Neighborhoods on your island?

[Sprinkles_penguin]

I'm in the middle of planning my map town, and I have some questions, specially on how to organize my villager's houses. Should I cluster them all in a designed residential area where all the houses are in like a little neighborhood, or should I spread them all over my island? What are the pros and cons of each one? I'm looking for a somewhat rural aesthetic, so I don't know wether to put them in a neighborhood, or not. If I put them in a neighborhood, will all the villagers stay only in that corner of my town, or will they go explore all around the island?

 

[nightglow]

I have mine in one area but they go everywhere.
But if you have villagers that you are keeping, it may be better to spread them out because they can have thier own personalized corner of the island rather than a little yard.
up to you of course.

 

[carackobama]

I have different districts in my town so I have houses in those areas with villagers living there that I think fit the vibe! I have my main area with shops and a residential area, with extra facilities built into the yards of those villagers (a bakery stand for Merengue and juice bar for Tangy for example), my magical forest area where Julian, Judy and Diana live, a woodsy area near my campsite for Erik and Rudy my jock lives on the beach where I imagine him going for a morning run. I find it really fun to be creative and place villagers according to where I feel like they’d like to live!

 

[Fendi]

All of my villagers are in one designated neighbourhood area, and they still do explore the entire island. It really comes down to your style preference. For me, I wanted my villagers to live in one concentrated area since I think it made them more "connected" with one another. I think they tend to interact more since they're within close living vicinity.

Of course, villagers always still wander around randomly, but they sometimes tend to walk around their house. In terms of convenience, it makes visiting villagers easier as you do not need to go around the island to visit each one of them. Plus, from my own experience, it left more room to create recreational areas around the island, since if you scatter them around, you're going to likely use more space to design different neighbourhood areas.

 

[toenuki]

i have a few neighbourhood WIPS.
i have all 3 octopi together, my uchi-peppy-snooty girls, and the last bit is unknown rn.

my villagers either walka round or stay by their house to observe what's around them (my octopi have flowers nearby and look at them often) and all the houses are near the plaza. there really aren't any cons, depending on how you make them, distance can really be a factor. that's it tbh, besides space obvi

 

[soomi]

I have two little neighbourhoods but I would love to give them their own backyards so I might re-do everything! I find it cute when people match items and the villagers So I'm hoping to do the same!

 

[coderp]

I have no idea what to do with my villagers, I barely like any of their placements... Lol

 

[Bk1234]

I kind of have a "living district" with Erik, Tutu, Nana, Hamlet, and Audie (who is on the beach). Reneigh and Sherb have their own separate areas. Tia's home is at the exit of a nature trail. Olaf's is right next to an outdoor cafe. Bruce's is most definitely going to be moved to the "living district." I am considering making another level.

 

[moon_child]

Depends on your island plans and priorities. For me, here are the pros and cons:

Neighborhood Pros:
- Easy to check who’s crafting, who’s home or not when trying to give them gifts or talk to them.
- Saves a lot of space since you’ll have the rest of the island to fill up with other plans you might have (outdoor restaurants / cafes, etc.)
- Map looks cleaner and more streamlined.
- Each villager can have their own yards personalized to their interests and hobbies.
- Villagers can move in and out without fuss since they can be randomized and placed anywhere within the neighborhood since you don’t have to stick to a concept.

Neighborhood Cons:
- It can look very modern and city-like. If that’s not what you’re going for, you might wanna rethink this setup.
- It can get pretty boring since all the backdrops of the houses will pretty much look the same / generic because they’re all in just one area.
- Villagers do wander around farther within the islands but they’re also frequently near their houses as well so your other attractions may be empty sometimes.

Personally, I have a combination going on in my island (one neighborhood of four and the rest of the villagers scattered in their specific areas). Most of my villager houses are scattered throughout the island where they don’t have yards, but they have areas instead. Their houses are within their designated areas which has designated themes. It keeps the island busy all over and gives me variety in terms of vistas since the houses are almost like part of the aesthetic of the area. The downside is that since they have themed areas, the villagers must pretty much be permanent residents. It’ll be hard to replace them unless the replacement villager will also fall into the same theme (ex. those living in the Little Asia part of my island can only be replaced by specific villagers who also have strong Asian themes in terms of house exteriors and interiors). On the other hand, I also have one neighborhood of four villagers. These are the ones who aren’t heavily themed and they’re the ones with their personalized yards instead of areas to themselves.

 

[Alicia]

I have one neighborhood. I had them more scattered, but I ended up not really like where they houses were and decided to put them in a neighborhood instead.
I like that they are all in one area, and I gave them each a small yard for stuff that I think fits them. I always wanted a neighborhood type area in new leaf, so I'm glad I can have that on my island now. :3

 

[InstantNoodles]

I've spread my villagers out so I can have fun decorating their front yards. For example, I have a farmhouse area for Dom and Bob, and a pastel area for Judy and Gayle. Tangy's frontyard is a juice bar

 

[Galactic Fork]

I have a Downtown area with my shops, square, and 5 villagers. Just outside of downtown I have a suburb island occupied by 2 villagers (Francine and Chrissy). The other three are way outside of town in their own little themed sections.

 

[Sprinkles_penguin]

I have a Downtown area with my shops, square, and 5 villagers. Just outside of downtown I have a suburb island occupied by 2 villagers (Francine and Chrissy). The other three are way outside of town in their own little themed sections.

Great! Can I please have a picture of your Downtown? I'm trying to create one too!

Post automatically merged: Jun 15, 2020

I've spread my villagers out so I can have fun decorating their front yards. For example, I have a farmhouse area for Dom and Bob, and a pastel area for Judy and Gayle. Tangy's frontyard is a juice bar

I'd love to see a picture of what you mentioned!

 

[Imbri]

I have two neighborhoods, one with four villagers, the other with six. My rivers and cliffs determined the size, and I put houses together that looked right in the setting. The smaller one is by a beach, so I used lighter house exteriors. The other is more forested, so the darker houses fit better.

I didn't make much in the way of individual yards, but there is a common area for each with picnic tables, grills, swing, etc.

I used azaleas in both, but put the white in the beach side, pink in the forest, and used flowers and fences that are unique. I'm pleased with the result.

 

[Jhine7]

I have a neighborhood on my island, with everyone getting their own backyard, bush and tree

 

[Hobowire]

I cluttered mine and have open fields. They share a community park and bbq area

 

[Etown20]

I think either can be good, but one thing I’d note - villagers tend to hang out in front of their houses sometimes so front yards can be a good idea. I have a couple yards at the side of houses right now and they rarely get used.

 

[Serabee]

I have a couple different "neighborhoods", but also some houses that are in their own area. I focus on villager aesthetic/personality when I figure out where to put them.

For instance, here are two of my neighborhoods:

The left one is the "main" neighborhood (though it just has two houses, currently Chevre and Julian who happen to match perfectly) and it's just to the right of my RS plaza. This was the first proper neighborhood I ever started making, Tammy has her house around where Chevre's was on the first day! The beach neighborhood (the two villager houses pictured, and one of my character's houses off to the right) on the right is just below the main one (the wood path you see at the bottom of that pic leads to it).

In my orchard pic you can see the start of my forest behind it, and in the top right corner, you catch a glimpse of Erik's house. Since he's a reindeer (side note- I made his catchphrase "reindurr" and it makes me laugh more than it should) with a cabin I thought it fit nicely in the forest.

I also (though I don't have pictures) have a "fancier" neighborhood on the western side of my island, with some flowerbeds and larger yards. Cleo, who lives there, even has a pool! Again, it just has two (Merry and Cleo right now).

I've also got Dobie's house on a tiny scrap of beach that's mainly private (I put one of the shabby bridges leading to it, so it looks super secluded). I like his house there because he's a cranky old man, and it would allow him to yell "Get off my lawn(beach)!" all he wants

Like Erik, Freya lives in the forest. Her house is on a hill, with some wind turbines by it. It looks very pretty and for some reason gives me a Scandinavian vibe there, so I think it fits.

I frequently move houses when new islanders come in, too, so their houses are in JUST the right spot. Since you can move houses as much as you want (for a fee, of course) it really helps with island planning, since you don't need to worry about a spot being good for one villager, but seem ridiculous for the next!

 

[Madrox6]

Originally, I gave each of my villagers their own plot with a personalized front yard, but it took up so much space and it still felt like the wasn't enough room to make the yards interesting. Now I've got them grouped into two neighborhoods - seven villagers downtown near the plaza and shops, three villagers across a bridge near the fishing pier and boardwalk. I think it looks better visually while freeing up a lot of space to build more common areas

 

[daffodilcrossing]

I had my villagers all around at first but I realized I didn’t like it as much because it took up so much space and I felt like I couldn’t really design my island like I wanted. I put them all in one area now and I just think it looks nicer. My theme is like a spooky overgrown forest so having all my villagers in one area makes it look like a lost neighborhood in the middle of the woods