I've hit the point where I can terraform and water build but I'm so intimidated and overwhelmed! I've seen so many beautiful islands and I have no idea how to sculpt that well...
I'm new to the forum and kinda new to AC. I hope I'm posting this in the correct thread!
Does anyone have any advice on getting over the anxiety and intimidation? The island is so big! I have no idea what to fill it with
Yeah it was pretty daunting for me at first to terraform. I mean, where do you really start, right?
I thought of one thing first and an area it would probably fit in, and started clearing the area of trees, flowers, etc. Then I worked on a little by little until I was mostly satisfied and moved on and repeated for other small areas. Of course, things don't always go to plan so I sometimes "abandon" a section for a bit and work elsewhere and come back to it. I never tried to level my island and start my scratch since I knew I'd be screwed and would give up if I tried
welcome to the forums! i likely won’t be much help as i haven’t terraformed too much but the one piece of advice that i’d like to offer is to take it one area at a time; it can be pretty overwhelming to look at the island as a whole and so, try to focus on one area at a time! there’s also loads of videos and photos out there if you’re looking to gain inspiration! good luck
welcome to the forums!!!
what worked for me was working on small areas at a time & try to look for inspiration but not compare your island to theirs too much especially if you just started!! Everyone's island is unique and I'm sure that you will eventually get to the level you'd like it to be at. ^^ also try to plan and measure sections before starting to terraform if you have specific things in mind. i've had a couple times where i had to restart my terraforming because i didn't allocate enough space haha.
and take breaks when you need to ^^ i know i got frustrated sometimes or didn't know what to do with certain areas. then a couple weeks later found something i want to do with it
I would say don't flatten your island unless you enjoy working on a blank canvas.
I'd also take screenshots of your map maybe like weekly or if you change something major like a river, etc.
Working in sections helps a lot and it can be really small or a large area. Also don't think you need to finish a section to move onto the next. I always find myself jumping around and taking breaks.
It’s best to tackle your island a little bit at a time. “Rome wasn’t built in a day” definitely applies here. Just take your time and it’ll come together nicely!
One more thing to note is that those perfect islands with stuff at every corner often are so tightly packed that normal gameplay is difficult. I’m not trying to discourage you from that (my island is a practical maze in and of itself) but if you enjoy doing things like fishing and bug catching you’ll want to keep that in mind.
I suggest you start off with small projects. As you familiarise yourself with building your island, you will gain experience on how you can come up with your own layout and design. (I would encourage you to start building a garden first. It will give you a sense of satisfaction after completing it.)
Don't forget to also take breaks in between. If you can't picture yourself designing the island today, you're better off parking it.
We've all (mostly) had it at one time or another, but those islands you see that make you feel overwhelmed, are probably other people trying to outdo someone else's island who is trying to outdo another island, and so on...
They may look great at first, but do they work?
I mean, can you freely navigate them?
You don't want to end up with a terraformed monstrosity that you don't really like.
I think the most beautiful work is something understated, that puts a smile on your face, and that's whose opinion really matters.
Oh I FEEL this! I probably would have foregone terraforming altogether, except my town layout was very inconvenient- the entire bottom half of the river had literally no space to build bridges fully across!
My advice is in line with the others- do a little at a time, take breaks, focus on projects. Or, if you really hate your layout, you can always do what I did and totally level your town before starting from scratch haha! It is pretty miserable tho lol.
What really helped me was looking on google images for map designs that I liked with a layout similar to mine, and then basing my layout off of one I really vibed with. All the respect in the world for people who can just come up with map layouts, but I spent MONTHS suffering over trying to make my own.
Also, what helped me going into it is knowing the general "vibe" and features I wanted- as much as I love the totally urban layouts, it's not something I'd want for my own town. I know I want to use The Path, and have an orchard, and a pretty area leading up to the museum. Using other people's posts as inspo definitely helped with this!
Best of luck, and don't feel guilty if you wind up needing to take week+ long breaks from the game at this point!
All the tips re: avoiding comparison and going slow/one area at a time r vvvv good!
A few other things I found worked for me are:
-Setting aside a corner of my island for playing - terraforming is time consuming but I find it weirdly calm to actually do, so I just chose an area to build and knock down cliffs and to experiment with river layouts and waterfalls over and over. This method helped me get the creative options and limitations of terraforming and eventually grew into my Japanese tea garden area, and helped me avoid the 'wanting to get it perfect first time' fears.
-terraforming a piece of land in the middle of a river both looks pretty and is a practical solution to moving around your island ~
-bring along a bridge or incline building kit if you're terraforming an area where you want to place one of those - I love how diagonal bridges look but I can't work out how to get the river right for them without quick trial and error testing ~
Hope these tips help
I've hit the point where I can terraform and water build but I'm so intimidated and overwhelmed! I've seen so many beautiful islands and I have no idea how to sculpt that well...
I'm new to the forum and kinda new to AC. I hope I'm posting this in the correct thread!
Does anyone have any advice on getting over the anxiety and intimidation? The island is so big! I have no idea what to fill it with
My advice is to start with the river. Make it the shape you want. This will provide a natural division between areas. I opted to have my villagers together in a “neighborhood”, with some shared common recreation areas, but some people like them spread out.
Concentrate on one section of your island at a time and you’ll find that it will evolve into something wonderful!
(This pic was taken before I added my two extra characters’ houses so I just drew them on in red.)
The two houses in the center with the shared yard are mine & my husband’s. I like being centrally located and close to shops. I also like having my shops, museum & town hall together on a “Main Street”.
There are online town map tools that will let you draw out what you want and then you can use it as a blueprint.
Everyone already said to focus on smaller areas it seems.
If you have trouble figuring out where to start, find a place with things you can't change like the coastline, airport, plaza, Redd's beach... I find it much easier if I have some fixed guidelines instead of having to figure out how far to build in all directions.
Yeah it was pretty daunting for me at first to terraform. I mean, where do you really start, right?
I thought of one thing first and an area it would probably fit in, and started clearing the area of trees, flowers, etc. Then I worked on a little by little until I was mostly satisfied and moved on and repeated for other small areas. Of course, things don't always go to plan so I sometimes "abandon" a section for a bit and work elsewhere and come back to it. I never tried to level my island and start my scratch since I knew I'd be screwed and would give up if I tried
I cannot echo how helpful this is enough. Happy to see others mentioning this too.
My first terraform spree was full of anxiety and doubt, similar to the feelings you’ve expressed, xxrv. The second time I focused on small chunks. If I had inspiration and an idea, I would take time to work it out. Sometimes one small idea took days to build, and even now I tweak furniture/flowers in the area.
If I didn’t have an idea I liked in mind, I wouldn’t terraform. You don’t need to rush it - build your island slowly and don’t feel like you have to play or have to terraform to make something look a certain way immediately. That’s where more stress strikes!
i saw so many people flattening their islands but i always thought that was so extreme and overwhelming. i kept a lot of things about my original island when terraforming, a lot has changed but some core elements like my general river shape, the little island and the river on my third level are still there.
my advice is to take it slow and one area at a time. if it doesn't look good you can always improve on it and change it as much as you want! looking for inspiration online is also a good idea, so you can have some kind of idea what you want to do with an area. good luck!
I was happy with how my island looked and then I saw others and was like nope mine sucks and spent the last few months trying to get it looking amazing. My advice is section off your island into parts and work at them 1 at a time that's what I have done and it doesn't stress me out anymore thinking there is so much to do and having no idea what to do.
My advice is to have a small area that you can work with and experiment with terraforming and such, basically a practice section. That way you can kind of mess around and see if you get some inspiration while learning how to use the terraforming tools for waterfalls, cliffs, rivers etc. Once you feel comfortable with that, I'd suggest working on smaller sections of your island at a time.
There are other more advanced routes you can take once you feel comfortable with customizing too. Such as if you want your map to look a certain way, if you want a certain island theme, etc. Best advice though, is to try your best to not compare your island to others and to create it to fit how you'd like it. If you like certain themes such as a city scape, or traditional Japanese, or whatever.. go with your gut. If you prefer a more natural AC look, that's great too. Also to take your time with it and enjoy the process. Going slow with terraforming and figuring it out is a lot of the fun with it.
Also just to add, be aware of the auto save of the game, which is why I think working in small sections is by far the best route. If you end up doing a lot of work in a huge section, then realize you don't want it in the end, the auto save will force a not so fun flattening.
I'd suggest waiting until you feel inspired to create. After I unlocked terraforming I waited several weeks to actually begin changing anything. Eventually an idea hit me that I was excited to work with and five months on I'm still happy with that decision.
It's s hard to overcome the island anxiety. I always feel inadequate looking at others' islands online. It's so hard to not compare and then stress yourself out! I like to approach it in small steps. One day I may do a little sketch on my phone on top of my map to see if it's what I want. I may do 10 minutes for terraforming the next day. I'll sit with it and think and decide if it's really what I want. Then I tear down or continue. At the end of the day, anything can really be undone or put back.
You don't have to terraform if you don't want to. What I would do is try to hunt down lots of dream addresses and go on a dreaming spree to figure out what you like and don't like about actually playing on a lot of different islands. Then you can go from there to change your island into the perfect one for you.
Dont worry! as soon as i could i started terraforming and changing rivers and at first i was like " WHAT on earth have i done, you know?" but then i took a day off and when i came back in i decided to put music prepare a tee and i just very very slowly started creating areas, moving buildings and before i knew it i was starting to feel that i was in my dream place haha.
I feel people really get worried and sad by peoples comments and or their positive or negative feedback, I personally dont care, I have seen islands structure which i dont like ( but that is my personal taste, other people i am sure love it ) and i really enjoying going to peoples island and seen different decoration set ups and structures as it makes it unique just as we are .
Every now an then i change my island but now i can assure you i love my town even if it is not finished yet and on top of that every time a redesign a region it does not overwhelm me but i take the task with joy, as I am not trying to create spaces which are trendy or copy paste other peoples island structure but create my little cozy places .
I believe you will be fine and you will have a lovely island just trust your inner self and and let it run free in the game!
It’s best to tackle your island a little bit at a time. “Rome wasn’t built in a day” definitely applies here. Just take your time and it’ll come together nicely!
One more thing to note is that those perfect islands with stuff at every corner often are so tightly packed that normal gameplay is difficult. I’m not trying to discourage you from that (my island is a practical maze in and of itself) but if you enjoy doing things like fishing and bug catching you’ll want to keep that in mind.
I agree, While i have seen many beautiful islands, i must say many are very very packed with items all around them and I do not say it does not look good ! but for example for me or my taste i prefer a balance between aesthetics and playability.
So you see @xxrv, there aren't perfect islands! each one of them is unique their own way each island represents or illustrates the perfect town or island each one of us depending on our likes, personality, dreams, ambitions etc.
I've hit the point where I can terraform and water build but I'm so intimidated and overwhelmed! I've seen so many beautiful islands and I have no idea how to sculpt that well...
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just trust your inner self and and let it run free in the game
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each one of them is unique their own way 
