Tips for Landscaping?

[starredthought]

Hi everyone!

So I'm trying to go deeper into my game (since I'm a casual gamer even when it comes to Animal Crossing, apparently) so I'm going to try to landscape my town.

This thread is for posting your tips and tricks for landscaping. What was your process? How did you deal with obstacles (like rocks and neighbors)? How long did it take? And anything else you think is important to know!

 

[fallenchaoskitten]

I will suggest to do almost first what many people will say to do last...

PATHS
Just a single path... not a 3 way or borders...
Start with your home, retail, train station, town hall and connect them... add villager homes... connect them... pwps... connect them.
Several people will say to remove all trees to help lay paths, but I don't... I just carry my golden axe and shovel with me on the way. XP I mean you can remove all trees if you want to but you don't have to if you don't want to.
Once you have the single path done... it is much easier to figure out how and where you want wider paths to be and where you want decorated paths like water to be...

Once paths are done it is also easier in my mind to plan flowers, bushes, and trees...
Rocks you just have to live with and work them into the design or work around them or try to avoid that area...
With neighbors you either have to work with them or spend your time plot resetting them into desired locations.

 

[jiheishou]

Having a general idea of where your paths should be definitely helps! It also helps if you have a vision of what your dream town looks like, complete with PWP placements so that you could work your villager homes and paths around them.

Do you have all of your dreamies? If your town is going to be changing a lot, maybe leave the bushes for later.

 

[TeeTee]

Take a picture of your town map. Plan paths by drawing lines to connect to buildings and houses. Then plan PWPs and plants around the path to fill up your town.
Dig holes, clear trees, layout 1 tile patterns to figure out where your future path is going to go. Once you have a good idea, start drawing your path or taking other town's path. Lay the path out then start planting trees and building PWPs.

 

[fallenchaoskitten]

Also...
Landscaping is a work in progress type of thing...
It's rarely ever an over night thing...
It's about baby steps...

I think I did my basic path and landscaping layout before I ever got my 2nd dream villager.
I say that because my first move in was a dream villager so I can't say before my first. XP
I know before my 4th dreamie ((so after my 3rd moved in)) basically all my current landscaping I already did... I just did more "touch up" work that anything.

So it is possible to do a lot of landscaping and such while still working on your permanent villagers.

 

[starredthought]

Yeah I have no real concept of "dreamies". I just kind of take villagers as I get them.

 

[Glaceon2000]

I would visit dream towns and see what other people do, don't just copy them but do something that's like the things that you liked. Ideas don't come right away, they come with time. Also, be prepared for villagers to move in awful places (unless you plot reset). Some you can work around pretty easily, you may have to move the villager out though if it's really bad. My town is still a WIP, but I feel it's always getting better as I come up with more ideas. Good luck with your town!

 

[WonderK]

You can visit my dream address to see what I did with my town. The key idea is to not make paths in areas you're never going to walk to and to make them completely horizontal and vertical. Don't make paths at an angle since they are not designed to do that haha. Whatever color your paths are, you should also try to match it with your town flowers (trying to do that right now).

Designing and planning out your paths takes a long time. It took me about 3 weeks to do mine and it's still a work in progress. If you're going to go full out on pathing up your town in a precise manner, I suggest plot resetting like me and many others do (we don't like it when villagers move in stupid spots!). Best of luck!

 

[starredthought]

What is plot resetting?

 

[WonderK]

What is plot resetting?

There's some threads about it and there are also youtube tutorials about it. Essentially, you make a new character and scan out your town to see where a villager planted their house. If you don't like the spot, you reset and re-make the character to try again. You keep doing this until the villager moves into a spot you like. It can take quite a while though so only do this if you are dedicated haha.