How do you plan your terraforming?

[Kattea]

Now that the fair is over, I should get back to working on my island. I'm struggling with terraforming because I try to work around my existing structures, leaving me very limited in what I can do. I also find my map kind of boring because it looks like a standard starter map.

When terraforming your island, do you work in sections or did you flatten your whole island and start from scratch?

 

[Aurita]

I definitely do mine in small sections! I thought about completely flattening my island in the beginning but it was just so daunting o:

plus I have a TON of flowers so it makes it easier for me to be able to shovel them off to another part of my island and clear one section to work on

 

[Autumn <3]

usually i do one section at a time! sometimes this can come out a little awkward though it they don’t flow into one another. i also find it looks better if i don’t really plan out exactly what i want, and just go with the flow of what i’m feeling if that makes sense. : )

 

[Xeleron]

I usually work in small sections! I am currently changing the theme of my Island and I'm definitely taking it at a very slow pace. I actually find the process very tedious and boring so I try nor to work on it for long periods of time, making working in small sections the best option for me.

 

[buny]

i had to flatten my island (back in quarantine) cause what i wanted was very different from the map i had. For me this website helped sooooooo much, it made it really easy to plan things, even just to get a general idea of where i want things to be. After that i've been working on everything section by section and i've changed things a couple times. i was scared of terraforming lol but in the end i really enjoy it! just don't try to do everything in one day, it's a long process and personally i even took a big break from the game. It's totally fine cause the whole point is for you to enjoy it ^^

 

[KittenNoir]

I only have a few parts of terraforming on my island but whenever I edit them or add to them I always clear out my inventory so I have room in my pockets and I always keep like 3 shovels on me so I can move flowers,bushes and trees.

 

[Bluebellie]

I think I set the paths around the area first, and once that’s down. I set up the building, then I sort of build around that. I do small areas at a time, and map quadrants at a time as well.

 

[Pyoopi]

I definitely work in small-medium sections so I can grapple visual marks of where I want start.

I also screenshot my island map frequently and pull it into Photoshop to work out specific details. I utilize that 3D planner to work out stacked cliffs (I don't have the link on me!)

 

[moonlights]

i work in small sections, it's easier to control that way if i mess something up. typically when i get to it i don't do any planning and just add/remove whatever feels right and looks good aha

 

[meggiewes]

I have completely emptied my town again, but this time I am working on it in sections and taking it slow. I'm much happier with it so far because going slow allows me to change my mind and do something else, experiment with small sections, and see if any wandering visitors like hiding behind any blind spots that I might not know about on my island.

Right now I am working on the area around my secret beach in between filling in a large section with cliffs. It helps break up the monotony of filling in the cliffside.

 

[Shinjukuwu]

I definitely do it in small bursts and little sections at a time, and usually I don't have a plan per sae, I just get hit with random ideas

 

[Sharksheep]

I usually work in smaller sections. I tried the happy island designer to plan out my area but it doesn't work for me.

 

[Lanstar]

Before giving my island a huge terraforming makeover, I took a screenshot of my map, then I used a graphics tablet to draw on top of it in a painting application named Krita. I added a new painting layer on the image to make sure I could erase mistakes without altering the map image itself. I even drew with matching colors: Water in Blue, building territories in Navy, and cliff boundaries in green.

Once I had a good idea for the locations of all terraforming, inclines, bridges, and buildings, I started fix parts one at time, moving buildings around and rebuilding my bridges, all without any time traveling. Sometimes things might delve off from the drawing, so I kept fixing things up as I go along.

It takes a long time doing it this way - It took over 3 weeks for me to get everything redone. But I feel it was worth it: While I still have a lot of decorating to do, my layout has everything to make things beautiful and unified - and I'm stoked to add flowers and furnishings on top of it!

 

[caramelpopcorn]

I just moved all the buildings to the beach and flattened it

 

[MapleSilver]

I work in sections. I feel like flattening the whole map would actually hinder me since I wouldn't know where to start.

 

[Emmsey]

I did mine in sections started from the back so I at least I had somewhere to hang without feeling like the place was a total mess. I added a tiered residential area so there was a lot of moving people here and there . There was also an AWFUL lot of flowers on the beach... still is....

 

[Lanstar]

Also, as an example of how I designed my new map, some images: