Terraforming Spotlight

[nintendog]

Hello!

I just got access to the island designer app today and I would love some tips & inspiration to get started terraforming my island!

I'd love to see examples of everyone's favorite island features and layout choices, plus any tricks you've learned to terraform more efficiently. Screenshots and videos would be so appreciated!!

I'm loving this wrap-around incline up to a clifftop house. What other unique ideas have you come up with?

 

[Radda]

I got some inspo from @triforcemeg on twitter! She did this really cool centerfold museum!

 

[meganloveszelda]

I got some inspo from @triforcemeg on twitter! She did this really cool centerfold museum!

Omg that’s me! Glad you liked it!!

 

[moon_child]

Hmmm basic tips and tricks are:

- If you can, try to clump all your villagers together on just a small area of your initial map so it’s easier to terraform all the other parts and you’d need to move them only once.

- Plot your plans on your island. Use the island designer app or draw on a scratch paper, whichever you prefer but it’s easier to have some sort of a blueprint of how you want things to end up looking. You can adjust as you go along.

- Do one section at a time. Sure, you can do the other way and level your entire town and literally start from scratch but psychologically, it’s better to do it section by section. Seeing your town barren can sometimes bring you down and make you feel like it’s not pretty or you can’t make sense of it. It triggers a lot of false regrets and impatience resulting to desires to reset thinking you’ve messed it up when in fact, you didn’t. It’s just not finished yet. If you do it in small sections, you get the satisfaction of looking at the finished product of that section immediately so it reinforces your design decisions.

- Consider what’s important for you. There are a lot of islands that are overly decorated with complex terraforming and such and they’re beautiful to tour but would you really want to live there? Will you be able to do your dailies comfortably in such a map? Will you be able to farm balloons with everything in the way? Look for fossils? Shake the trees? Take your play style into consideration. Sometimes, simple is best.

- Don’t compare your map to others. It’s okay to be inspired by others but don’t be envious of other people’s maps especially if you’re not very creative. AC is not mainly about designing, after all. You have Happy Home Designer for that. Just enjoy living the life and edit your island as and when you feel like it. There’s no race to be a five star island or to have a showcase town. Don’t pressure yourself.

 

[Magus]

Hello there ! I'm in the same position now.
I just unlocked Terraforming and I am excited and terrified at the same time. I have a lot of ideas but don't know were to begin so I would like some advices too...

Is there any app or website to make a plan for your future island ?
How do you do to mark your planned areas ? With paths or with holes ? Like, what is the exact size of a villager house for exemple ? Or all official buildings (Nook's, Able sisters, etc) ?

 

[DaviddivaD]

I only destroyed one little cliff. I "perfected" the remaining cliffs. Added on to them, etc. I straightened out parts of the river or it would be impossible to build bridges in certain areas otherwise.

I want my island to look natural and and in touch with nature and not look man-made. I have also stayed from the temptation of making too many waterfalls. Too many YouTubers do this on their islands. Waterfalls are beautiful but too much is sometimes a bad thing.

But, it's all up to you. You only need to use your imagination.

Post automatically merged: May 2, 2020

Hello there ! I'm in the same position now.
I just unlocked Terraforming and I am excited and terrified at the same time. I have a lot of ideas but don't know were to begin so I would like some advices too...

Is there any app or website to make a plan for your future island ?
How do you do to mark your planned areas ? With paths or with holes ? Like, what is the exact size of a villager house for exemple ? Or all official buildings (Nook's, Able sisters, etc) ?

Remember this: You only get 8 bridges and inclines and you need to plan around this. I have no idea why they didn't go with 10 of each personally.