anyone else overwhelmed with how to even start designing their island?

[maxii]

i am a perfectionist when it comes to creating things. i used to do a lot of building in the sims and it would take me much longer than others. i have had the game since release, unlocked terrain tools, but i haven't been able to make any progress designing my island. every time i try and do something i either, 1) hate it or 2) become overwhelmed and just give up.

has anyone else had this experience? more importantly, does anyone have any tips for tackling this overwhelming project?

 

[Dwayne Johnson]

this is the reason im still at 2 stars lol, i have no idea where to even begin

 

[Laureline]

I’m gonna honest with you, I feel the same every time I look at my map. I try looking for inspiration but it ends up not helping.

 

[brockbrock]

Yep. I go through the same stuff (and in The Sims).

I've designed about 15-20% of my island so far, and love how it looks. I am just taking it a day at a time and forcing myself to accept the slow pace (which would happen either way, whether or not I take a slow approach willingly or spend hours agonizing fueled by an impatient attitude which results in nothing getting done).

I've looked at some island tours on YouTube and some of the beautiful towns shared here, but ultimately I've had a visual in my mind of what I want my town to look like and used that as the inspiration.

At this rate I'll be done in a few months, maybe, but at least I'm not fighting myself as much as I did in New Leaf (so far, anyways).

I wish you the best with your town. I really do understand.

 

[a sprout]

I usually get like this! I got like that a lot with New Leaf. For NH, I took a picture of my map and drew on top of it to figure out where I wanted things! So far, things are going okay.

 

[Edge]

I felt a bit overwhelmed too. So, I just started with a small part of my island and worked from there. Ive come to accept that it is a work in progress and may change on the fly if new items are ever introduced through updates. It really helped me to make a list of things I wanted and then draw a sketch of where I thought they should go. It is alright if you don’t like what you made because you can always change it.

 

[riummi]

^ yup! I started off with just a small part and started branching out my paths! I've changed my areas so many times already and am starting to become satisfied with the result You can always change things if you don't like them.

 

[biksoka]

Yeppp - I've built and torn down so many bridges and inclines because the second I think I'm okay with it I start to hate it ; = ;

Sadly that means I have no tips other than crying

 

[starlightsong]

i've mostly just been focusing on decorating my house because i can't even begin to decide what my island layout should be tbh... nintendo i am DESPERATE for the dream suite to come back, please give luna her own island like harvey has, it was crucial to me for getting inspiration to what to do in NL and with terraforming being a thing i need it more than ever. idk when i'm ever gonna truly start outdoor decorating because of this, i only have 1 or 2 areas that look half decent.

 

[LuchaSloth]

Being able to only move one building per day really hinders my creative flow. Feels like I'll start to build on a concept only to be forced to stop abruptly because I need to move something.

 

[th8827]

I decided to stick mainly with my starting island, and only use the Terraforming to minorly adjust stuff for ramps/bridges.

 

[Hay]

Anyone else print out their island so they could draw villagers houses, bridges, inclines, and write ideas..?

 

[morthael]

I’m easily overwhelmed but what I’ve started doing is to work on small sections of my island with a theme in mind and it feels nice when I finish a section cause it feels like I made progress! I’m not really terraforming where I’m wiping my island from scratch to build it up again, but more so I’m terraforming to enhance with what I already have!

 

[Jetser_Halo]

I got you all beat. I got so overwhelmed I reset my game. Lol in all honesty it's very overwhelming and I watched a couple 5 star videos and got a little bummed out but after I got my island started and really focused on what could be done, I accepted that my island is my own unique island and that it has its flaws, but it's still a good island. Now watching 5 star videos I can actually think to myself, "I like this idea, how can I make it mine." It takes time and a lot of thinking. I've spent nearly 3 million constantly moving villagers around but at this moment, I'm really excited to have my villagers all in place and where I want them to be. Terraforming alone is stressful and I have to take a breather, and I tell myself that I have to work on one section at a time before I go destroy my entire island lol I have a diner, a cemetery, a gym, a dog park as well as my orchard and a lot of people have that, but I feel like mine has my own flavor to it.

 

[Loubelle]

I have been feeling the same way. I have no idea how I want my town to look and I feel like i need the whole thing planned out to even start in a small area :v along with this, I actually really like how my map is already, so I'm not even sure if I will end up terraforming that much

 

[Red Cat]

I just turned my island into a parking lot while I think about what I ultimately want to do with it.

 

[An0nn]

You can always change things if you don't like them.

I think this is my favorite addition in nh. In nl I would feel semi-paralyzed whenever I had to place something like a police station or the cafe. It's reassuring being able to place a building with the idea that if for some reason the end result isn't exactly what I was expecting, I can just move it the next day. That makes Island designing soo much less stressful for me. I can understand being overwhelmed by the customization options too. I think I would feel thay way if I didn't get a base island with a shape I was so happy with. Since unlocking terraforming, I've just tweaked a few little things here and there.

I like the idea of drawing your plan over a map of your island. A couple of people in this thread have mentioned doing something like that.

Being able to only move one building per day really hinders my creative flow. Feels like I'll start to build on a concept only to be forced to stop abruptly because I need to move something.

I use the custom design squares for this. When I want to plan a mini villager settlement with several houses, I'll lay out the tiles over the space each house will take up. I did the same thing in nl with public works projects. I've found it to be helpful.

 

[honeyaura]

I felt a bit overwhelmed too. So, I just started with a small part of my island and worked from there. Ive come to accept that it is a work in progress and may change on the fly if new items are ever introduced through updates. It really helped me to make a list of things I wanted and then draw a sketch of where I thought they should go. It is alright if you don’t like what you made because you can always change it.

Did the same. I drew over my map, and although I kept getting stuck, I looked through youtube videos for inspiration. It really helps to see what kinda vibe you want your town to be <3

 

[Figment]

It's really comforting to see threads like this and seeing other people struggle with layout.

I feel like I made a ton of mistakes when I first started. I picked a map that had an "island" surrounded by rivers in the not-quite middle where I wanted to put my house. I put my museum and Nook's Cranny ridiculously close to the airport, which aside from convenience, had no real planning at all for layout purposes. I moved my house there when I was able, but now I feel like my plans changed again. I like my island and think it's cute, but I feel like it takes up a lot of real-estate.

I think certain parts of my island are slowly starting to come along, but others are a complete joke. Especially my airport entrance area. It's an embarrassment.

I do think it will get better eventually, with perseverance and lots of moving things around. I will say, seeing photos and videos of other people's islands absolutely helps work up inspiration. Occasionally, I'll see a video, get inspired and create something similar-ish (not completely stealing) so I can move it where I want and expand on the idea in my own way later. That leads to a lot of random on my island.

Anyway, I think my advice is to realize everyone's pace is different. Don't feel pressured because other islands look so much "better" but don't be afraid to take inspiration from other sources (while putting your own spin on it, of course).

 

[daisyy]

i totally feel this... my solution to this was go with a "natural" island theme so i would only have to do minimal terraforming.

and then i decided on week 3 that i totally wanted a castle/princess theme and have gone in a completely different direction. i found that reference maps help me, of real life places/towns more than other people's animal crossing maps. good luck, it's never fun when you feel too overwhelmed and i would just recommend leaving it for a bit and only playing with the parts of the game that make you happy. it made me excited to play again when i got on ac tumblr and watched some twitch streams of people just goofing off and having fun, not taking things too seriously.