Imagine You're the Producer of New Horizons: What Would You Do?

[bcmii]

So, I thought that this would be a really fun thread!

Let's imagine a scenario: Animal Crossing New Horizons, as we currently know it, does not exist. You work at Nintendo and are put in complete charge of planning this entry into the series. Remember, in this scenario, the game does not yet exist, so we are working with a completely blank slate.

As producer, what would you do with the game? Keeping in mind that you have complete creative freedom over it, how would you make it into your ideal game? What features and elements would it have? What details do you want your game to have?

I'd love to hear!

 

[Brookie]

Oh man. I want to type out a whole book, lol! Sadly I'm closed out for the night and using my phone so I will come back with a thorough response tomorrow using desktop.

but it would consist of...
- obvious QOL updates (like why can't we store flowers???)
- keeping the charm
- increasing cut scenes (like harvest moon)
- and interaction with NPCs
- an island city

 

[Croconaw]

I really don’t want to write a book, but I’ll list a few features my game would consist of. First off, I’d bring back the old aloha tees from the previous games. The newly added pineapple ones don’t look very aloha to me. I would also add an additional small island that can be accessed via boat with a bunch of little shops and maybe a few hangouts. I’m specifically thinking of a souvenir shop that would have special items you can only get on that island. It would have a tiki bar where villagers could sit and interact with each other. Your villagers could visit or villagers from your friend’s town could visit, as well. Random villagers could show up at different times of the day, and you could even invite them to your island if they aren’t already a resident of you or your friend’s island. Villagers can walk around or visit the various shops on this island. I’m also envisioning a water park that villagers can go to have fun. This can act as a travel destination where you and your friend’s villagers could visit. You can also have a guest house on the island where you can customize and make it yours, so basically your “home away from home” sort of thing. I’d spruce up villager dialogue so they would talk about the different shops or activities on said island, and talk about where their home is. They’ll talk about aspects of your island and point out how fun it is living there. You’d be able to customize your smaller island but with some limitations since it’s meant to be a travel destination.

I just realized that I said I didn’t want to write a book, and I ended up writing a book… oh well. I got a bit carried away, but these are my personal thoughts and visions for the game. These thoughts might be a bit out there… I just don’t want to take the Animal Crossing out of Animal Crossing though, you know, if that makes any sense. I’m just having fun with the question, and looking forward to the other responses as well!

 

[Fey]

I’m just gonna mention what’s currently lacking from my perspective:

• hire a few decent writers to churn out pages more of villager dialogue

• brainstorm ideas for villager/player activities (games and scenarios that allow you to directly interact with the animals)

Basically, the gist is that I’d want to prioritize fleshing out the villagers by giving them more to say and do. I’d want to make them feel more individual, and really focus on their relationship with the player.

 

[azurill]

I think the game just need some more things to do with villagers and friends. It’s great they finally brought back villager visits and morning aerobics. I would also bring back hide and seek. Now that there is cooking it would be nice to make meals for villagers and they could ask you to make a specific dish. I would bring back tortimers island and mini games you could play with friends or villagers.

for design I would add a greenhouse that could store flowers, trees, bushes and extra DIY’s. Would make it to you could connect cliffs with bridges without having to make a river. The ability to put rugs outside,

 

[StarlitGlitch]

Microtransactions out the wazoo!

Everyday you skip in game without playing? Another dollar to get back in.

Every time you have to convince a villager not to move out? Another dollar.

Oh, you can only find ugly villagers? That's because you didn't pay for the cute/cool villager expansion pack.

Then I'd sit back and watch the dough roll in...
jk

 

[JKDOS]

I've played every release of AC, and play AC a lot. If I was producer, I'd probably ensure the team was making improvements to everything I found wrong, and implemented within reason everything I wanted to see.

I hate to throw shade at the current producer or devs, but it feels as if non of them have actually played the game other than to test what they're doing. They advertise 8 player multiplayer, but it would take 15+ minutes of loading screens to do. Have non of them actually tried making 40 fish bait, or buying items from Able Sisters? I feel if any of them played the game for fun outside of testing, they'd probably see for themselves the flaws in these and other things. Moving the town hall not being a thing is odd, and if you want to move another building by a few grid spaces, you have to move the building twice.

Mainly just QOL updates updates. Anyone who has played this game should have a QOL want/idea.

 

[bcmii]

Personally, if it were me, I'd do a couple things:

• I know this one is going to be controversial, but I would tone-down the design/building aspect a bit. The option would still be available, but it wouldn't be the main feature; I would focus on other things. Make the game less of a world-building simulator and add in actual other things to do.
• Let the current dialogue writers go, and hire people with more creative talent (I'm sorry if that sounds really harsh, but the villager dialogue is just so bland in this one).
• Reimplement multiplayer minigames
• Drag-and-drop mode for decorating outside (like we have for our home interiors).
• You know how in HHD/HHP, you get to design a public facility, like a school/restaurant/etc. --- I want to be able to do that in our main towns. Basically, you'd get to select where you want to place the empty buildings on your island, and then you get to decorate it however you want. Just like in HHD/HHP, the villagers would be able the hang out there.
• JOBS-- Basically, you'd be able to "work" at either the Able Sisters or Nookling's store (or of course, at Brewster's). It would essentially work like a minigame. At the Able Sisters, for example, customers would come in asking for you to pick out an outfit for them that meets a certain criteria (think Gracie Grace's fashion checks from NL). Your "pay" would be determined by how many customers you successfully pick out correct outfits for.
  • Alternatively, at the Nooklings, customers would come in a shopping list, and you would have a set time limit to grab each of the things on their list from throughout the store. As you progress through the minigame, the time-limit becomes shorter and the shopping list becomes longer. You'd keep going until you either clear all the customers or you can't beat the time limit.
• Vacation homes -- So basically, I'd take the concept of villager "vacation homes" from HHP and move it to an equivalent of Tortimer's Island from NL. Even better, your main characters can have their own vacation homes on this island, as well.

I've got more to add, but I've got to go. So I'll come back and update with the rest later, haha.

 

[Cosmic_Crossfade]

I would have made sure the game was complete upon launch.

 

[bcmii]

I would have made sure the game was complete upon launch.

Yup. This most recent update has made me truly realize how barebones and unfinished the original launch game was. I don't know how they thought releasing a half-finished game was a good idea...

 

[LeAckerman]

If I was a producer, I would have went with the spoonful updates but I would have made sure they'd balance out. For instance, instead of giving the players an update that barely had anything to offer, I would have added in things to keep their interest for a while. Also keep the updates pretty consistent instead of keeping players on edge of when the next update was happening..

Also removing so many important npc was just awful, I'm sorry it really made the game lose its charm lol

I think adding shop upgrades and at least 1 more building to the town (like a cafe) would have been pretty sweet. Like nooks shop can get an upgrade and allow leif, and Gracie to have their own shops in 1 building like acnl

 

[Cosmic_Crossfade]

Yup. This most recent update has made me truly realize how barebones and unfinished the original launch game was. I don't know how they thought releasing a half-finished game was a good idea...

Indeed. It was just one other reason as to why I didn't make or construct my island yet, despite buying it at launch (The other reason it being so overwhelming) I felt that I would have to only redo so much if a giant patch came threw with more stuff and it simply intimidated me just thinking about redoing my whole island if I felt it needed it.

I knew that they had given us a half done game upon launch because of them mentioning free updates and while I didn't have any quarrels over it (knowing they were patching and updating as they went along) it still had me a bit upset over their choice for doing so though. I've noticed more game companies are choosing to go this type of route now, specifically Nintendo, where "releasing the game now, and finishing it later" is becoming a bit of the norm I don't find to fun personally. I feel I can't fully enjoy the game because of that.

It's sort of like playing a game in bits and pieces.

 

[buginski]

• Hide-and-seek, snowball/water balloon fights, tag, timed bug/fish catching competitions, and other games to play with your villagers.
• Mini-games to play with friends.
• Either store upgrades to implement more NPCs, or more buildings.
• NPCs that were replaced with objects or flat out removed to return with their former roles (Harriet, the Pelicans, Gracie...)
• Smaller holidays being implemented and acknowledged rather than just being an item in the seasonal tab.
• Change the town hall's appearance, both the building and the ground outside.

 

[bcmii]

Just to add a few things on to my original list:

-Bring back the shopping card/debit card from City Folk. For those who don’t remember, it allowed you to use the funds from your abd to purchase things without physically having the bells on hand.

-Have an easier system for transferring Igb between players. Whenever I do a trade on here that involves igb (for instance, the other day, I sold someone a bunch of igb for tbt), it is so annoying having to drop a bunch of bell bags on the ground and then go deposit them. What I would do is give each player a unique “bank code“ (think a Dodo code, but for the abd). When you want to transfer bells, you would go to your abd, enter their code, and then select the amount you want to transfer. Boom—it’s done, simple and easy.

Post automatically merged: Oct 20, 2021

Indeed. It was just one other reason as to why I didn't make or construct my island yet, despite buying it at launch (The other reason it being so overwhelming) I felt that I would have to only redo so much if a giant patch came threw with more stuff and it simply intimidated me just thinking about redoing my whole island if I felt it needed it.

I knew that they had given us a half done game upon launch because of them mentioning free updates and while I didn't have any quarrels over it (knowing they were patching and updating as they went along) it still had me a bit upset over their choice for doing so though. I've noticed more game companies are choosing to go this type of route now, specifically Nintendo, where "releasing the game now, and finishing it later" is becoming a bit of the norm I don't find to fun personally. I feel I can't fully enjoy the game because of that.

It's sort of like playing a game in bits and pieces.

Yeah, this is what the game SHOULD HAVE been at launch. I miss the days when game companies actually sold finished products instead of going with the “We’ll do the bare minimum just to get it released and then worry about the rest later” model we have now.

 

[VanitasFan26]

Here's what I would've done:

1. Take everything that people loved from past Animal Crossing games and improve on it.
2. Bring back the most loved features that everyone enjoyed from each AC game.
3. Adding brand new shops that have never been seen before.
4. Terraforming, but if you have trouble making certain waterfalls or cliffs you can get help from Resident Services to make basic versions for you
5. You have a goal list of things to do that will let you unlock variety of rewards rather than just earn Nook Miles.
6. Your Nookphone will have a lot of apps and it will let you call your villagers if you need to meet in person or talk to them over the phone.
7. The Airport will allow you to browse different islands that are open and you can go there anytime you want.

 

[Orius]

You don't want me as the New Horizons producer.

I'd pretty much ruin the game for you, especially if you hate hand-holding. I'd pretty much just do what I do for my giveaway threads: give people what they want for free.

Multiple islands? Check.
Moving villagers out easily? Double-check. You're out!
Time-travel doesn't affect your game? Triple-check.
Best of all, a secret cheat room where you could pretty much just get every single item available and ruin your enjoyment. But I'll probably make it super hard to find or something.

Like I said, you don't want me as your producer.