How do you go about planning your town path?

[SmoochsPLH]

My town is no where near done (I'm trying to get all my dreamies, upgrade my house how I'd like, and save bells before doing any major planning), but I'd like to start figuring out the path.

By that I mean, the route, not the tiles or anything. I just don't know whether I'd like to figure out one that looks nice, or use the one I use while doing my daily rounds in town. I tend to generally go the same route when doing the latter.

While thinking about this, I thought it might be a good general question to put in this forum! So, what did your path's route end up being; a planned path that looks nice or the one you tended to use the most while planning, etc.?

 

[LadyDestani]

My paths are very close to the same routes I usually took around town. I made a few changes to make them more aesthetically pleasing. For instance, my house is next to Town Hall. I used to walk straight to the left as soon as I logged on. But after landscaping my town, I created little garden areas in front of both my house and Town Hall, so now I walk forward a little bit, then turn left, then have to go up to get to Town Hall. It takes a few more steps, but it makes things look so much better in my opinion.

So I would say, keep convenience in mind when designing your paths. You don't want to go too far out of your way to get from one major building to the next. But also, don't be afraid to adjust it a little bit if you think it will look better. I find that it generally looks better if most major buildings have a small path leading up to them rather than being directly alongside the main path. But that's just my opinion.

 

[jim]

before i redid my town i visited a lot of dream addresses and modeled them after those while taking my own liberties. i connected buildings (not houses) and little paths to scenic parts of the village.

 

[BrookieYoCookie]

Hey friend!

It's much more simple than it seems. I typically redo my town roughly once a year, and I am currently redoing it now. First I always brainstorm things I want to do, or things I did in the past I want to continue with, for example:

- a graveyard with a camping area near it
- a patio, and eating area near cafe

Etc. If you have trouble brainstorming just think of things in real life you enjoy or do. Another thing to consider is Public Projects. I personally recommend looking up "Acnl Public Works Projects", or something like that and it will give you great ideas. For example for my camping/graveyard area I am planning on maybe finding Marshall for it(He lives in a tent), I am also going to add another character in and not upgrade their house for another tent, then ill add the campsite project, then a few trash cans and the camping cot. And possibly a sign with some sort of animal or fire warning. Then I will make place a path/stepping stones to the graveyard. What I did for the graves was I used a QR Code for the headstones. So keep in mind your best friends are your Public Works Projects, QR Codes, Villagers, and even some of your extra characters you may not use. Also one thing I forgot to mention is landscaping/theme. For example, when I was planning my camping and graveyard area, I thought about what I typically pictured in my head, and obviously I did not want a modern graveyard right next to the camping area, so I made stepping stones and placed bushes, 4 leaf clovers as grass, and cedar trees.

Another thing I recommend and I am doing myself, is using multiple different kinds of paths. So the way I am set up right now is a have a wood panel path that I sort of scatter a bit to make it more old and natureish looking, then I have a stepping stone path that takes up one whole space, and that also is my normal path, then I have a more modern mosaic looking path that is used for patios or for anything I want to look more extra.

Also this is a must do for me. I personally hate any path with grass on it, because what ends up happening is the seasons change and you have to get a new one, sure you can delete then paste the new one you want, but eventually its going to get annoying. So I recommend getting a path that takes up the ENTIRE space with no grass.

Almost forgot, using signs is AMAZING. Just look for a QR Code of coffee for the cafe, a recycling sign for retail, or even a seashell or wave for the beach. Even putting trash cans near the beach!

Hope this helped!

 

[Bizhiins]

I planned my town paths a lot. I decided to place all the PWP?s I wanted in town, and add all the dream villagers I wanted, before even planning it.
I have them now so I designed main paths with these elements:
- Fastest route to get around town with the least turns because I am planting blue hydrangeas all along the path. So instead of a faster path that would ?zig-zag? diagonally straight to retail from a bridge, I made a path that goes up straight and then turns left until retail so the path looks more aesthetically pleasing and not jumbled with a bunch of corners. Like an ?L? shape. And I always planned a PWP to be at the corner of that turn so you at least see something while you?re walking along it.
- Path connects to all the PWP?s in the game and all major buildings
- Path connects to all the villager houses naturally along the path without having to go out of the way
- Path also goes around all lakes in town for nice lake and river walks to see the by hybrid flowers

It took me like 2 months to plan lol

 

[Maiana]

I am currently landscaping my town right now, and I usually visit a bunch of dream towns in order to gather inspiration for paths and patterns I should include in my own town, and how I would incorporate them into my layout.

I currently have a few zigzags in my town (that will soon be clovers instead of designs) that connect into straight routes in my town. These zigzags will lead to different characters houses and connect in order to reach certain places.

 

[lPeachy]

So my main town I patched my usual route and just sort of added on and adjusted to my other landscaping from there
But my secondary town is meant to be more about the landscaping so the paths are definitely not my main route.

In the end I tend to do my main paths at least close to what my walking route is, and then as I get deeper in to landscaping I adjust and move them around as needed. Things can always be changed later!

 

[mintellect]

in my second town, i've started off by making paths from major buildings to each other (my house, town hall, retail, train station, bridges, beach ramps) keeping in mind the most convenient path to each while also making modifications to make them aesthetically pleasing, such as zig zags. over time, as i establish more pwp-decorated areas as well as more permanent villagers, ill branch paths off of my already existing path, making them with the same things in mind as my major path.

 

[2kimi2furious]

Usually I place paths based on the routes I take around town. Then after I see those, I'll make adjustments for aesthetic purposes (like, connecting two paths for balance and whatnot). I usually plan my PWPs around my paths, so I don't bother to come up with where I want them before placing paths down. It's all about convenience for me.

 

[will.]

all i do in any of my towns is just lay out paths before i do any pwp placing or landscaping - that way i can add things around it. but to be fair, i'm not to too concerned about my pathing.

if you have a hacked 3ds, you can upload your save to a save manager and plan your path out that way, then recreate it on new leaf; that's always what i've done...

 

[BrookieYoCookie]

Hi there!

The first thing I did though was make sure all the villager houses were in a spot I like, and if they weren't I would wait until they were. Second I waited until I had all buildings or larger projects done, such as the cafe and police station. Once I had those things done I always brainstorm ideas of things I want to do or things in the past I did that I liked and would do again, so for example:

- Graveyard
- Camping Area
- Patio for cafe
- Lunch area for cafe

Etc. Once I have brainstormed ideas I think of what I typically picture or see when I think of these things, and where you would want it to be. Next think about the little things like Public Works Projects you could include, like signs, benches etc. Next is your path, I recommend having several different paths, one more natureish path, one main path, then a more modern one that can be used for patios or for anything you like. Next keep in mind that QR Codes can give effect to Public Works Projects, for example, if you take the water pump, and grab yourself a QR Code of a drain, you can give that its own area and everything. I typically have one by several different places, and I love the effect it gives. Keep in mind once again you can do the same thing with signs, for example place a sign by the cafe with a picture of coffee on it, or even in a campsite, or by the beach with a trash can near it! When I start though I fully finish the area I work on and move onto a different area. Once I have completed a bunch of areas I connect them and begin working on landscaping those areas of connection.

Important note: When you choose your paths I recommend making them solid, as in it takes up the whole square with no grass in it. This can cause issues down the road with the changing of seasons and you will need to paste a new path in that slot. It's much easier to just find a solid path!

When you are choosing plants keep in mind of cedar trees, oak trees, different bushes and what they look like year around, four leaf clovers for a grass effect, etc.

I really hope this helped!

 

[Michae1]

It took me a long time until I found the best path layout for me. I've always struggled with either putting to many branches (to where there's too many paths) or too little branches (to where I'd just find myself not using the paths). I have a playground and a few grass areas I'll let the path open up into the area.

I usually just add a path as I go along, I don't really plan much.

Finding a path I loved was hard though. I didn't want to change it every season and I found that some looked good with green grass while looking terrible during winter. This is the one I ended up with:


I have no idea where I got the paths, it's been years. I try searching for them but I can't find them anywhere, and similar ones are on Pinterest but they link to dead sites.

 

[Chere.]

Oh gosh my town's been a WIP for over 6 years now and the paths have changed so much over the years?? I never really had a strategy tbh, and it's been 2 years or something since I last changed them so I can't remember exactly how I figured thing out. Since my town is old, I worked around certain permanent pwp's (like the cafe, police station, camp site...etc). I probably placed them in 2013 or 2014 and I remember really wishing I could move them sometimes OTL. I somehow worked around them, though. I also had a lot of areas planned (like a picnic area, zen garden) so I'd either make that area first then work the paths around it, or plot out where certain pwp's would go and carve a path around that. Looking through some of the other comments, I wish I had more of a plan, like how people figured out their paths based on the usual routes they'd take (I swear, I did not do that at all l-lol).

If I'm being honest too I'm not even really happy with the path I have? I kind of just have it because I needed many pieces, and it's hard to find path designs that have more than just the essentials (middle, sides and corners). There are some areas in my town that require thin paths and I kind of just stuck to the first one I found because it just took so long to find a decent design with that many parts. As an artist, you'd think I'd be able to design a path myself, but pixel art is one of those areas that's a total mystery to me and I have little no experience with it. Especially doing it on a 3ds? I'm still amazed by all the beautiful path and clothing designs people were able to come up with (not to mention the patience it must have taken).

 

[SmoochsPLH]

Oh wow, this got more replies then I thought it would. Thank you all for your advice and tips, it helps a ton! I was really curious to see what most people end up doing and definitely got my answer (though more replies to this is fine, and ya'll can discuss it yourselves too!).

I actually have a MSPaint doc with a layout of my town's map so I can mess with the path before setting it in town. I have a blank version of the grid for it too, if ya'll wanna use it, here! Works well in MSPaint, but you can use any program with a fill tool and it should be the exact size for a New Leaf town (sorry if I'm mistaken). I suggest having a blank spare in case you make a mistake!