Tips and Advice for Terraforming

[PikaPika19]

I thought it would be fun to make a thread where we could all share our terraforming tips and advice. I know I've been finding it difficult to terraform my island in a way that I actually like, and that got me thinking that there might be other people looking for tips and advice, so here we go!

1. Don't be like me and place all of your houses/buildings before you know what kind of look you want for your island (it has supremely messed up my manner of terraforming because with all the houses around, I can't get a good idea of what I want to do with the land.)
2. Make sure you place your houses/buildings (barring the museum) after you're comfortable with the way your island looks (it'll save you a good 50,000+ bells on having to move houses later.)
3. Plan out where you want all your structures to go (doesn't have to be the exact size of the structure, but it's good to give yourself an idea of where you want things to go)
4. Look at some interesting pictures of real life landscaping for inspiration! There's lots of interesting landscapes out in the world to draw inspiration from!

 

[Xara]

the main piece of advice i can offer is to not stress. the idea of terraforming can be overwhelming especially if it’s not something you’ve experienced in a game before. maybe you want to have a tower of waterfalls or something but for your first time terraforming, try to start out with something small like making a pond.

don’t panic if you make a mistake - none of it is permanent. if you create a waterfall that you don’t like or mess up trying to dig away at a cliff, you can easily undo it and try again. nothing is permanent and any errors can be corrected

 

[akimaki]

I have some! My island has a more natural forestlike theme so I've trying to avoid making my cliffs and rivers super straight! Making more rounded edges and odd shapes gives it a very natural feel! Here's some pictures of my map for example ^^ (would upload some of my island but apparently the file is too large lol)

Spoiler: Examples

 

[dragonair]

my advice: try not to throw your nintendo switch when you try to dig a hole for a river and it makes the little "boowopwop" noise just because you're a little too close to something or when you try to place something right in front of you and your character decides to turn 45 degrees instead and do it somewhere else hahahha

 

[Maiana]

Piggybacking off of what @/xara & @/dragonair said, definitely don't stress and nothing is permanent with terraforming.
If you're feeling angry, definitely walk away from the game for a bit or take a nap. Almost threw my pro controller at my TV because it got so frustrating lmaooo. I put my character to rest, took a cat nap, woke back up, and felt refreshed -- to the point where I could begin terraforming again <3

 

[Fey]

My advice would be to start in a small area—dock or plaza area work especially well for this in my opinion.
From there, it’ll be much easier to progress in the other directions and onto bigger plans. I’ve actually found my layout to develop naturally that way, because you can just keep adding on to what you already have.

I put my character to rest, took a cat nap, woke back up, and felt refreshed -- to the point where I could begin terraforming again <3

Not gonna lie, putting my character to rest actually destresses me. Sometimes I take her shoes off, or even change into something more comfortable!

 

[stitchmaker]

Check all the starter maps. My main town river took up most of the map. It had 2 U and connected to the cliff top river.
The river needed to go back. I found a starter map with a good river and traced it on to paper. Used pathway tiles that showed up on the map to outline parts of the river I wanted. Fixed my waterfall so it didn't connect to the river. The rest I took my time and worked on small parts each night.

 

[chibski]

I know a lot of people (including myself) that decided to clear their entire island and immediately regretted it. Even if you don't like your island layout, don't destroy everything before you have a solid plan. Your island will look bare and depressing and it's hard to motivate yourself to fix it.

 

[PikaPika19]

Wow! Everyone is full of such great advice! I've been working on terrforming my island so I'll definitely be taking into account what everyone has said.

Also, @akimaki your island layout is so cool! I love natural, forest type landscapes!