neighborhood designing tips? [UPDATED]

[mitfy]

i'm looking to create a multi-level neighborhood on the east side of my island, with the south half being more tropical (palm trees and hibiscuses, lighter colors) and the north half being foresty (cedars and bamboo, darker colors). i'm unsure of where to start with the layout and terraforming - i want it to be natural and have the houses relatively spread out, enough for each to have its own area. you know, follow a natural path upward, not something that feels like a gridded neighborhood.

the entire empty land around the east coast is where i want the houses to be, and maybe even extending west at the very top above the museum if it's spaced out enough.

but basically, does anyone have any suggestions or screenshots for inspiration?

 

[Le Ham]

I've definitely seen someone's map here that looked like the villager houses were arranged exactly as you describe, going up the east coast but staggered (like you could draw an irregular zigzag line between the houses going up) and natural looking and they all had a respectable amount of yard space. I don't remember the thread, may have been in the post-your-map thread but Idk

I think the difference between your tropical and foresty themes could be how you terraform it - like putting the tropical neighborhood villagers on the ground level, while forest could be mountainy so some villagers on the second level, some on the third. Depending on how you want the villagers spaced out you might want to extend the second level cliff south a ways. Maybe even incorporate your river exit to create a dividing river somewhere through the tropical part? Or even like an island-within-the-island for a villager or two, that might be cute. Actually I'm just really curious to know if you have plans for that river exit lol

I have a small tropical neighborhood section where my villagers' yards extend out to the beach, so you could give some of them private beaches lol. idk how much any of this helps tbh

 

[mitfy]

I've definitely seen someone's map here that looked like the villager houses were arranged exactly as you describe, going up the east coast but staggered (like you could draw an irregular zigzag line between the houses going up) and natural looking and they all had a respectable amount of yard space. I don't remember the thread, may have been in the post-your-map thread but Idk

I think the difference between your tropical and foresty themes could be how you terraform it - like putting the tropical neighborhood villagers on the ground level, while forest could be mountainy so some villagers on the second level, some on the third. Depending on how you want the villagers spaced out you might want to extend the second level cliff south a ways. Maybe even incorporate your river exit to create a dividing river somewhere through the tropical part? Or even like an island-within-the-island for a villager or two, that might be cute. Actually I'm just really curious to know if you have plans for that river exit lol

I have a small tropical neighborhood section where my villagers' yards extend out to the beach, so you could give some of them private beaches lol. idk how much any of this helps tbh

thank you!! that is very helpful, really just any input is enough to help my brain work a bit more.
i'll go looking through that thread a bit - and personal beaches sounds like a cute idea. i don't have plans for that river mouth as of yet, but i'll probably have it extend through the neighborhood - i'll deal with that after i assort the cliffs a bit more. a little artificial island would be really cute too, though it'd take up a bit of room.

 

[Le Ham]

thank you!! that is very helpful, really just any input is enough to help my brain work a bit more.
i'll go looking through that thread a bit - and personal beaches sounds like a cute idea. i don't have plans for that river mouth as of yet, but i'll probably have it extend through the neighborhood - i'll deal with that after i assort the cliffs a bit more. a little artificial island would be really cute too, though it'd take up a bit of room.

I'm glad I could help! I checked the map thread though and I didn't see it in the last few pages where I would've looked - I'm starting to wonder if maybe I saw it scrolling through Twitter instead, at which point I wouldn't be able to retrieve it for you. But I can keep looking

 

[mitfy]

I'm glad I could help! I checked the map thread though and I didn't see it in the last few pages where I would've looked - I'm starting to wonder if maybe I saw it scrolling through Twitter instead, at which point I wouldn't be able to retrieve it for you. But I can keep looking

oh well, i've found some pretty good examples, though! my favorite was one i saw on page 6 of that thread, i think.

 

[Deliquate]

Here's a hot tip from someone who just built a bridge, destroyed an incline, then destroyed the bridge and built a new one four spaces away and is about to rebuild the incline in nearly the exact same spot: go all in on turnips.

I'd been thinking, "What if I rerouted this river, moved the house on the one side to the other side, extended the cliff and curved it around..." for a few weeks. I had some villagers reshuffling and I decided to give it a try. Turned out that I did not like any of these changes but it was mostly painless to do, because all those turnips I've been selling gave me the ability to play around, see what I thought, then undo it without much grief.

I can only imagine how miserable I'd be if those had been truly costly errors.

 

[mitfy]

Here's a hot tip from someone who just built a bridge, destroyed an incline, then destroyed the bridge and built a new one four spaces away and is about to rebuild the incline in nearly the exact same spot: go all in on turnips.

I'd been thinking, "What if I rerouted this river, moved the house on the one side to the other side, extended the cliff and curved it around..." for a few weeks. I had some villagers reshuffling and I decided to give it a try. Turned out that I did not like any of these changes but it was mostly painless to do, because all those turnips I've been selling gave me the ability to play around, see what I thought, then undo it without much grief.

I can only imagine how miserable I'd be if those had been truly costly errors.

ohhh yes, thankfully i've been on the turnip train for a bit. i have something like 7mil in my savings, so i think i'm good to go for a bit. moving houses adds up very fast

 

[mitfy]

UPDATE !! here are changes to my map. i'm trying to figure out the rest of the house placements - anyone have ideas? along with the river, i'm unsure of how i want it to flow. also, feel free to draw right over this if u have a suggestion!

 

[sleepydreepy]

Personally I couldn't decide on one neighborhood theme, so I split my villagers up and have 4 different neighborhoods! On neighborhood is very natural (and is where the "locals" live), one is very landscaped (like a resort), one is a "fishermen's village" on the beach, and the last one is an Egyptian Oasis. I really enjoyed this because it gave me an excuse to try out different landscaping/decorating styles and kept things interesting!

For your island perhaps you could try something like this by splitting your villagers up between the north and south of your island, since you said you have two themes going on. You could have your tropical hibiscus neighborhood in the south (perhaps near the beach) and then a more forest-y one in the north on a cliff or something. Just looking at your villager list Tangy, Gayle, Bob, Shari (Cheri? the red bear cub), and Stiches give me a more tropical vibe based on coloring and could go in the tropical neighborhood, but you know your villagers best!

 

[mitfy]

Personally I couldn't decide on one neighborhood theme, so I split my villagers up and have 4 different neighborhoods! On neighborhood is very natural (and is where the "locals" live), one is very landscaped (like a resort), one is a "fishermen's village" on the beach, and the last one is an Egyptian Oasis. I really enjoyed this because it gave me an excuse to try out different landscaping/decorating styles and kept things interesting!

For your island perhaps you could try something like this by splitting your villagers up between the north and south of your island, since you said you have two themes going on. You could have your tropical hibiscus neighborhood in the south (perhaps near the beach) and then a more forest-y one in the north on a cliff or something. Just looking at your villager list Tangy, Gayle, Bob, Shari (Cheri? the red bear cub), and Stiches give me a more tropical vibe based on coloring and could go in the tropical neighborhood, but you know your villagers best!

yes! i've been doing that. i have certain houses i want in the north and south - i'm going mostly by house exterior for location. i'm now trying to figure outl ike... where i want the houses to go :]