if you planned out your island prior to the game’s release, are your plans still the same almost 3 months later?

[Bluebellie]

I planned out which villagers I wanted and that still pretty much the same. The theme and concept is the same as well.

The town layout, that’s a bit different. I was going to go for a islandy foresty look, but it’s leaning more towards a small town at this point.

The playable character’s Theme has stayed The same. The characters names have also stayed the same. However initially before the game came out ( I imagined I would be playing the 8 different playable characters). That’s too much work right now.

 

[Bloobloop]

i was initially gonna base it off of a very modern, bustling city like the name (seoul) implies, but i started to dislike the idea and went for a more natural approach instead. honestly, i can't tell whether or not that was the right decision, but i'm in too deep to start over now LOL

 

[Ananas Dragon]

I'd planned out my entire island. down to the villagers and where things would be.

literally nothing stayed for many reasons:

Terraforming is a pain so I went with something simple
my island isn't done and I need to figure a few things out that look wEiRd
My villager plans got flopped by four of the new villagers so now I don't have a cranky or a jock
the furniture I wanted to use isn't in the game (thanks nintendo)
wanted to make bigger yards for my villagers but there's a horrible lack of space
the secret beach becoming redd's place has made life horrible for me

basically HELP ME

 

[JKDOS]

I executed my original plans as soon as possible, and by the time I finished, I wasn't happy, so over the last 2 months I've moved far away from them.

 

[Fendi]

Upon getting the game, I already had a plan fleshed out, I even surprised myself with actually executing it as planned. Though, initially, I did have some conflicting ideas as to how I wanted to do things, but some of it I eventually got around to finishing just by a whim. I find that some of my best ideas come when it's not forced, sometimes inspiration just randomly hits and I decide to follow that instead of what I had envisioned. Sometimes sticking to your initial plan can stifle your creativity from my experience.

 

[pup]

not at ALL. i tried to build out everything on a map tool but once it was on my island it just wasn't working for me. i had all these elevated areas in the southern parts of the island, and they blocked everything north of them. not a good look.

i also started off by creating residential areas with my villagers all grouped together. that got boring quick bc i had so much empty space i wasn't sure what to do with, so i've started building customized ares for groups of 2-3 villagers who look nice together.

i was a little disappointed at first that my plan didn't work out, but terraforming was a serious learning curve and i think we're all still developing our own unique styles and learning. it keeps the game fresh! :~)

 

[Mayor-of-Bliss]

Its a similar theme but over all not really.
Where resident services falls immediately messed up all my plans because it can't be on the back of the island.
I originally wanted a town area too but after trying it and hating it undid that.

Still got my lower half pine trees lol.

 

[Flunkifera]

I am actually happy and relieved to see that others didn't stick with their plans either.. First I wanted to go for a tropical island and after I saw or felt that quite some people also had that thought and I wanted my island to represent my interests more I am going for a greek mythology island. Big parts of the island are still very bare and undecorated and I don't have any plans for them yet, but the things I already did make me happy and I am content with them.

 

[HappyTails]

No, I don't make plans, because I wouldn't have stuck to them anyways. XD

 

[Nodokana]

I planned to name my island Hiatus before the release. I also knew I wanted multiple themed areas just not exactly what as this has changed multiple times once the game was released.

 

[rezberri]

my island doesn't rly match the original plan i had. i wanted to put my villagers into little neighborhoods but now i just want one big neighborhood and a more natural island. i'll probably go with the theme i want atm but i imagine when winter comes around i'll want a change that fits with its aesthetic more rather than just mushrooms.

 

[Dunquixote]

My plans kinda stayed the same. I was thinking of making my town a different theme from ACNL, but when it came down to naming it, I ended up naming it the same thing - Skyhold. I had more ideas to work with for my old town’s name than I did with naming it something different (had trouble coming up with alternative names & themes anyways). I didn’t look at any of the news about the game and didn’t think I’d even be able to get the game and system until I asked a day before my birthday. So, I had no plans aside from name/theme and what villagers I wanted in my town. I was going to wait to see what kinds of furniture the game had before I started thinking too much about how I wanted my town to look. I had plans to make the inside of my house look similar to some of the houses that I designed in HHD or my house in ACNL, but with what I’ve seen so far in the catalogue, I think that will be difficult. I feel like there aren’t a lot of beds, tables and food items for me to pick from or that would go with my theme anyways. So, atm, my house plans are up in the air.

Initially I wanted Punchy, Kiki, Rosie, Ankha, Roscoe, Lolly (never had her), Marshal, Puddles, Merry & maybe Pudge or Dotty or all cat villagers. I started off my island with Rudy & Fuschia and Rudy has grown on me so much even though I usually don’t like jock villagers (or at least, I didn’t like Hamlet in ACNL <.<). My list has changed to Punchy, Kiki, Rosie, Ankha, Roscoe, Marshal, Raymond, Merry, Rudy, Lily. The change looks little but it feels pretty significant to me since I didn’t expect to like Rudy.

Sorry for the long response. Just wanted to share my reason for my answer; and sorry if it’s all over the place. I have trouble articulating my thoughts and organizing them. ><

 

[Mary]

My map that I have now was inspired by the one I made before release, but it's evolved and changed a lot. I expected that, though! I also had to adjust it because of things like resident services and river mouths.

 

[Candy83]

I did theme towns in “New Leaf.”

With “New Horizons,” I did not want to set myself up for such demand.

With my ten islanders, I have on their property items which I think serves them well.

When it comes to layout, I have three levels of activity. The main level has a Main Street with neighboring Museum, Residential Services, Nook’s Cranny, and Able Sisters. I have the area for the hidden beach open. The second level is for the islanders. And they have property, which I think is nice. The third level is for humans. This way, I can encourage activity on all three levels—with the islanders being willing to get around. That is nice.

If I ever get a second island (and game console)—and I will do it if the game gets significant upgrades—I will choose an island with a different airport color (I have yellow) and with both the river’s exits on the south. Have south exits, I think, creates more opportunity in flexibility with what to do with water on one’s island.

 

[Anblick]

I had a sketchy framework, basically:

-when New Leaf and amiibo cards were still going strong, I went out of my way to get the cards for all my bestos <3 and I still have them all so while I wanted to get some villagers randomly from the campsite and exploring, I knew for sure I wanted Agent S, Tia, Ankha, and Lily on the island like a zillion years before release

-I figured I'd wait to pick an overall starting look based on what items I got lucky with early on! And then revamp later if it wasn't my #1. This worked really well for me, initially I had a cute lil playground area and things like that but now I'm overhauling huge chunks of that kinda stuff into big waterfall statue gardens and whatnot since that's really more my ultimate jam
etc. etc.

so I just kept that kind of stuff in mind as I placed the shops and houses. I think I still might have some rearranging to do in the future, but I really like the overall vibe my baseline starter goals there got me to and I think refining around what I have now is going to be really fun