could see terraforming being locked to new horizons or limited in some way in the next game if we can choose a biome. Limited as for example, you pay to put a natural spring pond in your desert town rather than waterscaping it now as we know it in new horizons. Or pay for a dam to open more area in a grassy map but not fully remove the stream.
Cliffs is something to "worry about" when choosing your map after selecting your biome.

 

[tessa grace]

Literally ditto with everyone plus a couple things I wanna emphasize:
Something I loved about the old games (ahem city folk) was the seperation of the town and the actual city. Going to the city 1. Had a great soundtrack
2. Was really magical!
What if these were seperated and you could even get villagers to move in in the city or you could have like a penthouse in the city or something? (Definitely as an unlockable thing overtime) I think that would be a really cool mechanic to add to the game plus it would make interactions with the city/stores more than just doing your dailies.

I agree that we need more variety in our conversations with the villagers, so how about they start off our next game going ACGC style and make the villagers absolutely brutal? We only ever upset them if we hit them with alot of nets or push them. Sorry, but I've seen all the other villagers get in fights with each other and I want in. My town will be the real housewives of animal crossing cause istg I think it would be really entertaining to have negative interactions with my villagers.

The last thing I want to add that I don't think has been said is bring back old npcs. The autosave feature is useful, sure, but I loved the reset center and just being able to reset in general. It made the game once again a bit more entertaining. I also miss Gracie and her snooty behavior (and horrible fashion sense, LMAO). I also loved Club LOL just for the fact that we could learn emotions through dad jokes, plus Dr. Shrunk added so much personality to the game! If they could somehow integrate his character again into the next game I will be very happy. Kapp'n feels sort of useless in thie game which leads me on to my next thought, BRING BACK TORTIMER ISLAND. Tortimer Island was one of the only reasons I found the multiplayer function actually enjoyable. I miss tours and all the little minigames you could play. It was a lot funner to play with friends plus you could talk with Kapp'n's wife Leilani, Gram, and his kid Leila who were all once again adding flavor to the game. The little island was great for fishing and if it was bigger and we were able to customize it more, I think that would be really fun.

One last thought: maybe swimming in rivers? I've always wanted to and I don't see any reason why not.

 

[VanitasFan26]

I'll just say this since I said this in a similar thread, The games have changed throughout the year. You went from being a Resident in a Town to being the new Mayor (New Leaf) and Resident Representative (New Horizons). So I have to wonder what role will be like in the next Animal Crossing game? My guess is that we could go back to being the Mayor again but this time instead of being in charge of a Town you're in charge of a City. You're job as Mayor is to make buildings, hire workers, build a community, and design the layout of what the city should look like. Now this sounds crazy but I think it would be really cool to have your own City. City Folk we only just visited the city so I figured maybe one day we can make our own City.

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

I agree that we need more variety in our conversations with the villagers, so how about they start off our next game going ACGC style and make the villagers absolutely brutal? We only ever upset them if we hit them with alot of nets or push them. Sorry, but I've seen all the other villagers get in fights with each other and I want in. My town will be the real housewives of animal crossing cause istg I think it would be really entertaining to have negative interactions with my villagers.

Still a hard pass. Villagers got upset at you just for talking to them. Don't want to pay 900 bells for a non-native fruit (even if it's something that you already grew trees from)? "You're a cheap bum!" Don't like the paintjob your villager gave you without your consent? "You're an ingrate!" A Snooty villager hates the town tune? "Change it, you simpleton!" That's not hyperbole, either — these are just three of many examples of how poorly villagers treated the player in PG!, and if this sort of dialogue does make a return, it should be warranted, rather than them hating you simply for existing. If they insult and berate you, that has to be deserved, rather than it being the first time you ever talk to them. I think it's important not to discourage players from bonding with their villagers; otherwise, it's a one-sided friendship, at best. Again, I'm not against villagers being rude on principal, but it shouldn't just be this constant cycle of villagers belittling you without any response to fling back at them.

 

[MiniPocketWorld]

I wonder if a heart friendship system would work well for a game like this. Example, you have a villager who moved in with neutral small talk dialog and has 5 empty hearts. From this point, you can gain red hearts which would be building friendship and cause nicer and more in-depth dialog, or you can gain black hearts which would be building an adversary or enemy the dialog would express thier dislike for the player. I still think the insults need tonned down from screenshots I've seen from older games.
Now these hearts aren't a like a skill tree thing. Someone could have built up 3 red hearts with a villager but they cannot gain a black heart until they loose all three red hearts in order to have all 5 hearts empty to be able to gain a black heart.
I'd be surprised if Nintendo would do something like this, but I do think a system like this would be a happy medium for people who want "mean villagers vs nice villagers".

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

I wonder if a heart friendship system would work well for a game like this. Example, you have a villager who moved in with neutral small talk dialog and has 5 empty hearts. From this point, you can gain red hearts which would be building friendship and cause nicer and more in-depth dialog, or you can gain black hearts which would be building an adversary or enemy the dialog would express thier dislike for the player. I still think the insults need tonned down from screenshots I've seen from older games.
Now these hearts aren't a like a skill tree thing. Someone could have built up 3 red hearts with a villager but they cannot gain a black heart until they loose all three red hearts in order to have all 5 hearts empty to be able to gain a black heart.
I'd be surprised if Nintendo would do something like this, but I do think a system like this would be a happy medium for people who want "mean villagers vs nice villagers".

I'm certain that it'd be a net positive, a MUCH needed direction in terms of villager interaction, and a nice balance. I might sound like a broken record on this thread (or this website in general) concerning dialogue in AC, but dialogue is perhaps the most important mechanic for these simulators that has the player interacting with NPCs on a day-to-day basis. I seriously don't understand why it hasn't been done, already. To be fair, Pocket Camp does has something similar to what you're proposing, but it's more simplified and villagers are warm to you from the start, so it's only there to reward players with materialistic junk and leveling up, rather than actually forming a relationship with them.

Honestly, I don't understand people when they say, "Oh, the dialogue is watered down because everyone's nicer!" Or "Rudeness gave the games more personality!" I mean, I agree partially with the latter sentiment, but that only applies to villagers you expected to be rude in the first place because of their personality. I actually do (somewhat) enjoy Snooties and Crankies being true to their archetypes, but Peppies pre-NL were PAINFULLY obnoxious and cared more about what you had in your pockets than genuinely being upbeat and friendly to you (especially in WW), and they were easily the most annoying to talk to in CF. Jocks were okay on GC, I guess, but they became way dumber and even more insensitive to everyone around them in the two games following it. They were a lot less one-dimension in NL; they're still sport fanatics without having 95% of their dialogue being focused on that one particular trait. The point in all of this is so many people fail to realize that issues with the writing was never villagers being one or the other. Both extremes are annoying, and villagers should consistently treat the player according to their personality and how much time they spent living and/or bonding with the player. That's the most crucial aspect I want in the next game, and it really bothers me that Nintendo/Treehouse are most likely content with how the dialogue is.

 

[MiniPocketWorld]

On a slightly related note, I wonder if they will go as far as limiting the fruit per map. I wonder if they will have it that only certain things grow outside on your map to help with variety.
For ACNH, it was kind of odd that the native fruit was a thing, but no perfect fruit, and there wasn't a limit on fruit really. From what I hear, you can get all the fruit via Kappn's Islands if you can't trade with a person. And the only thing about the native fruit that effects the game are the drinks that villagers hold, and the price you can sell your fruit, native being the least profitable.
I just wonder if they will do more with native fruits in the next game.

Example:
The game will start out with you &/or Tom Nook meeting up with a Realtor. Through the Realtor's Interview Questions:
Biome Structure/Style Options: Mountain, Island, Desert Plain
Biome Ground Options: Grass Sand Gravel?.
Map Spawns: Your map will have one of these as a *Native Fruit. Restrictions may apply upon ground spawn.
Oranges, Pears, Peaches, Cherries, *Coconuts, Durians, Mangos, Bananas, Dragon Fruit, Saguaro Fruit, & Prickly Pear Fruit
Lemons, Lychee, Persimmons, Pomegranates, Figs, Mulberries, Plums
That feels like a ton of fruit... let's cross some out. Let's double the 6 we had in NH... do12 instead of 15 I typed.
~
*Coconuts can grow on the beach areas of all maps, even if it is not a native fruit. Otherwise, all other fruits that are not native to the Map, will have to be grown inside a green house. Or if the Ground Spawn Restriction is a thing, then the fruits dedicated to the ground type can be planted outside on your map. The rest will be green house.
Example:
6 Options for Grass: Oranges, Pears, Peaches, Cherries, Durians, Apples
5 Options for Sand: Saguaro Fruit, Prickly Pear Fruit, Mangos, Dragon Fruit, Coconuts
6 Options for Gravel: Bananas, Sanguaro Fruit, Prickly Pear, Peaches, Cherries, Apples
Or if Gravel isn't a thing, then Bananas could go to the Grass option.

**Foreign fruit can be acquired easiest through player trading or through tourist trades. Tourist Trades happen when you have villagers stay at a Motel on your Map. They will request trading with you upon talking to them. You can acquire a diy, a recipe, a veggie, or foreign fruit.
Perfect Fruit will be a thing for your native fruit. And your chances of getting a foreign fruit will increase if you trade a perfect fruit with a tourist.

Veggies, Berry Shrubs, and Flowers can only grow outside in the dirt path. These can be acquired from Leif along with a diy for sprinklers, diy for hedge fencing, and flowering shrubs. The Dirt patch creation can be a skill acquired from Leif with a tool.

 

[Mairen]

In New Horizons, they let us decorate freely outside, in the next game, I hope they take the next step and actually let us use/interact with them more than just sitting on chairs. Let us swim in the pools, soak in the baths, play on the playground equipment, purchase drinks/snacks from the vending machines, ride the carnival rides, play minigames on the arcade machines, etc. Give the items more worth than just a decoration.

I do also agree that deeper dialogue needs to happen. While I don't exactly need every villager insulting me on the day we meet (except the crankys because it would fit their personality), I'd love to have to work to build up friendship levels to a certain degree. And don't just let the various friendship levels unlock more dialogue, lets bring further perks to the table as well. Inviting to go on "dates" with you (not specifically romantic, I couldn't think of a better word). Like walking through the museum together, going on a picnic, meeting at the cafe, things like that

 

[amemome]

Honestly, the QOL feature that would one-up ACNH (for me) would be an island editor mode where I could mass-move flowers, paths, and fences like in HHP-mode. I have a flower and weed problem that makes it too daunting to even start landscaping again. I'm not super picky about how my villagers interact with me or how limited the dialogue is. Or even the music to be honest, though I do prefer the music from older AC releases. For me, ACNH was all about landscaping and aesthetics and I liked that. The simple 3D graphics were fine. The jittering landscape/buildings from load wasn't unplayably distracting to me. I just wish it were easier to maintain my island's "look" and switch it up without having to dedicate an entire day just to relocate trees and flowers.

General item-related updates I'd like are just a couple more outdoor furniture options and some of the GracieGrace sets from ACNL (such as the Princess and Gorgeous series furnitures). I'd also just like to be able to plant persimmon trees, as persimmons tie into a lot of the aesthetic plans I had for my island.