how do you feel about 〜the grid〜 ?
- Thread starter river
- Start date
Mayor-of-Bliss
Senior Member
My whole island is a grid lol.
I lovvvvve natural, curvy towns.
Maybe because I grew up in the country?
But I have a hard time playing in them. I like to zip around town and not have to walk around items or change directions much. This is probably from playing other animal crossing games.
All my big roads lead from east beach to west beach and my up down paths all go up and down my island top to bottom as much as I can handle.
It takes up so much space hah hah.
Maybe I'll try to make some of my little blocks of unfinished areas less strict.
My town is still pretty foresty to me because all my paths are lined with trees and flowers.
I lovvvvve natural, curvy towns.
Maybe because I grew up in the country?
But I have a hard time playing in them. I like to zip around town and not have to walk around items or change directions much. This is probably from playing other animal crossing games.
All my big roads lead from east beach to west beach and my up down paths all go up and down my island top to bottom as much as I can handle.
It takes up so much space hah hah.
Maybe I'll try to make some of my little blocks of unfinished areas less strict.
My town is still pretty foresty to me because all my paths are lined with trees and flowers.
TheodoreCottontail
hop along
The picture of my map looks so bare because I use dirt paths & a custom wood path that curves.
I wish I had paid attention to this sooner. I saw the grids on the map, but I never took it into consideration when I was decorating my island with my brother, so I ended up using a lot of space that could have probably been managed better. I don't really like things being too closed in. I understand doing so can make the island appear larger than it really is, but I like having more space to be able to walk. My island is currently under construction, though. Like a major overhaul at the moment.
I like both urban "gridded" towns and the more idyllic, curved "natural" towns so I take design cues from both! As someone who grew up in the city and is used to seeing things set in rows, it is harder for me to work with more organic lines but the challenge is good for me, I think.
I've never liked the grid much for myself, because the original ACs were so arbitrarily laid out (despite the acre system). I don't think it has anything to do with the fact I grew up in a rural area, because I hated living in the country (despite loving cottagecore stuff) and lived in a fairly grid-based town anyway. With outdoor furniture, though, I'm disliking how cluttered my island has gotten, and wishing I had some more wide open paths, maybe lined with trees. Only I'd have to rearrange so much to make it segue naturally.
I also don't use paths much in general though (not a fan of how patterns look in the lighting, but I like seeing it on other people's files, especially since I'm not looking at it long enough to notice the seams), and the grid looks way better with paths. There are some gorgeous paths that I think really tie themes together and elevate islands beyond the same items everyone else uses. I do like the windy paths people have been using for foresty islands as well. So I feel that if I had a more open island, I'd be better able to appreciate the charm of grass and flowers. Idk. My island needs laying out now I finished growing all the hybrids!
I also definitely see the appeal of the grid aesthetically (not to mention organisation-wise). Back in the New Leaf days, the islands I admired and envied the most had beautiful, aligned paths and plots, and there was a real sense of intention about everything. City and grid/suburb villages are my favourites on NH, even though cottage/fairycore is my preferred aesthetic and I have a mix of themes on my own island. Smaller grids actually use space very efficiently (compared to my island, which has the house plots 'balanced'...), and there's always this feeling that they have more space than I do and therefore more cool things to check out.
I also don't use paths much in general though (not a fan of how patterns look in the lighting, but I like seeing it on other people's files, especially since I'm not looking at it long enough to notice the seams), and the grid looks way better with paths. There are some gorgeous paths that I think really tie themes together and elevate islands beyond the same items everyone else uses. I do like the windy paths people have been using for foresty islands as well. So I feel that if I had a more open island, I'd be better able to appreciate the charm of grass and flowers. Idk. My island needs laying out now I finished growing all the hybrids!
I also definitely see the appeal of the grid aesthetically (not to mention organisation-wise). Back in the New Leaf days, the islands I admired and envied the most had beautiful, aligned paths and plots, and there was a real sense of intention about everything. City and grid/suburb villages are my favourites on NH, even though cottage/fairycore is my preferred aesthetic and I have a mix of themes on my own island. Smaller grids actually use space very efficiently (compared to my island, which has the house plots 'balanced'...), and there's always this feeling that they have more space than I do and therefore more cool things to check out.
CrankyCupcake
overthinks everything
I see the grid and I go out of my way to do everything that isn't grid-like.
Having lived my entire life on an island that is more concrete jungle than idyllic getaway, I prefer my game island to be on the wild side. All my paths are one tile wide. They meander. Like my rivers. Only three bridges, one incline. Nothing is symmetrical. I like open spaces. And lots of trees.
Having lived my entire life on an island that is more concrete jungle than idyllic getaway, I prefer my game island to be on the wild side. All my paths are one tile wide. They meander. Like my rivers. Only three bridges, one incline. Nothing is symmetrical. I like open spaces. And lots of trees.
I am relaxed. I didn't even see the post until you quoted the person. ^_^
That's why I ignore them.
I never even see the vitriol .
Things are more pleasant. ^_^
InstantNoodles
Senior Member
My island is mostly grids in the town center but there is a more natural section as well. I just find it easier to decorate, though I'm not a fan of how it looks in the minimap!
I have seen some straightened towns that were nice but personally, I don't have a grid! I am making sure to have plenty of paths though, and I have been placing them exactly on the routes I used to take from the start so it does feel very natural to me.
This map is old and unfinished (see the river and paths ending abruptly) but it's the most recent version I have and I can't be bothered
This map is old and unfinished (see the river and paths ending abruptly) but it's the most recent version I have and I can't be bothered
I don't use the grid overlay as a guide, but I get what you're saying about plotting things out in a grid-like design. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, because I think the more natural-looking islands are beautiful in screenshots, but like you OP I can't help but think of how annoyed I'd be if I didn't have enough space to walk around without bumping into things constantly. I've currently got one small area of my island where I'm trying out the natural look and while it's pretty, I find that I don't actually like to be in that area very much because the placement of things makes it difficult to run through, or I'll have to pick up items I've placed in order to pick weeds in certain spots, things like that...
As much as I envy people who can break out of the grid patterning, it's just much more functional, for me, to keep areas squared.
I do wish we had true diagonal paths though, rather than having to stagger tiles.
As much as I envy people who can break out of the grid patterning, it's just much more functional, for me, to keep areas squared.
I do wish we had true diagonal paths though, rather than having to stagger tiles.
This is why my paths are straight. I've seen custom paths and even people using two different paths to make paths diagonal, but they're not for me.
A big chunk of my island is straight paths and grids because I have a city-like portion near town hall and my shops but as you go further north there's a lot more natural curves and wild terraforming. I like natural bends and cliff formations but it can sometimes feel too cluttered and make it hard to do daily tasks like popping balloon or finding lost items and fossils. I also like having the feeling of both city ("grid") and forest ("winding") just because it feels more drastic of a change walking through different areas of the island, therefore making it feel larger. I started my island off with the majority of it having terraforming on the wild side and although there was a lot of interesting locations, it just felt so small and cramped despite how big the island was. So yeah I definitely do like ~the grid~ I just gotta mix in some natural areas in it as well!
personally, i don't like having perfectly aligned/centered spaces on my island. it's just personal preference, of course, so no shade to anyone who does do this! i just would never ever have like a perfectly straight river with right angles- it's just not my thing, and that's totally fine, just like it's totally fine to do that!
i think it also comes down to island theme- if you're doing a more modern look (i've seen some absolutely BEAUTIFUL japanese downtown/city/retro islands) it makes more sense maybe to have gridded blocks like in a city maybe, but if you're doing a natural, cottage-core or fairy-core island, it's probably more suitable to make everything less aligned so it looks more natural/wild
i think it also comes down to island theme- if you're doing a more modern look (i've seen some absolutely BEAUTIFUL japanese downtown/city/retro islands) it makes more sense maybe to have gridded blocks like in a city maybe, but if you're doing a natural, cottage-core or fairy-core island, it's probably more suitable to make everything less aligned so it looks more natural/wild
Oh yes, diagonal paths would be groundbreaking...
Although I have seen pictures of the natural, curvy paths and they even make those rounded corners work. I supposed it's that mix and match with custom designs of leaves and rocks that makes it look natural and like an actual pathway between the trees.
I was thinking... With people who prefer the natural, foresty look, do you guys miss the old path system? Like when you had to run around for days on the same spot and you could create dirt paths? With the grass deterioration system I mean.
I think it actually looked pretty natural and you could even make diagonal and round paths that way, even though it took a lot of running around...
i actually do miss the old path system. yes, it was a little bit of a pain to make sure i ran around every day through them (but i guess at this point, i actively play every day in nh so i wouldn't have a problem upkeeping any paths), but i did like that you could do diagonal paths and they looked really natural (as opposed to these nh paths with very defined edges)
Similar threads
