Thinking about flattening my island... Has anyone else done this?

[TheKryptoKnight]

I don't want to restart, because I don't want to lose all of my other progress, but I'm kind of tired of my island layout, and want to demolish everything and start from scratch.

Has anyone done this? Would you recommend it? I don't necessarily have any grand ideas for what to do after it's flattened... Is that a problem, or have you found it reasonably easy to wing it?

Fall/Winter are my favorite seasons, and I want to enjoy them in a town I'm happy in!

 

[BalloonFight]

About 3 weeks after I got terraforming unlocked when the game came out, and I had a new concept of how I wanted my island, I flattened half of my island. I would definitely recommend this more than completely restarting your file. What I did was I kept a trashcan in my inventory to get rid of flowers easy, and turned on a movie during the flattening. Having a distraction and breaking it up into chunks during your playtime also helps a bunch to avoid the flattening burn out.

 

[Dracule]

Okay, I've answered this in a couple other threads, but I'll share my experience here:

Would I recommend flattening your island? YES. Especially if you're unhappy with how it currently looks. I remember playing for 1-2 months and then seeing how beautifully everyone was terraforming their islands. It made me unhappy, but more so because I knew that I personally wanted more from my island than how I had it, and seeing other islands made me realize that. I ended up completely flattening my island and started from the ground up. I LOVE it soooo much better. Here's my advice:

It took me probably 3-4 days to completely flatten and move everything to storage or the beach. I took it stages at a time: first, put all of your furniture in storage or trash it; second, dig up all flowers and weeds, planting flowers on the beach and putting weeds in storage; third, chop down all trees, then dig them up and save any fruits to replant later; fourth, start moving islander houses to the beach as closely together as possible; fifth, move other buildings (including your home) in emptier spaces on the island that aren't terraformed; sixth, finally start flattening the island, working at it and moving around buildings when necessary; seventh, remove all bridges and inclines; eighth, partially or completely cover up all waterways. Now, the last three steps are only if you plan to completely flatten your island; otherwise, if you don't have the bells to spend to get rid of or move bridges, inclines, houses, and buildings, then try to work within your budget.

What I personally did with my island was terraform the entire first level into a second level, then dug my way down to the first level in certain parts. This was because I wanted a mountain town, so I needed the island elevated to do so. Next I just terraformed certain sections to the third level if it looked good. I have my DA set, but haven't added to my signature because it's not fully completed. Let me know if you want to visit for reference. My island is permanently set in autumn, and I've basically considered every QR code and decoration for the season and theme.

Sorry that this is so long, LOL. I wanted to be thorough with what I did that worked. >w<

 

[WolfyWolf]

^—— what they said lol

I did very recently do what you may consider flattening, and it’s the third iteration of my island and best yet. I just couldn’t imagining resetting with this game (I’ve done it once for New Lead but you have so much control in Horizons it’s mostly not worth it).

I didn’t entirely flatten everything I sorta started at my entryway and went from there, as I had a few pieces vaguely planned out in my mind and then I was winging it everywhere else. Had a blast.

 

[ChanCake]

This is something I have been thinking about doing too, but the thought of having to terraform everything myself is honestly a little intimidating, haha. I really want a forest aesthetic but my island is way too open as it is right now.

 

[JellyBeans]

I've also definitely considered this! if you're not entirely sure, try just flattening one section and starting from scratch there before committing to the entire island (which in my mind is totally overwhelming!!). I did this with my neighbourhood area and I am SO much happier with it now than I was before! if I wasn't suffering from extreme burnout I'd totally flatten my island rn

 

[AlexSilverpen]

there's a YouTuber who's done this (RyanFTW on his Animal Crossing and Chill series) and I'd recommend seeing how he did it. He started with one portion and moved on, and then did the same with re-building. Starting in one portion and then moving on. Personally, I don't plan on flattening my island. I do want to get a second Switch so I can get a new island, as I adore Seastar but want change. I already have plans for my new island as well...

 

[LunaRover]

I flattened my island completely to restart & have had no problems so far. In fact, it’s been nice having it so empty, kind of like an empty canvas to paint on. The one thing to factor is it takes a lot of time due to the slowness of terraforming & rebuilding will probably take at least as long since there is the planning factor. Maybe I would recommend doing it a few weeks after the update hits?

 

[Bluebellie]

I would definitely recommend this rather than completely restarting. About two months ago, I decided I didn’t really like how my town looked. I had my shopping district and my character houses towards the back and villager houses up front. This was very inconvenient. I decided to flatten the island because I didn’t like it, and that gave me a fresh beginning. I sort of reversed it. I made the shopping up front as well as the villager houses. Before I was not ok with the layout and I sort of didn’t really like the decorations. Right now I am happy where I’m at.

 

[Aurita]

I personally haven’t flattened my entire island before but I have redone major parts of my island. I got sick of my decorations and just tore down those sections and redid them. Definitely follow @Dracule ’s method and it’ll go a lot easier! I also agree that this is easier than resetting since the tutorial probably will take just as much time (maybe even more?) and you lose all your items, catalog, DIYs, and villagers

 

[TheSillyPuppy]

I agree with the previous responses so you keep all your progress thus far. However, I would suggest before flattening your island completely and moving all buildings and houses to the beach, take some time to plan things out (unless in-game bells aren't a concern for you).

Let me explain. I re-hauled my island starting in July (moving both shops, the museum, all 10 villager houses, and my two characters' houses, tearing down and building all 12 bridges/inclines). Before starting this project, I took some time to plan out what I wanted my next iteration to look like on Happy Island Designer. Yes, this took some time, but it let me plan out what order to move buildings so that I could minimize the number of building moves, and thus, the in-game bells I spent on infrastructure changes. The only buildings that I had to move twice (to the beach then to its planned spot) were the Able Sisters' shop and the Museum; otherwise, I only had to move each building/house once.

I started terraforming from the north end of my island (where my second-tier cliffs are), working towards the south (ground level). Between moving each building, I terraformed a small section at a time.

 

[sleepydreepy]

I don't want to restart, because I don't want to lose all of my other progress, but I'm kind of tired of my island layout, and want to demolish everything and start from scratch.

Has anyone done this? Would you recommend it? I don't necessarily have any grand ideas for what to do after it's flattened... Is that a problem, or have you found it reasonably easy to wing it?

Fall/Winter are my favorite seasons, and I want to enjoy them in a town I'm happy in!

YESS!!! I would 100% recommend this, I have done this recently to about 70% of my island. It was so satisfying to do, and after it was done made terraforming more enjoyable. I also didn't have a plan for most of the part I flattened and have been enjoying trying out various terraforming techniques. Overall flattening your existing island is really freeing and gave my game a new dynamic, and I would totally recommend this over resetting.