Advice for a newbie - town planning/landscaping and keeping track of things

[Laurelinde]

Hi all,

I'm not 100% new to Animal Crossing but I have only had ACNL for about a month. I'm trying to get my town and my house into a state where I'm satisfied with them but I could use some advice. I don't think I chose a particularly good town layout (too many ponds, Re-Tail in an awkward place), but I don't really want to restart and lose everything I've done in the last month or so.



This is my current town map. I'm in a sort of residential area near the town hall. The Roost is next to the Town Hall and the floral clock is out front. I've got paths running along between the buildings and a main road that runs west-east from the cliffside path to the eastern bridge. The southern island has Re-Tail and then the camping area with the water pump. The wind turbine is up in the northwest corner along the cliff. The police station is near the entrance to main street, and a fountain is next to it on the way to my Town Tree plaza.

Current issues and questions:
1. Dirt/grass deterioration. I've laid down paths now as of yesterday which I am trying to stick to. However, I am still in the stage of shaking the trees every day, for fruit and (mostly) for furniture. Currently, there isn't a path near all of my trees as I was going for a more natural/foresty town, and because I kind of find the paths annoying. I have a tendency to accidentally erase them when I'm trying to pick things up; or I have too many near a tree and fruit disappears; or I want to walk diagonally and it looks a bit odd. Do most people set paths around every area of town and make sure trees are planted right alongside? Or does having sort of undeveloped forest areas without paths look ok, as long as I try to vary where I walk around them to preserve the grass a bit?

2. Flowers and hybrids. I've got a few hybrids and I'm working on making more. I had my flowers planted in more organised groups, but I've moved a lot of them now to areas where I want the grass to grow back, so it looks kind of random. I also have 'flower fields' for each type of flower, in rows of two with spaces around to try to grow hybrids. These are also not along paths. Am I better off placing the types and colours of flowers where I want them now (e.g. along paths) and hoping to get hybrids that way, or am I ok to wander off paths to check these fields each day?

3. Bridges. Is there an optimal number or placement for these? I feel ok with the two I have now, but would adding a third (maybe somewhere in the middle?) be better?

4. PWPs. So far I've done: cobblestone bridge, flower clock, two lamps, park clock, fountain, water pump, campsite, wind turbine, town hall refurb, classic Police Station, The Roost, Museum upgrade. I really want the wisteria trellis and maybe the hot springs but they haven't been suggested yet. I've hit perfect town status, but is it looking kind of empty and boring still? Any suggestions?

And finally, this is kind of unconnected, but how do people plan and organise their towns and villagers? I've decided to let a villager go for the first time today (and I feel weirdly guilty about it!) and I'm wondering if there's an easy way to keep track of who I've seen and when. Do people keep spreadsheets or lists, or just wing it? Maybe it doesn't matter, I'm not entirely sure. :S

Sorry for the really long post, I am kind of a nervous Purvis! :S

 

[visibleghost]

i don't have answers for all of your stuff but i can tell you how i plan my towns!!

with the dirt stuff i totaLLY FEEL YOU it was soooOo hard for me to get rid off my dirt... then i time traveled in bulks and all of it went away lmao
really, all you can do is to wait. try to not run (walking is better than running) and keep to your paths a lot. keep the flowers there and then wait. i used to water the flowers on the dirt every day but i don't think it made too much of a difference lol

i have an idea of what i think looks good, for inspiration i might go to dream towns and stuff. when i have a general idea (for example, natural town, many trees, dirt paths and some colourful flowers) i start planning out area by area whenever i feel like it. i have patterns i use that say "tree","stump", "path", "pwp" etc so it is easier to plan stuff out (so i don't have to build it and then destroy it if it doesnt work out lmao)

i also look at pwps i like and want to have in my town!! and then i plan around them, for instance i kind of really wanted a nice camping area in my town so i found a lot of pwps that would fit (even though i didnt have all of them suggested atm i still planned for them) and then i started thinking about what would look good with trees etc.

as for keeping track of moved out villagers i have a tumblr blog (lmao ikr) for animal crossing and i write everyone who has moved on a page there lmao...
after a few more villagers move out the villagers who moved out first will start showing up in your main street, so you will see them for a while ^^

 

[Sdj4148]

I'm going to tell you what most people do, but what you do in your town is mostly up to preference, most people like towns that aren't like what I like to call "tumblr towns". Most people have paths leading to almost everywhere they have to walk. Usually there's path leading to every building, house, or clearing where they need to go. Most people also have trees, flowers, or bushes lining those paths. Also, when you see towns with fruit trees lining their paths and things, usually they aren't at a point where they need to harvest those trees, they're mainly there for decoration. With your hybrids, they can breed along paths. Again, it's mostly up to preference. I don't know if hybrid gardens produce more then hybrids lining your path so you might have to do some research. Also, I'd like to let you know that every town has dirt patches that will never grow. Most people cover those up with paths or flowers or something. I feel that little undeveloped, more natural areas are very refreshing in a town! This post is kinda long so I'm going to let other people answer your questions. And remember: WHAT YOU DO IS UP TO YOU AND WHAT YOU LIKE! If you want ideas, go visit some dream towns! My town, Sapphire, isn't the best example, but if you want to visit for ideas, go ahead! Hope this helps!

 

[FoxFeathers]

Okay, well I here's sorta what I do in each of those categories, maybe it'll help you get some ideas? Keep in mind, I've had the game since 2014 and I'm still ironing out everything to make it good. That's the major draw for me to play ever day, tweaking things around to see how it looks in my town.

1. Dirt/grass deterioration.
I have diagonal and curving paths along with straight ones. I made a simple brick pattern set to use that is flexible enough to curve and what not, without taking up much space in my pattern inventory. (there are a few guides online that will show you exactly how to do it.
I laid these paths on areas that I usually walk on to get from one place to another naturally, then I keep to walking on those paths most of the time. This said, there are plenty of areas that are not paved that I make dense and forested.

(also if you are going after fruit for bells, you might want to try beetle hunting in the evenings on the island. There are a couple good guides around on how to set up your island to be the most profitable, and you can clear 250k-300k or more for a full shipping box of beetles/sharks.)


2. Flowers and hybrids:
Here's a tip, grow your flowers on the beach. Villagers won't mess around with them down there and they won't build houses on top of your fancy new hybrids. (it might also be helpful to store a pair of hard to get hybrids in your house or closet, just in case something happens you'll always have those to breed more.

One thing I like to do it for each villager, have a single row of different flowers around their house. I like to make the flowers reflect something about the villager in question. Like Midge has lighter purples, whites and pinks, while Phoebe has purple, red and yellow to match her feathers.

If you wanna do flower fields, if you don't protect the area with different PWP's you do run the risk of a villager moving in and putting their house in the middle of a field. I use things like lamp posts along each side of my main road to protect it for that reason.

3. Bridges.
I prefer three fairly evenly spaced throughout my village for ease of movement, but in your case it may not be needed as your river isn't as long as the one in my village. So it's whatever you are most comfortable with.

4. PWPs:
A fun thing I put in my town is a bamboo forest that has tiles around it to keep it from sprouting up everywhere. Another thing I did was get a bonfire and I'm growing for patterned stumps all around it so villagers/visitors can sit around the fire.
I also made a "park" like area around my town hall. It has a fountain, a couple trellis's, the coffee shop and a bus stop since it's kinda a busy place, as I have to go through that area it to reach the dock.

Remember that it doesn't have to be flawless, it's fun to work with what you have and make something special out of it. There were several areas that bugged me in my village, but then I started playing with trees, pwps and paths and now I really like them. So don't worry and have fun!

 

[Laurelinde]

Thank you all so much for your suggestions! I actually like to put a row of flowers around villagers' houses too. Planting them on the beach is a great tip though - I didn't realise they would grow there! If I move the 'fields' ones there then that can hopefully reduce down some of the grass wear to other places. I'll try adding in a few more paths too, and see what kind of bare patches I end up with - hopefully I can put some kind of tiles or PWPs there. The dirt looks ok in narrow sections but when it's just a giant mud field it's kinda ick.

Night all!