I have 4 houses on the bottom of my map and 6 on the top, right now Its fairly equal, i'e when villagers wander they go both ways and one side of town isn't just dead. but right now I think I wanna relocate Olivia to the top of the map with the others in kitty district, but that makes only 3 on the bottom of my map, so my question is are villagers like restricted to one area/side of the map where the house is, or do they constantly wander and are more likely to populate every area equally?
I would like to believe that it is at least slightly affected by their house placement. For example, I have Cherry, Tangy and Merengue's houses down by the ramp to the beach and they are the only ones I ever see down there. Genji's house is on the riverside and he always seems to be walking along the river and I have never seen Cherry, Tangy and Merengue walk about the top area of the map, only ever the bottom where their houses are. So I'm pretty sure it has some influence, but it appears to effect some villagers more than others.
Annalise lives way on one side of town but she is always on the other side of the town by the plaza, the rest of my villagers stay somewhat near their houses, she must just be an explorer...
For the most part,villagers tend to hang around wherever their house is but I always get at least one or two wanderers that walk around all over the town.
Coco is by herself in top left and I see her on the bottom map or on top map bottom with the rest of the villagers. I sometimes see her just around retail and brewsters and her house which they're all together.
For me it does, I've only ever had Ankha and Papi walk down and explore the beach since their houses are essentially right next to the ramp. Stitches and Coco live near my foresty area so they tend to wander around there and if I'm lucky enough I see Marshal, Chrissy and Lolly walking around there too. So unfortunately yes:c I feel as though my villagers don't know what half my town looks like. :")
I think villagers start near their homes and then wander completely at random. So statistically, villagers will be much more likely to wander near their homes, but I don't think there are any official off-limits areas for anyone. I think it's just extremely unlikely to witness the long series of coincidental movements that would lead a villager to, say, stroll across their half of town, cross the river, head to the beach, and go down the ramp to wander by the sea. Which is why you'll virtually never going to see that.
It does to some extent. I agree with Sheando above. I find villagers are more likely to hang around near their homes or certain areas but in theory, they could wander wherever. If you play for long periods of time, the villagers have time to wander farther.
I think there are some areas that they gravitate towards more regardless of house placement. The houses in my town are spread out fairly evenly, but there is one section in the center of my town where everyone seems to congregate for some reason. Even the villagers that live the furthest away from that spot, they end up there somehow. Of course I've seen them closer to their houses too, but more often than not they're in the area I like to call my "central plaza". It's always busy there.
