Advice for people who still want to make perfect islands

[iamjohnporter67]

As the old saying goes "nobody is perfect" and there is not such thing as a "perfect island"

I get that people try too hard to make their islands perfect but the thing is that they need to understand. Its best not to compare your island to other islands. You make whatever stands out to you and also really becareful with starting over because all the stuff you had like your donations the museum, villagers, bells, nook miles, are all gone and you have to recollect them.

Again like I said its best not compare your island to others. Don't take this as me telling how to play the game but its just some advice for people who wants to make their island as best as possible and how they should make it however they feel fits with them. Trust me I used to think that where my island was really bad and I copied what others did. Which was a mistake on my part so I redid my island from the ground up and now I'm more Happy.

Don't let others try to pressure you into making a awesome island just because they saw a better looking one. Remember Animal Crossing is not meant to be a competition. If you are happy with your island and like it how it is don't let others say otherwise. They are all opinions at the end of the day.

 

[Holla]

I totally agree with you. I used to see photos of other islands and dream addresses that made me feel like my island was bad in comparison. Now I know it's not the case. You don't need to cram in as many decorations as you can, nor do you need to go crazy with terraforming by making fancy waterfalls everywhere. Your island is what you make it.

No two islands are the same and no island is bad. Just decorate in the way you want and enjoy it.

My island is decently decorated but far from crammed, plus I did very little terraforming mostly just moved a couple ponds and reshaped a couple little areas. I'm pretty happy with it so far now. My houses are behind on being decorated but I know they will look nice once I get around to them.

 

[JKDOS]

Don't let others try to pressure you into making a awesome island just because they saw a better looking one. Remember Animal Crossing is not meant to be a competition. If you are happy with your island and like it how it is don't let others say otherwise. They are all opinions at the end of the day.

I think we pressure ourselves more than others do. I can be unhappy with my island, but I'll have visitors comment they love it.

EDIT: More to say.

In the past 2 months, I've actually learned that screenshots of towns can be deceptive. You can design a small area that looks good from one angle, but the town and a whole may not look as good as what you're seeing from that one screenshot. I thought I should add this because you're seeing your town from every aspect possible, so it's not going to always look picture perfect. Keep this in mind when you see screenshots of other towns.

 

[Furrton]

I am just now starting to look for custom designs for pathways...I've been playing since Day 1 pretty religiously! The beauty of this game is that you can go at your own pace. Meanwhile I've been trying to keep up with WoW and the storyline and a lot of it gets spoiled before I can even play through the game.

So I agree. And TAKE PICS!!! Take pics before you change stuff! Often! I miss some of the things I tore down now!

The images designed by people who play this game and want to show off their work are amazing and I can see that people practice their IRL design skills on these things. They can really be works of art sometimes!

 

[nightglow]

I am learning less is more with this game. You need blank space for some things. Like snowpeople.

 

[RollingAntony]

Every island I have visited is beautiful, each on their own way. I have seen islands completely terraformed that look gorgeous and I can't imagine how much time was spent on it, I have been on islands with minimal terraforming that are stunning and I wonder how they decided to do that, etc. Each island is unique, some people have their islanders arranged on neighbourhoods and let their creativity run wild with all the free space while others have yards for their islanders and fill them with so much great stuff.

The creativity I've seen from this game keeps amazing me every day, just the other day I saw someone recreating a mexican kitchen and it was so cool.

 

[Raz]

I agree. And I would say, your "perfect" island is perfect when you decide it is. It's your island and it's a reflection of your personal tastes and preferred themes and/or aesthetics.

I'm in the process of rebuilding a large portion of my island because now I have all the items I wanted to make the island look like I envisioned when I started. It's not even a case of being dissatisfied with the layout I had or because other people criticized my island (on the contrary). But I'm also not chasing perfection because, as you've said, there's no such thing as perfection. It's more like "this is how I want it to look like", and trying to make it look like you planned or at least, very close to it.

AC isn't a competition and you shouldn't pressure yourself because your island doesn't look like some of those other islands you see on youtube, instagram or whatever. Just an example, most of the islands I see that people call them "perfect" are just not my cup of tea. It's not something I would like to do with my island. I'm not going to adopt other people's themes and aesthetics just because other think they're perfect.

Just think about how beauty standards can be toxic and cause anxiety, depression and other things. Don't let the "AC beauty standards" do the same with you and ruin your experience with the game.

 

[Cowplant]

I also think it's important to keep in mind how long those islands have been worked on. Rome wasn't built in a day, you know. Those people have been working on their islands since release day, painstakingly mapping layouts, picking out dreamies, resetting for the perfect town, terraforming, tearing it down, then terraforming again, grinding for the right DIYs to display, breeding flowers, etc.

I've followed blogs, Tumblrs, Instagrams, and YouTube channels that have put literal YEARS into getting their New Leaf town to look just right...and that was before terraforming and outside furniture was added!

So, don't compare your rough draft to someone's finished project! Instead of thinking "my town doesn't look great right now" think of it as a labor of love. Animal Crossing is meant to be played for a long time, so take that time getting to learn the mechanics of each game and testing what type of style you want for your town.

 

[annex]

I agree. I have been addicted to visiting random dream towns. Some are more enjoyable than others, but they are all little works of art. They may not be you tube material, but I've seen some unique, clever, and beautiful areas in a lot of them. I visited one last night that wasn't that great, but the house interior rooms were awesome. One terraformed a deck around their house. It looked amazing.

 

[JellyBeans]

I agree! I take a lot of inspiration from dream islands/yt videos/pinterest pics and when you do that it can be very easy to compare yourself to what others have done, but I do love my island (most of the time) and it's designed in a way that's enjoyable for me to play on which ultimately is all we can ask for. some online islands are absolutely stunning but I don't think I could handle the drop in frame rate that comes with having so many items gathered in one area!

 

[ReeBear]

So many great points!
As well as avoiding comparison to others and remembering go at my own pace, another thing I've found really good for my experience of acnh is embracing my island as ever shifting. I often will focus on a small area and put a lot of thought into designing it before taking a break from designing altogether. Then I may go to a different part of my island to play with ideas or simple take down/redo a previous area. Playing with design ideas and shifting them as I develop them is a lot of the fun for me ~
I find visiting people for trades has made me really appreciate the variety of islands out there, and seeing a lot of islands like mine where some areas are heavily designed and others are more messy or natural is always reassuring

 

[Xara]

agreed 100%! i honestly haven’t dedicated much time at all towards decorating my island (which is totally okay!) and often feel incredibly insecure when looking at what other people have come up with. while insecurity is sadly a normal part of life, like you said, perfection has no concrete definition at all; as long as you’re happy with what you do and create, that is the only thing that matters at the end of the day. :’)

but while we’re on this topic, i’d actually like to recommend something that someone shared in another thread on here (can’t remember the user or the thread, sadly >_<) which is the crappyac subreddit! ‘picture perfect’ islands and areas can definitely be intimidating at times and can lead to insecurity and so, i think that a community dedicated to sharing shots of ‘fails’, unfinished/messy islands, etc could really be comforting as some as it’s a reminder that animal crossing isn’t, and never has been, a competition and that not everybody has it made, which is absolutely okay!

 

[Snek]

I totally argee because I used to always reset my town in NL. I used to reset because I wasn't satisfied with what I had or got burnt out with the previous town, or wanted a different name for it, etc. End result was always the same: dissatisfaction. NH is so much harder to reset. You have to collect all the DIYs again as well as all the fossils, bugs, fish, and art for the museum. Even more painful would be getting the Celeste Diys. Such a waste of time and you know what they say about insanity...

 

[VanitasFan26]

Taking your time is something I learned and I am now more comfortable doing stuff bit by bit and not rushing through. I did a lot of that last year and thats the reason why I got exhausted from the game. I learned that there is no need to rush to do stuff so quickly. At the moment I saw people redoing their islands not because they hate it but they want a fresh start while we are waiting for updates.

I went with a mindset of "stuff that used to look good then doesn't look good now" and then I picture in my mind what can I turned this into and then the idea just comes to my head and I just make it how I see it has potential. Its always best never to compare yourself to others. I was guilty of that myself last year when I was overwhelmed by so many good islands from other people. I learned that its best to just to make what you feel works for you. Sure I have taken inspiration from others but still I made whatever was in my head. No copy or paste from other's islands. I know sometimes we are at war with ourselves when we struggle to find what makes an island so good but the moral of story is always make how you feel works for you and not worry how others do their island.

 

[Moritz]

Main thing is having an island that works for you imo.
It may be nice to have others like it, but if you don't then what's the point in even playing?

There are lots of really pretty islands out there but I doubt I would want to live in them. Too open plan, too cramped, cuts off views, too many routes. No routes.
we have different tastes.
I and im sure most others have designed our islands to meet our own needs.

Of course if you're not happy then keep working at it, but I don't think someone else's work should make you unhappy.
If you really think theirs is better and suits your needs better, don't steal from it, but study it and take notes on why you like it. See what you can take inspiration from.