Designs that sacrifice practicality for beauty, thoughts?

[rubyrubert]

I'm talking about island designs with only 1 space to walk through, super crowed areas, lots of dropped items, unusable rock gardens, etc, etc. What are your thoughts on these designs? Do you have any areas of your island that aren't practical in order to look good? What about really bare areas just to run through?

 

[sunset_succulent]

fashionable, yet practical. things that are meant to be used should be accessed.

 

[Sidney]

It depends on how severe it is. I don't like when i'm unable to actually play the game- ex. if it's not practical to pop balloons on my island soonish to when i see them or reach villagers when the ping me i'm like :/ because playing the game is more important to me! Recently my terraforming has led my game to run extremely slow and have frame drops, so i'll have to redesign it to be easier to play!

 

[rianne]

It depends on how severe it is. I don't like when i'm unable to actually play the game- ex. if it's not practical to pop balloons on my island soonish to when i see them or reach villagers when the ping me i'm like :/ because playing the game is more important to me! Recently my terraforming has led my game to run extremely slow and have frame drops, so i'll have to redesign it to be easier to play!

This!!! ~

Was just about to mention how I visited a friend's island that has the frame rate drops that are mad heavy, especially towards the right/east side of her island. And before the most recent update, her third tier bridge was glitched and not usable so that was a pain when I visited and she forgot to remind me until I experienced it in-game. lol

I'm not sure how it would be mitigated in future updates, if possible, because creativity is already limited with the items and recipes being "rolled out" gradually. So people are utilizing items that they can. My friend in particular designed her island in a maximalist Tokyo aesthetic. Lots of stalls with custom patterns that are set up as conbinis, for example. So now she is confined to only redoing her entrance right outside the airport since she put 500~ hours' worth of time and effort into her island' current iteration. She adores how she designed it overall but it's cumbersome and she has to warn people before they visit like myself. She says it doesn't affect how she does the Bug Off and Fishing Tourney, which is good at least.

 

[Ginkgo]

I tried that, couldn't do it. Just like in the actual coding of the game, there need to exist certain rules to the game design in order to guarantee it working properly, often at the cost of aesthetics. I mean, I'm SURE there's a reason for why trees cannot be planted right at the edge of the river, right? I absolutely hate the fact, but there HAS to be a reason, correct? I try to work on my island in similar ways, and end up getting a lot less frustrated by the rules when I work /with/ the rules

So, I restrict access to areas that players could easily get stuck in (like a windy river near a straight line of fences) by planting objects there that are unpassable, but not cluttering places with furniture to prevent frame drops. I make sure that you can get around the island fast enough and through different routes, I would never put an entrance on my island where each player has to hop over a river with three stepping stones (saw someone mention that they had to do this with five people while selling turnips ) I move the furniture on my campsite that's supposed to be very crowded in such a way you can still change the music on the tape recorder even though I know I never will

I still wouldn't mind a rock garden though. Having all the rocks in one place rather than a more populated area smack dab in the middle of a park or a flower field is way more practical /and/ more aesthetically pleasing.

 

[BigBadButterfree]

I have one area on my island kinda like that. I really wanted to make like a little orchestra stage or performing arts center type thing, and the way I have it looks perfect but you can't actually get to the chairs on stage let alone play the instruments. I suppose I could just make the stage bigger but that seems like too much of a hassle, so I think I'm going to reduce it to like a smaller ensemble. Of course, the stage is still lacking a ramp, so you can't access it at all anyway...

Oh, kinda the opposite, but another area I have is my tiny Asian area. I know everyone and their grandma has one of these, but I have a small spot where my bamboo grows. Unlike other people though, the bamboo is growing in front of my bamboo bench. It's actually fully functional but doesn't look like it cuz of the stalls in front.

 

[Underneath The Stars]

It depends on how severe it is. I don't like when i'm unable to actually play the game- ex. if it's not practical to pop balloons on my island soonish to when i see them or reach villagers when the ping me i'm like :/ because playing the game is more important to me! Recently my terraforming has led my game to run extremely slow and have frame drops, so i'll have to redesign it to be easier to play!

my island isn’t even super crowded yet the frame drop hasn’t been so unbearable lately! idk why i didn’t even change much, it’s happening specifically near the plaza usually during daytime.

 

[Dunquixote]

The area that I’ve been working heavily on has only one area that you can squeeze through aside from the path and that would be between the informative statues. It does bother me a little that there isn’t much room to walk, but I really like how this project is turning out so, so I’ll probably not fix that.

 

[Corrie]

I don't like the cluttery 1 square width paths with lots of garbage thrown about. It stresses me out and makes me wanna clean up.

 

[k e r f u f f l e]

If someone loves doing it with their own island, I have no opinion. It's their island. With my island, in particular, I'd never be able to stand it. Practicality is beauty to me!

 

[John Wick]

I always make sure everything is functional and accessible.

 

[Your Local Wild Child]

I’m planning on making the majority of my island inaccessible without the navigation tools (the ladder and vault pole) so I’d say I’m fine with a little inconvenience (though extremely tight areas are a touch obnoxious). Don’t make your whole island a maze, though.

 

[Sharksheep]

I have a mix of both but I do prefer function over aesthetics. One of my neighborhoods is just pure aesthetics but I don't plan on spending a lot of time there other than give gifts and check for diys. I do have a river that's unfishable on one side

 

[Irelia]

I've been struggling a lot with this actually. I have a very bad tendency to clutter, and I feel like every open space has to be filled with furniture / flowers / paths or something. Accessibility is always a must for me, I always want designs I can interact with...but yeah I do have some areas where it's very narrow to walk through.

 

[Shellzilla_515]

I like to freely walk around my island and not have my gameplay be negatively impacted so I don't want to go in a restricted pathway because of an aesthetic.

 

[Bunnii]

My goal is to make my island both functional and aesthetic at the same time. The one thing I hate most is the lag so if I have to get rid of items to get rid of lag, I usually do it so in the end, I have a pretty minimalistic island

 

[Corrie]

Oh I also didn't mention that I want my island to be completely accessible to the point where I no longer have to carry around the ladder and pole vault. I need more free space in my inventory and pulling them out each time is so annoying.

 

[Your Local Wild Child]

Oh I also didn't mention that I want my island to be completely accessible to the point where I no longer have to carry around the ladder and pole vault. I need more free space in my inventory and pulling them out each time is so annoying.

Ah I’m a little bit different there. I found those tools kinda fun so I’m making my new island (mostly based on national parks and backpacking country) mobility tool-dependent for the non-starter area. Having them on my person at all times has never bothered me too much. I will be supplying those tools to those who need them when I tour, however.

 

[TheSillyPuppy]

I like being able to walk around my island without having to carry around the vaulting pole and ladder, worry about possibly trampling over my own flowers, or shooting down balloons and having them disappear on me. Now that I've flattened the whole island and am starting to demolish bridges/inclines to put new ones in, I've forgotten how much more convenient having an ergonomically-designed island is!

 

[Corrie]

Ah I’m a little bit different there. I found those tools kinda fun so I’m making my new island (mostly based on national parks and backpacking country) mobility tool-dependent for the non-starter area. Having them on my person at all times has never bothered me too much. I will be supplying those tools to those who need them when I tour, however.

That sounds fun! Kinda like an obstacle course?