Am I the only one stressed out by terraforming?

[foxgl0ves]

Honestly for me, it’s annoying and overwhelming. I kinda hate that creating/destroying is used with the same button, cause sometimes when I wanna destroy a part of, say, a river, then it just pushes dirt instead and CREATES a ledge or something. I’m not sure how to explain that.

Also, it’s stressful cause I honestly can’t even picture how I want my island to look. I’m very visual when it comes to learning and I even tried drawing my map, but the proportions are off so I can’t properly place things. I, sadly, have been in an art block lately that has transferred into an “everything block” which includes designing apparently.

I can’t seem to picture where I want to place the shop, able sisters, museum etc. Can’t decide if I want to put all the residents on one side or the other. It’s just a lot I guess lol. Am I alone in how overwhelming it is?

 

[Xara]

you’re not - i’m stressed about it, too. i only have one plan that involves terraforming and then i might not do it again as it really is a bit overwhelming lol

 

[foxgl0ves]

you’re not - i’m stressed about it, too. i only have one plan that involves terraforming and then i might not do it again as it really is a bit overwhelming lol

Ugh it’s annoying! Like I wants to adjust my cliffs and river due to not being able to place all my villagers in the same general area (it’s more like two fit side by side here and two fit in another spot for example) and now I’m just like darn I wish I hadn’t even started trying this lol

 

[Bluebellie]

I thought I was very artsy and crafty until I unlocked terraforming. I can’t even tell you how my town looks right now. I have villagers all over the place. I deleted my rivers and now I can’t quite get them to look nice rebuilding. I keep tearing down and rebuilding. I’m about to start on cliff now, and I’m not sure how to even start that.

 

[Fiain]

And this is why I won't terraform much on my island. Because it does feel overwhelming. It's really neat that we can do this, I'm glad to have the tools, but there's just so much you could do and for me, I'll never be able to decide so much.

 

[Chachamaru]

Its a very arduous, tedious process. I :sorta: completed mine, but it took 3 days of nonstop play, and even now I think it looks a bit.. Much. unnatural. Janky. I wanted something sorta grand so I put all the shops up on this cliff surrounding the town hall, but now if you try to walk behind the giant cliff the games view is distorted/weird, I think I went overboard with the waterfall/mermaid tide pool I made, idk. I'm gonna see if it will grow on me and if not, I will erase my game and start from scratch. I wish they had an undo button lol.

My advice to anyone who has yet to dive into it, go slow, don't overshoot your grand ideas, one thing at a time.

 

[Heartcore]

I feel the stress and understand what you mean! I feel like I'm super bad at this kind of stuff but I keep telling myself that it's a process and nothing will be 100% perfect right away.

 

[Mairen]

I'm not stressed out exactly, but I don't know what to expect with it either. I have a bunch of ideas I want to utilize, but I'm not sure if I can make them all work. I haven't unlocked it yet, so I've just been planning out ideas in my head for now.

 

[JKDOS]

Also, it’s stressful cause I honestly can’t even picture how I want my island to look. I’m very visual when it comes to learning and I even tried drawing my map, but the proportions are off so I can’t properly place things. I, sadly, have been in an art block lately that has transferred into an “everything block” which includes designing apparently.

Use an online map planner. You can easily plan out some ideas rather than doing it live and impromptu style.

Here is an example of what I planned out

 

[carackobama]

I haven’t even unlocked it and I’m stressed lmao

 

[Miss Misty]

I haven't even unlocked it yet and I'm overwhelmed. I have no idea how I want my town to look. There are a few things I want to try, so I'll start from there and see how it goes.

 

[Ace Marvel]

What's been working for me is to just concentrate in a little section at a time like a 20x20 square and slowly but surely changing it, I also tried to use what was already in my island and work from there. Also I try to imagine what I will use the space for, for example if I get a 3x10 space it would be a flower bed, or a 7x8 for a small park, etc.

 

[JKDOS]

I can’t seem to picture where I want to place the shop, able sisters, museum etc. Can’t decide if I want to put all the residents on one side or the other. It’s just a lot I guess lol. Am I alone in how overwhelming it is?

Honestly, this may be more of a creativity problem, than a terraforming problem. I suffer from the same thing. 1 thing that I think could really help is inspiration. Go visit towns that have been terraformed, or watch youtube videos on it. Right now, they may be very sparse due to the amount of people not time-traveling, and the fact we are less than a couple weeks into the game, but in time we should see a lot of ideas spawning all over the web.

 

[AppleBitterCrumble]

Im also stressed too!

My goal is to build up some secluded waterfall spots
but I am not sure how I will build my rivers/water spots

 

[mermaidshelf]

Yes, I'm super stressed. I want thing to retain a natural look while also being orderly and symmetrical. Yikes!

 

[Fluuffy]

There's so many things I want to try or even copy from others ideas in terraforming but it really ruins what I originally envisioned my island would be. I mean everyone makes such cool and amazing areas in their town. I basically just stopped terraforming to prevent myself from being too jelly of others super islands XD I knew what I wanted from the beginning and I terraformed my island close it to it with a some changes but oh well. I'm keeping my island how it is for now (I like it ^^) and can always terraform again if I want to.

What worked for me is I just try out one idea or as some else mentioned one small area. If it looks nice, great! If not, remove it, do something else other than terraforming then comeback when I suddenly have an idea

 

[Mayor Monday]

I totally agree.

It's not that I dislike terraforming, but I can never get what's in my head out into reality fast enough. That's what aggravates me. lol

 

[Solio]

What's been working for me is to just concentrate in a little section at a time like a 20x20 square and slowly but surely changing it, I also tried to use what was already in my island and work from there. Also I try to imagine what I will use the space for, for example if I get a 3x10 space it would be a flower bed, or a 7x8 for a small park, etc.

Didn't get the tool yet, but this seems like really good advice. Trying to work with the structure your island comes with seems easier than starting from scratch. Also try to think of places that have been bothering you because they were in the way or in the wrong place, consider how picky inclines an bridges with their requirements are.

 

[Sloom]

I'm stressed about it too, and quite happy I haven't unlocked it yet so I have some time to think.

I've been screenshotting some islands I've visited / seen online and using that as an inspiration while I work on my happy island designer version of my map. it definitely is overwhelming, I knew it would be as soon as it was revealed, but I am also very excited about it.
in NL when I was younger I would just throw buildings and bridges and PWPs everywhere like a rart and my town turned out disgusting, so I'm definitely going to take things very slow, and not start until I'm definitely sure on my placement of everything

 

[foxgl0ves]

Honestly, this may be more of a creativity problem, than a terraforming problem. I suffer from the same thing. 1 thing that I think could really help is inspiration. Go visit towns that have been terraformed, or watch youtube videos on it. Right now, they may be very sparse due to the amount of people not time-traveling, and the fact we are less than a couple weeks into the game, but in time we should see a lot of ideas spawning all over the web.

Oh I know that part is creativity failure on my part. However, I still hate that sometimes if I’m trying to expand the river/cliff, if I’m not positioned just right it’ll create more land for example and it’s annoying. I wish it was like...A to push create and B to destroy or something idk. I hate having to position just right and I sometimes have to do it all over again. I wanted to create a star pond and it’s just annoying to try and do so lol