do you think island designer unlocks too late in the game?

[dino]

i only just got the app today even though i put in some serious hours in this game.

at a lot of points, it's felt so tedious to HAVE to place things in specific areas, to want to advance, only to know i'm going to have to pay buckets loads of money to relocate everything after i can terraform like i want. i'm feeling revitalized with being able to finally change things in town, but can't help but wonder, if it had been a little less easy for me to get 3 stars, would i be frustrated and wanna put down the game soon?

what are y'alls thoughts? did it come at a good time for you/should it have been earlier (if so, when)?

 

[Jay but not that one]

GOD. I wish I had it back when I was placing my first bridge and set of stairs.
Really is unfortunate when your island is just an uneven mess. I had only 2 options for placing my structures.

 

[Paradise]

Dude this is the reason why I'm resetting lol.. I wish it came maybe a tad earlier. But now when I reset at least I know where to place the houses so my terraforming plans won't be too hard in the future. Feel me?

 

[Jay but not that one]

Dude this is the reason why I'm resetting lol.. I wish it came maybe a tad earlier. But now when I reset at least I know where to place the houses so my terraforming plans won't be too hard in the future. Feel me?

Oof. Reset scares me. So much grinding wasted destroying bridges crushed a little part of my soul.

 

[Paradise]

Yeah I know it scares me too but to be honest I haven't been happy with my layout since day one. The 2 water exits and the rest of the original river, and then the plaza.

 

[Jay but not that one]

Yeah I know it scares me too but to be honest I haven't been happy with my layout since day one. The 2 water exits and the rest of the original river, and then the plaza.

I think my island has a similar layout
It looked interesting to start, but it was annoying early on in game.

 

[tajikey]

Nope, I think it's perfect. If I had it from the start, I wouldn't have had the same vision I do now. I am absolutely in love with what I've done so far.

 

[Paradise]

I think my island has a similar layout
It looked interesting to start, but it was annoying early on in game.

Yess It's the one with 2 exits on the bottom but they take up so much space, and theres like no beach...

 

[Jay but not that one]

Yess It's the one with 2 exits on the bottom but they take up so much space, and theres like no beach...

Mine is more "patchy" beaches. The side beach is narrow, but better than the bottom. Ugh

 

[Momonoki]

Personally, I don't mind moving the houses and shops (because I didn't have a set plan for how I wanted my island to look like in the beginning anyway, that only came to me recently), but it definitely bothers me that it's given to the player after K.K. has his concert.
Why not give it to the player when Isabelle asks them to raise their island rating by sprucing the place up? That's when the game tells you to customize, but you aren't really given the tools to do it.

If the reason for not doing it is because "The player might get sidetracked" (which I get), you could limit the Designer app somehow - maybe it's an older, slower version that'll only update after K.K. has his concert or something like that?
This is a super tiny nitpick and doesn't affect my opinion of the game as a whole (even if I sound angry in this post - sorry!), but it's still kind of interesting to talk about.

 

[DJStarstryker]

On one hand, I understand why they make you wait. They see it as an "advanced" tool, and want you to get used to your island first.

But the frustrating thing is when you place bridges or buildings KNOWING you will have to pay to move them later because of not having access to everything.

 

[Jay but not that one]

Personally, I don't mind moving the houses and shops (because I didn't have a set plan for how I wanted my island to look like in the beginning anyway, that only came to me recently), but it definitely bothers me that it's given to the player after K.K. has his concert.
Why not give it to the player when Isabelle asks them to raise their island rating by sprucing the place up? That's when the game tells you to customize, but you aren't really given the tools to do it.

If the reason for not doing it is because "The player might get sidetracked" (which I get), you could limit the Designer app somehow - maybe it's an older, slower version that'll only update after K.K. has his concert or something like that?
This is a super tiny nitpick and doesn't affect my opinion of the game as a whole (even if I sound angry in this post - sorry!), but it's still kind of interesting to talk about.

I also still adore this game and will continue to wither away behind my switch, I just hoped I wouldn't have had to spend so many bells to move everything

 

[Mairen]

I feel both ways on this. Sometimes I think it would have saved a lot of trouble and waiting for the days to pass as I now move every single building on my island to it's final place after having terraformed everything. But at the same time, my vision for my island didn't come until after I had been playing for a little while. I made over half of my decisions for my island layout while I was terraforming

 

[Ezamoosh]

I would be less bothered by it if it didn't also take a day to move things. Like, if I want to move a bridge over one space, I have to spend the money, wait for it to be destroyed, and then wait another day for the new one lol.

 

[Paradise]

Mine is more "patchy" beaches. The side beach is narrow, but better than the bottom. Ugh

Yeah same here. Like the whole bottom of my map is split into 4 little beaches pretty much. Then the sides are all clear and open. Not my cup of tea hahaha

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

Not at all. I think it’s more challenging that way, it makes you keep looking forward to the tool which is fun. It never became an issue bc I organized my houses with terraforming in mind, so it wasn’t a big issue

 

[tajikey]

On one hand, I understand why they make you wait. They see it as an "advanced" tool, and want you to get used to your island first.

But the frustrating thing is when you place bridges or buildings KNOWING you will have to pay to move them later because of not having access to everything.

At the very least, we should be able to purchase a permit that allows us to move structures without waiting a day between projects. That's really the only downside to terraforming.

 

[dino]

Personally, I don't mind moving the houses and shops (because I didn't have a set plan for how I wanted my island to look like in the beginning anyway, that only came to me recently), but it definitely bothers me that it's given to the player after K.K. has his concert.
Why not give it to the player when Isabelle asks them to raise their island rating by sprucing the place up? .....

this is a suuuuper nice idea momonoki! i totally agree. would make it still a tutorial, but not so distant. and if you get distracted, well, tbh that's the point of the game!!

I feel both ways on this. Sometimes I think it would have saved a lot of trouble and waiting for the days to pass as I now move every single building on my island to it's final place after having terraformed everything. But at the same time, my vision for my island didn't come until after I had been playing for a little while. I made over half of my decisions for my island layout while I was terraforming

valid! definitely having time to let it ruminate changes so many things and we all get so inspired from seeing each other create, i think, haha. i personally thought i was for suuure gonna go with a east/south layout and then i fell in love with a west one, after hours of resetting lol, so! Things Change and That's Good

I would be less bothered by it if it didn't also take a day to move things. Like, if I want to move a bridge over one space, I have to spend the money, wait for it to be destroyed, and then wait another day for the new one lol.

this tho! petition for an update to the app to include slight adjustments of infrastructure. or tbh just roll it all into one, anyway

 

[dioscuri]

I think that it unlocks at an acceptable time in the game--but I understand why people wish it unlocked earlier. I think a solution to this would be making the game more lenient about bridge and incline placement, because the reason I wish I had island designer earlier than I got it was because there were spots I wanted bridges but couldn't have them because there was one tile of non-parallel terrain. If I could edit or build over small kinks in the terrain such as that, I wouldn't mind island designer being as late game as it is.

 

[thelonewanderer]

Yeah I know it scares me too but to be honest I haven't been happy with my layout since day one. The 2 water exits and the rest of the original river, and then the plaza.

I reset on Day 5 (35 hours) and was the best decision of my life (lost 20K NM though) and I think it the same problem you have with the 2 water exist. In my case both were at the bottom and realize early on how limited the terraforming tool really was. I'm past where I was on my first run, I'm on day 8 today, tomorrow my first campsite visitor comes (or at least I hope). Though if you are past 5 days of playing, that would be really tough to reset.

My island layout is perfect (at least until terraforming) and that is why all my house and building is only on the first part of the island (before you get the pole stick). I got one of my dreamie and I love all 5 of my villagers and I don't see them leaving anytime soon even for other dreamy. I have grown attach to them and generally I love my island and I love everything in it and everyday is a breeze and a joy to play. Which is a far outcry from my first island with map design that only an idiot would ever design. Though I do miss Muffy, Drift, and Olive....