Town help!

[Pharaoh]

Oh man, so I followed this really cool AC blog a while back that regularly reblogs all of these really nice towns. Might as well post it so you guys can see: http://shiny-crossing.tumblr.com/

I've wanted to redo my town and house for a long time now, I'm not terribly thrilled with my layout or design, but I really don't want to have to reset and lose everything for a second time. I haven't been on in about a year, but being back here again and seeing all those really cool towns has inspired me. The problem is though, I have no idea how to go about designing this new town. I wanted to try something more natural, but I've seen a lot of hate directed towards the natural look lately, maybe because it's considered about as overdone as the pastel kawaii town now? I don't know. I feel like whatever idea I have won't be very good though. How do you guys get inspiration for your town, especially when you've been away from AC for so long? How do you go about forming your town and what elements do you enjoy when you visit other towns? Do you like a lot of nature? Do you prefer themes? Do you like pastels? I guess I'm just looking for some key elements and good ideas so I can start the process of revamping my town again.

 

[zeoli]

I love looking at other villages, especially since pictures are easy to find on tumblr.
I feel like sometimes putting stuff together, I actually get inspired like "Wait, these look good together, time to look for more things that go together!"

That is what I'm doing with my house so far. I'm putting things that even though they aren't together in a set, they still look like they belong.

Also, please don't sell yourself short. I bet you have a ton of wonderful ideas. Rome wasn't built in a day and nor will your town be. Keep at it and keep thinking up plans.

 

[Pharaoh]

Thank you Oliy, that's nice of you. I know, some of these towns are just gorgeous! They give me so many ideas, but there's no cohesive element to them. Like, I really like paths, but at the same time, I'd love to do a nice forest/campsite area. I just feel like the way I would put them together wouldn't work. I just want to have a good idea that doesn't necessarily completely copy another town, and also fits with whatever other ideas I have. I wish there were more PWP choices sometimes.

 

[zeoli]

Well, here's the thing. It's not like you can't take a certain element and change it up on your own. I agree, I wish there were more. I know the David is an art piece but imagine if you could have a garden filled with statues in the game. I'd love that, personally!

Hmm, you know, you could always have a little camp out/forest area and then have a more urban area, if that makes sense?

 

[Pharaoh]

Yeah I guess it's just trying to find out which areas should be more urban vs the nature, I've struggled with being unhappy with my own town ideas for a long time. It's either a case of being at a complete loss of what to do with my town, OR having a ton of ideas that I can't cohesively fit them together. I really hope they add a ton more PWP in the next AC, there's so many possibilities.

 

[Mick]

I've wanted to redo my town and house for a long time now, I'm not terribly thrilled with my layout or design, but I really don't want to have to reset and lose everything for a second time. I haven't been on in about a year, but being back here again and seeing all those really cool towns has inspired me. The problem is though, I have no idea how to go about designing this new town.

You don't have to stick with what you have. That's part of the fun of this game - You are the mayor! Don't like it? Change it, little by little. It might take a few days, weeks, a month, but hey, that's another month of having something to do!

Really though, be inspired, and do what you want. That's my advice.

I wanted to try something more natural, but I've seen a lot of hate directed towards the natural look lately, maybe because it's considered about as overdone as the pastel kawaii town now? I don't know. I feel like whatever idea I have won't be very good though.

A good town is a town you enjoy playing in. Try not caring what others think. If you want to make a natural town, who cares how many are already around? Just create what you want to make. If I were to visit your natural town I'd think of it as awesome - You would have put a lot of effort into that, and that is amazing no matter how many others have done the same.

How do you guys get inspiration for your town, especially when you've been away from AC for so long?

That damn inspiration though. I usually just end up doing whatever random idea pops into my head, and doing that as well as I can until a better one comes along. I do enjoy silly things though. Exhibit A: my turtle room.

(They are cushions, but I made them look like turtles. Who cares?)

How do you go about forming your town and what elements do you enjoy when you visit other towns? Do you like a lot of nature? Do you prefer themes? Do you like pastels? I guess I'm just looking for some key elements and good ideas so I can start the process of revamping my town again.

I always like seeing public works projects that have been thought out. A stone tablet might not be cool looking, but I saw someone placing it surrounded by specific trees and flowers so it looked like some mysterious monument. I asked about that, and it took them (I quote) "Way too long to get that right, but well worth it." Shame I never took a screenshot of that, it was the best looking stone tablet I have ever seen.

Also, let's talk paths. I rather like patterns, because they are so easy to change. If I want a new path, or re-route one, I can do that within the day! I do have two characters though, to store all the unique pieces of the pattern puzzle.

But yes. Nature, nature everywhere. Trees and flowers. Make it pretty!

 

[Pharaoh]

I love your turtle cushions Mick! Thanks for your post, I'll try my best to do something that I think would be fun and enjoyable. I'll take your advice though and just take it one project at a time and see where that takes me.

 

[TeeTee]

I think you are going to run into problems regardless if you restart or not. The village I have now is the village I started with when the game first came out. I just learned to deal with it and work around problems.
I built my town around the roads the bridges. I remember this one time when I had to move out Dora and Cranston to build my third bridge. I barely managed to get my third bridge in above Diana's house with Stonehenge blocking its way. I had to relocate Stonehenge and rebuild my second bridge. I rebuilt Stonehenge two times and relocate my second bridge three times.
In the process of re-building the bridges and PWP I lost many villagers. However after my bridges are complete, I had five deer villagers (all naturally moved in). That's when my friends started noticing my deer villagers and decided to donate their deer to me. I remember I only had to buy/trade for Bruce and Bam. After all my villagers are set, I just had to do minor adjustments to my road. I think I'm just very lucky with villager move ins and the locations of the houses.
In the end, my village's placements and theme were decided by luck. Also I spent a lot of time on designing and laying the roads out around the villagers' houses.

 

[MightyMunchlax]

I just like towns that are well put together. It does so much matter to me if they follow a theme or tell a story I just like experiencing whatever they've put together. If it's a forest I like to wander through and see all of their beautiful landscaping or if it's a town that's supposed to tell a story I like living through it. So long as whatever they're doing is done well I don't have a preference for what kind of towns I like to see. All of them. ^^

As far as going about designing your own town here are some tips I follow when designing my towns. (Ophylix is my main, feel free to visit! DA in sig, Olympus has a DA, but I haven't updated in a while cause that town is still a WIP)
First off I clear out everything. Cut down all trees (I usually plant some in a line along the train tracks so my town isn't completely bare. It's kind of a signature thing you'll see in my town), put all flowers on the beach, etc. I have dreamies for my towns so I like to plan where I want to put them roughly. Once I have a general idea, I lay down some paths. If I haven't unlocked the QR machine I use whatever the defaults are as placeholders until I can put down the ones I want. I start by connecting things like the train station, my house, re-tail, town hall, etc depending on the map. Depending on where I want villagers to go I start making main paths. I'm very OCD so I like my paths to be very straight. I think that's important at least in the beginning. Once you get things placed you can start to add up and make other smaller paths to make travel easier.
Next, after I've got a good path stream going I look around and try and decide what theme I want to accomplish or basically what I want my town to be. Then I pick PWPs and decide where I want those to go and leave spots for them. Same thing with alt character houses if I decide to have some (which I usually do).
Once I'm fairly certain I'm happy with my paths I start landscaping. Landscaping is probably the most fun for me because you really see your town start to come together. Stockpile as many tree starts and bush starts as you can. It's easier for me cause I have two towns (technically three, but the third one doesn't have the shop upgraded that far). I'm a very coordination oriented person, so I tend to think about each area individually (by area I mean, space around buildings such as the cafe, re-tail, villager houses, etc) and come up with a color scheme. Usually it's based off the color of the building/animal. Then I plant bushes, flowers, and trees accordingly. It takes a long time to make a town really amazing. I've had Ophylix since the game launched two years ago and it's still not complete entirely. I hope this helped! Good luck on your town!

 

[Mega_Cabbage]

I start with the paths. Eventually the paths create little sections which you can decorate. I don't really plan out what theme I'm going for, but from what I've seen/done, PWPs look ten times better when used in unison with one another and when they are symmetrical. Afterwards I put back all the flowers, trees, and bushes. You don't have to have a theme to make a town look good. Just put down what you think fits.

 

[Pharaoh]

Thanks for all the great advice! I'll try to start with paths first, to all the important places and around neighbor houses. I think that's a big part of the struggle I'm facing, my paths as of right now aren't making sense. I am curious though, do people prefer single or double paths? It seems to be constantly changing. I thought I preferred double myself, but I've seen some really pretty towns with single. Does it bother you guys much when you see a single path?

 

[Mega_Cabbage]

I like double paths. Single paths seem a bit too cramped, but you could also use both single and double if you can't make up your mind.

 

[Pharaoh]

Well I mainly ask because it seems like a lot of natural towns will use the single trails, and I did want to have a little more nature in my town this time around. I just didn't know if it was typical to combine two different path styles.

 

[MightyMunchlax]

I used single and double in my main town, but in Olympus I only have double for right now not including my plaza which is decorated a bit differently.

 

[Pharaoh]

Ah, I will definitely visit then, if you don't mind, because I'd like to get an idea of how single and doubles can intermingle, that is of course if that's the DA you have listed in your signature, or is that for your other town?

 

[Fandabidozi]

Definitely plan out your paths first. What makes sense leading from your house, from Main Street and from the beach. Bushes can really help section areas off, and dissuade short cutting.
It helps if you break down your map into sections. Like I plan to have a very built up top to mid section, left is taken up by plaza and town hall, bottom is the street for villagers and right is forest leading up to my house.
Have a look at my map: Dizzy(mayor) at Huevos(town). I'm in the planning stages but I think it's in good shape for the future.

 

[MightyMunchlax]

Ah, I will definitely visit then, if you don't mind, because I'd like to get an idea of how single and doubles can intermingle, that is of course if that's the DA you have listed in your signature, or is that for your other town?

Sure, feel free to visit! My DA hasn't been updated in a while, but I haven't changed my path layout since then. Not significantly anyway. I use two different paths for my singles and doubles, and my singles I use mainly when spots get tight and I can't fit a double in with the landscaping I want. Ophylix wasn't a very well planned out town, but I made it work. Olympus is my more planned out town, but it's not complete yet, so I haven't posted the DA.

 

[SweetMopy]

Resetting can be a super hard choice; however, if you aren't finding inspiration for your current town, part of it could be the layout. I have several copies of the game. My main town I spent three days (not kidding) picking a town layout that I really liked. Designing this town seemed really effortless to me, and I ended up going for a cute small town look. I still have a very long way to go, and I'm not entirely sure where it will end up, but I let the layout inspire most of the choices I make for the town. I started another town a few months ago, and I'm having a lot of trouble finding inspiration for it. I realized that part of the reason I'm not sure what to do with it is because I'm not as in love with the Layout as my original town.

Ultimately, I think a fresh start could help you get your inspiration back. As others have said, look at pictures of towns for inspiration, but you shouldn't worry too much about what other people want. Make sure you are creating something that you like, or you're not going to want to hang out in your own town .

 

[Arcticfox5]

Make it pretty!

I definitely agree with everything Mick has said! Change it up if you don't like something! Don't think about what other people will think of your town. All that really matters is what you think of your town. It could be a certain theme is popular, but that doesn't mean they're all exactly the same. Your town will always be unique if you put in some of your own ideas and have fun experimenting.

You have no idea how much I love this!!!