Hi! I've recently unlocked terraforming on my island and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the possibilities, so I was just wondering how other folks go about designing? Do you plan everything out beforehand? Work around your existing river/ponds and cliff or make big changes to them? I want to go for a cozy, farm town kind of vibe (my island's name is Bywater and I basically want to recreate Hobbiton lol). I basically have the map below but with the secret beach on the other side and I'm finding it a bit tricky to work around the two south facing rivers. I'd appreciate any thoughts/advice! The red squares are where I'm planning to make villager gardens/yards.
ohmygosh, i would absolutely love to see your island when it's finished! the idea of being able to run around a little hobbiton island makes me so darn giddy, you don't even realize <3
secondly, to answer your initial question. terraforming is so tedious and overwhelming, but for me, i find that if i do it section by section, it's not as bad. it also gives me a little bit more freedom to try and work things around, and fill in gaps in a more natural way. usually, i'm always about planning things out, but i find i got more overwhelmed when i attempted to lay everything out before starting the work. so i gathered up some ideas of what i want for my island, and i'm implementing them as i go along. some days i'll have my inspiration for landscaping and other days i'll want to focus on an area, like the campsite, or house exteriors.
the beautiful thing about terraforming an area is that if you don't like it, you can always change it back the way it was before c:
Terraforming is a lot to work with and I knew if I started from scratch, I would rethink everything and probably reset. Instead, I took a screenshot of my map and drew over changes I want based on what I already had. There were some tweaks to my rivers and cliffs (some had additions as well). I think terraforming is a lot easier if a lot of planning goes into it beforehand.
I'm in a similar position!! I was super overwhelmed when I tried to do my first bit of terraforming to the point where I left it for a day and had to come back to it haha. currently I'm working on a rough restructure of my whole island but I'm just taking it piece by piece, working on one little area and getting it to match pretty closely to what my end goal is and then going and doing something else for a bit
First time I did my island, I started with as blank a slate as I could get.... Which was a mistake, in my opinion. lol, so what I did the second time around is found a program that allowed me to see my old map and then drew it how I liked. It took a couple of days and it takes even longer to move everything around, but honestly, I love the second set up so much more already.
TL;DR: Make yourself a reference and go from that however you feel least overwhelmed. It will help a ton!
I start with areas arpund unchangeable elements and then work from there. Most of the time I only do minimal changes to the river (it's a nice natural border between the south and north parts of my island and also how the heck do you even create natural-looking riverbanks) and fill in land whenever I need it.
I planned out my island in a broad way as in listing areas I wanted to ultimately have, but when it came to actual design work I ended up breaking it up into smaller more manageable projects and did a little bit each day, then moved onto designing the next area. I took a photo of my island map and drew on it until I was satisfied then I'd take a piece of paper or a note on my phone and do a more detailed sketch of a specific area. That really helped me! And I mean these were ROUGH like 3rd grader sketches just to give you an idea, so it's possible for anyone to do!
It's so easy to get overwhelmed. Just take things slow- don't forget you can always tear down if something goes awry! Good luck!!
I had the best time with it when I threw all plans out the window and just winged it with what I had. I went slow and I am still editing cliffs bit by bit. But I love what I have now.
