I didn't know it was a thing

[Squeaks]

So I was lurking last night and came upon a thread that had a section of their post talking about perfect town layouts. I thought everyone just went with what maps they were given, so this is news to me. I googled what makes a town layout the best and did my research, so I think I've gotten the gist of it.

What I learned makes a good town is:

• Number of rocks and their placement
• Vertical ramp
• Re-Tail being close to the beach
• Town hall placement
• Centralized plaza
• Train station + town hall colours
• Shape of grass
• 1-2 ponds
• How much space the river takes up and if it goes north to south
• South facing waterfall
• Eastern or western beach
• What native fruit you want

I didn't know these were things. If there's more feel free to let me know.


:c All of this makes me want to reset so badly and get a better town. I have 9 rocks (in annoying places), 3 ponds, horizontal ramp, Re-Tail placement near train station, brown colour town hall + train station, and east facing waterfall. Now I feel like my town is really ugly and it's bugging me. I know it's all personal preference but I just went with what I was given and right now I'm not liking what I went with.

 

[Dewy]

It's all just a matter of opinion. I personally hate to have a centralized plaza, I think it takes up space and is annoying in the middle .-.
My favorite train station is brown - it looks more natural. I like east facing waterfalls. I don't care how many ponds there are as long as they're not in terrible places (same with rocks). I don't really care about a lot of the things on that list...

There's no such thing as "the best layout." It's very different for every person. Just because some people say that's what makes a layout good doesn't mean you should want to reset for that layout. Just go with what makes you happy, not with what makes other people happy.

 

[Squeaks]

That makes me feel better. ; v ; I was seriously considering resetting and flushing all my hard work down the drain just so I could create a town that people deem perfect. I guess I'm kind of obsessing over it because I wanted to have a beautiful town and dream town that I could present to people.

I really hate the rocks though, I would love for there to be an option to destroy them. :/ I mean, 9 rocks?! Come on! Nobody needs that many useless rocks.

 

[Ami Mercury]

That makes me feel better. ; v ; I was seriously considering resetting and flushing all my hard work down the drain just so I could create a town that people deem perfect. I guess I'm kind of obsessing over it because I wanted to have a beautiful town and dream town that I could present to people.

I really hate the rocks though, I would love for there to be an option to destroy them. :/ I mean, 9 rocks?! Come on! Nobody needs that many useless rocks.

"A ROCK!?!? THAT'S MY DESTINY!?!?!"

 

[Campy]

There's no such thing as "the best layout." It's very different for every person. Just because some people say that's what makes a layout good doesn't mean you should want to reset for that layout. Just go with what makes you happy, not with what makes other people happy.

I agree with this. Were you happy with your town before you read anything about 'the perfect town'? If so, how does this change anything? Obviously, if you're truly unhappy with your town that's a perfectly good reason to reset, but make sure not to confuse that with "others wouldn't consider this a good layout".

You should also consider if you really want to go through the long and boring process of finding a town that meets all of your requirements. From what I've seen, it really gets people down.

 

[Squeaks]

I agree with this. Were you happy with your town before you read anything about 'the perfect town'? If so, how does this change anything? Obviously, if you're truly unhappy with your town that's a perfectly good reason to reset, but make sure not to confuse that with "others wouldn't consider this a good layout".

You should also consider if you really want to go through the long and boring process of finding a town that meets all of your requirements. From what I've seen, it really gets people down.

I was perfectly fine with my town up until I read what makes a good town, then I started feeling unhappy about mine. I started thinking about all the stupid rocks that are in the way, those 3 useless ponds that I don't need, and how little space I have to work with. It's all stupid, really, but I can't help but fuss over it.

 

[Big Forum User]

"A ROCK!?!? THAT'S MY DESTINY!?!?!"

I agree, fellow MLP:FiM fan.

 

[Xanarcah]

Threads and posts like this make me sad because it shows how much influence other peoples' opinions have over other people. .-. It's your town, and maybe someone else's idea of what looks "ideal" isn't the same as your idea.

Like you said, your town should be based on personal preference. Retail close to the beach would be terrible for me, since I do a lot of trading on the forums and I like to sell turnips. Centralized plaza also irritates me because of how much space it takes up. River going north/south and having a south facing waterfall would bother me so much because of the way it shapes the rest of the land. My main town has triangle grass, but I would have preferred circle, since it turns into star snow during winter. But that's all my own preference. I have three ponds, and two of them look amazing. The third will also look amazing, once I get around to landscaping it.


It's not about what kind of layout you have or what colors your train station/town hall are or what kind of fruit you got. It's about what you do with your town and whether you like it or not.

Who cares what other people think, they're not the ones playing in your town every day. They didn't spend the money to buy your game. It's your town. I've seen people resetting for weeks trying to find someone else's idea of an ideal town. They finally find it, but it's no longer welcoming because it's not their town. It's someone else's town, at that point.

 

[Freya]

As said above, it's all personal opinion! The only thing that mattered to me was a central plaza, everything else (including villagers!) I completely ignored. However I've seen some STUNNING towns that have plazas all over the place. You do what you want. YOU'RE the only one who's gonna be playing in your town, so make it how you like it ^.^

 

[Campy]

I was perfectly fine with my town up until I read what makes a good town, then I started feeling unhappy about mine. I started thinking about all the stupid rocks that are in the way, those 3 useless ponds that I don't need, and how little space I have to work with. It's all stupid, really, but I can't help but fuss over it.

Yeah, rocks are pretty stupid, there's no denying that. You'll always have a minimum of four, though! And most of them tend to be in annoying places, haha. I personally found it fun to try and work around them, though. Three useless ponds? I think they look pretty, personally! Little space to work with? Have you tried chopping down some trees? It's literally an eye opener for people; often it's just a matter of re-landscaping!

 

[Freya]

Yeah, rocks are pretty stupid, there's no denying that. You'll always have a minimum of four, though! And most of them tend to be in annoying places, haha. I personally found it fun to try and work around them, though. Three useless ponds? I think they look pretty, personally! Little space to work with? Have you tried chopping down some trees? It's literally an eye opener for people; often it's just a matter of re-landscaping!

THIS. I removed all trees and WOW, what a landscape. Then I decided to make a little area for an orchard, and I love it so much more. My town is much more open, but I still have a space for my trees

 

[Selky]

Honestly it's all about you.
My major things when picking a map are town fruit I like and buildings at the top of the map or at the very least retail. The rest doesn't really matter to me as long as I like the general look of the map.

 

[marigoldilocks]

I didn't realize there were different color choices for the train station and town hall until recently. And I realized that while that's cool, I really didn't care. My town is all right. It's not some huge show piece, I don't have perfectly aligned houses and flower patterns and my hybrids are slow going. I have a few patterns, some made by me, some QR and they aren't nearly as extensive and detailed as a lot of towns I've visited. But it's my town. And walking around makes me happy. So if you have too many rocks or ponds but you were happy before you knew there was this mythical "perfect town" layout, then be happy. It's your town and you never know, maybe someone with a perfect town visits you and to them it's a fresh look because it isn't another perfect town with the same layout, you know?

 

[Sinfonia]

That makes me feel better. ; v ; I was seriously considering resetting and flushing all my hard work down the drain just so I could create a town that people deem perfect. I guess I'm kind of obsessing over it because I wanted to have a beautiful town and dream town that I could present to people.

Aw, no!
Don't reset just because of that...

In the end it's all about personal preferences. Just because there is some image of a "perfect town" existing in the internet doesn't mean that the other maps suck. You can make a good looking town of every map, as long as YOU like it! Just think of this - you reset your town now, the one you got used to and the one you might already have some plans for... for this picture of a "perfect" map. That's sad... because the one you had before might have some potential to become a great looking town.

Apart from that it's just boring if everyone seeks for the SAME map. It's the same with the villagers...
Do what you prefer because it's your game, your money you spent on it, your time you pass with it - and it should be fun for YOU to work with it!

Sorry for that long talk but I think this is a serious issue.. don't get too influenced, guys! D:
Oh.. and all the resetting, again and again, makes you pickier and pickier everytime you abandon another map. The perfect map does not exist, imho. There will always be someone who does not like it.

 

[The Pennifer]

Wow ... Just read through all the comments! Some very good points made! Personally, I was a little choosy for my town plan when I started playing about a year ago now ... I love my town!(especially at night) I dont care if someone else doesnt like this or that about it ... I have rocks in inconvenient places and I cant put my bridges where I would prefer due to river and pond restrictions but it doesnt really matter ... I landscaped and laid paths and put my public works where I could best fit them .. its all good.
BTW ... if any one would like to dream my town I would be happy to hear about your comments ... I am going to dream some of yours if I can see your dreamcodes.
*sigh* I really do love this game! ♥ ♥ ♥

 

[marigoldilocks]

I love dreaming. Sometimes even a WIP town has some really cool ideas happening and you might see a section of your town you thought was unruly and just, ugh, and be able to apply some neat tricks. It's also nice to see PWP's in the wild, so to speak. Because seeing some PWP's made me want them more and seeing some made me want them less for my town. As I said, my town isn't anything special, but I like it and if you want to visit, my DC is in my sig.

 

[The Pennifer]

I didn't realize there were different color choices for the train station and town hall until recently. And I realized that while that's cool, I really didn't care. My town is all right. It's not some huge show piece, I don't have perfectly aligned houses and flower patterns and my hybrids are slow going. I have a few patterns, some made by me, some QR and they aren't nearly as extensive and detailed as a lot of towns I've visited. But it's my town. And walking around makes me happy. So if you have too many rocks or ponds but you were happy before you knew there was this mythical "perfect town" layout, then be happy. It's your town and you never know, maybe someone with a perfect town visits you and to them it's a fresh look because it isn't another perfect town with the same layout, you know?

Hi ♥ ♥
I dreamed your pretty town! luv your paths and hedges around your Retail ... also luv your Cat and Toby!!! Awesome! Luv your house by the river surrounded by Black Tulips! Great looking town!

 

[Liquid Ocelot]

That makes me feel better. ; v ; I was seriously considering resetting and flushing all my hard work down the drain just so I could create a town that people deem perfect. I guess I'm kind of obsessing over it because I wanted to have a beautiful town and dream town that I could present to people.

Quit making me sad. It's about you, man. Having a town other people think is "perfect" is great and all, but perfection is boring and I'd rather see you do something creative with what you've got. Like- I'd rather dream about your town and have it give me the impression of who YOU are and what YOU like, rather than looking at something anyone could come up with if they followed a guide or kept up with all the popular stuff.

/rambles away

 

[marigoldilocks]

Hi ♥ ♥
I dreamed your pretty town! luv your paths and hedges around your Retail ... also luv your Cat and Toby!!! Awesome! Luv your house by the river surrounded by Black Tulips! Great looking town!

Ty! I'm about to spend some time moving some of PWP's around - the fountain in the SW corner and the bamboo zen area in the SE corner are going to get flipped. I think it'll work better that way. The memorial to Tobby was for my IRL kitty who passed away. I figured Animal Crossing was a good place for her memory to live on. It was one of the first patterns I made and I'm actually pretty proud of the shading. It took forever! (A graphic artist I'm not.) But yeah, my rocks and ponds aren't in great places and my shrubbery developed because I got sick of digging holes to brace myself when banging rocks. Planting bushes to anchor me actually started my pathways and landscaping.

 

[The Pennifer]

I agree with this. Were you happy with your town before you read anything about 'the perfect town'? If so, how does this change anything? Obviously, if you're truly unhappy with your town that's a perfectly good reason to reset, but make sure not to confuse that with "others wouldn't consider this a good layout".

You should also consider if you really want to go through the long and boring process of finding a town that meets all of your requirements. From what I've seen, it really gets people down.

All good points, but (LOL) I think Campy has a "perfect" Town ... Cadbury! ... mmmmm chocolate! Luv your paths!! This is a beautiful creative town and lots of fun to dream!