It's coming back by popular demand! The Bell Tree World Championship! After three years, our grand gaming event will return on May 18th with ten Nintendo Switch games to play, both competitively and casually. Signups for the event are now open as explained in the new Bell Tree World Championship 2024 thread!
With this very first island blogpost I would like to give a bit of background information about Twinleaf, before diving into the busy island life!
My island gets its name from the very first Pokémon game I ever played, Pokémon Diamond. Twinleaf is the starting town where the game begins, and it's also where the story of my island begins! I wanted to create a small, happy and safe world I could disappear to whenever life is dull or overwhelming. This island is filled to the brim with my childhood memories of games I've played and places I've loved when life was a little slower and simpler. All over the island there are little references to Pokémon, TLOZ and Studio Ghibli - my most favourite franchises. Most of my paths are framed with tetris grids - arguably the most important game of my childhood ^^ I only saw it fit to create a tetris framing for my island journal pictures as well.
I'm not very good at coming up with lore and very immersive stories, so my island journal will be more of a travel guide instead.(„• ᴗ •„) Here's what's planned for the time being:
Itinerary
Arrival Shopping trip Daytime activities Evening activities Rainy days The INCIDENT Daily life of an exploited Island rep Construction of a Super Mario parcour Construction of a Pokémon arena + Pokémon center ?
So without further ado, let's visit Twinleaf together!
"Welcome to Twinleaf! Have you had a good journey? My name is Violet and I'm Twinleaf's island representative. I will show you around the island if you'd like, because it's
easy to get lost when one doesn't know ones way around.
Everyone is so excited to meet you! The others have been antsy all day cleaning their yards and decorating their houses to make a good first impression. Why don't we start in the neighborhood area where everyone lives? We might not meet everyone in person just now, but I have seen a few of my neighbors roaming around earlier. Come along!"
"We're off to a good start! This is Stitches - looks like we met him in the mids of him setting up a picnic! Stitches is a foodie, so he recently turned his yard into a cozy picnic area with a great view over the whole island. Stitches loves to come over for vists, so I'm sure you'll see more of him soon!"
"This is the starflower meadow, home of Ione and Ètoile. They are the best of friends who enjoy stargazing together, so eventually they just moved next to one another. They both love to read and are very knowledgeable so if you're ever stuck with your crosswords either of the two probably know the answer (and have read several books on the topic)."
"We're in luck, Scoot just finished his morning workout and hasn't left for the picnic date with Stitches yet! Scoot and Kid Cat are neighbours and they have built themselves a massive outdoor gym. I'm sure they wouldn't mind you using some of the gadgets if that's something you enjoy!"
"Over here, behind his royal flower garden is where Colton lives. Colton is a bit of a celebrity here on Twinleaf, as he is the descendant of a handsome and rich prince (at least that's what he has told us). Colton often talks about wanting to be a famous writer - but he truly excels at botany, flower care in particular. Not a day goes by without him watering Twinleaf's flowers with great care."
"This big farm in the distance belongs to Ketchup. Don't be fooled by her small stature! She runs this vegetable farm with great passion. On Sundays you can purchase fresh produce here."
"I'm sure you already spotted our fun amusement park from the plane when you landed! This is a relatively new addition to Twinleaf's amenities and some areas of it are still under construction. If you ever have a bad day you should visit Pietro over there! He knows the best puns and he might even be able to sneak you into the park without having to pay an entry fee!"
"Now we're only missing Rosie's and Sasha's houses. These two sweethearts moved here very recently and are still figuring out their housing situation. It might be a while until we can visit their yards - but I saw both of them singing at the plaza yesterday, so I'm sure we'll get a chance to say hi soon!"
"I'm sure that all of this must be a lot to take in. Why don't we leave it at that for today? If you feel like it, you could come back tomorrow and I can show you around the shopping area! Have a good day and thanks for visiting ♡"
Today I would like to show you around the plaza and introduce you to the surrounding stores. Twinleaf is quite small, but there are a bunch of shops that cover every basic need. The plaza is the heart of the island, without a doubt! You can almost always meet a friendly face around here and there are several traveling merchants who stop and set up shop outside resident services on a regular schedule. The plaza is where we meet for community and seasonal events, for morning stretching or just to socialize! Inside the building you have access to an ATM and a recycling bin, as well as the possibility to inquire all about island life.
The plaza can get quite crowded and lively - as can be seen in the clip below. Colton, Pietro and Ètoile were out playing yesterday, which was entertaining to watch ^^
Leif, Sasha and Kid Cat are paid actors
The Toy store
Our local toy store has a New Year sale going on right now, so check it out! I love buying new or used Nintendo games here and the staff even lets you try almost every toy before you buy it. My friends and I love to browse the shelves full of new games and plushies. I heard rumors that they are planning a big expansion of the shop - I can't wait!
The General Shop
The general store Nook's Cranny stays open quite late. I often get too busy during the day and like to do my shopping in the evening. You can buy tools and saplings here and there's an ever changing assortment of furniture and items as well.
The Tailors
Don't forget to drop by the tailor daily! This shop is run by two adorable sisters and they always appreciate a little chat. The hand-sew all garments and the quality and detail is out of this world!
If you want, you can do some of your own shopping now ~ I have a lot of super fun activities planned for next time you visit, so I'm excited to see you again soon! Take care!
You might think that there isn't much to do on a small faraway island, but the islanders and I have come up with many ways to entertain ourselves. In fact, there is so much to do that it would probably take many days to explain it all! So I will be breaking down the activities into several parts as to not overwhelm you.
Outdoor Cat Café
If the weather is nice and warm I recommend visiting our cat café which is located between the toy store and Nook's Cranny! The cinnamon rolls and pastries are simply divine and they grow their tea leaves themselves. The best part about this café has got to be the theme and the cute fluffy kitties you get to interact with!
Daytrip to a surprise island
Feeling adventurous? Kappn waits for you down by the dock and can take you to many new and exciting islands! You might find wildlife and vegetation different from here on Twinleaf and I never get tired of exploring~
Day at the beach
Twinleaf has several clean and spacious beaches that can be visited. The beach located to the south-west offers a picnic area and playground. You can spend hours walking along the water and exploring the beach if you go north. You will find a reading nook and reclining deck chairs there, as well as showers to wash off the sand.
When the water warms up more towards noon you should try going for a swim! It's so refreshing ~
Nook's Cranny always has swimwear for sale in case you forgot to bring your own!
There are stone plateaus and rocky cliffs along the west and east beaches - perfect springboards for a dive, if you dare!
I can't wait to show you some of the other cool things on offer on the island :3 Come back tomorrow for more!"
"Who said evenings and nights out are lame on a small faraway island? Here are some fun things to do when the stars come out!
Amusement park
The amusement park arguably is enjoyable at any time of the day - but if you decide to stop by at night you get to see it illuminated and vibrant ^^ Pietro, the park owner, usually is up late so you shouldn't have any trouble getting in.
Star gazing
This romantic lookout can be found right next to the amusement park. You can gaze at the ocean and the sunset from here and if the weather is clear you can see for miles!
Evening stroll
Everyone here on Twinleaf flippin' loves going on walks. Chances of running into your favorite neighbor are very high ^^ Not up for socializing? Stick to the more remote areas of the island like the beaches and high up on the cliffs.
Read a good book by the beach
One of the west coast beaches has a small public library. Just grab a book and unwind! (You might need to bring a light source tho).
Open-air concert
You probably have heard of the famous K.K. Slider performing every Saturday in front of resident services right? Well, remember his record breaking hit "Bubblegum"? Well, THE Chrissy and Francine (that's right, the cover stars!) used to be Twinleaf residents and they still stop by for regular performances. It's a spectacle everyone should have seen at least once in their lifetime! Grab a seat and some bubblegum and enjoy the show!
Evening yoga
Too much excitement for one night? In that case why don't you join our professional yoga instructors Ione and Rosie for a night yoga session to stretch and unwind? You will sleep like a baby after."
"It's been pouring rain for the last few days. Even on a tropical island the weather can come between you and your plans sometimes. What can we do to have some fun when it's all gloomy outside?
Day at the arcade
Why not invite over some friends and spend the day at the arcade! They recently added DDR and it's so much fun to play with a friend!
There are comfy sitting nooks, you can buy some snacks and drinks and just enjoy some good old retro games together (or alone!).
Visit the museum
The Twinleaf museum has so many exhibits, you could probably spend a whole day there without seeing the same room twice! There is a bug and a fossil exhibit, a painting gallery and a huge aquarium. If you are into science and biology, I can't recommend it enough!
Grab a coffee at the famous Roost café
If you can't live without some piping hot, freshly brewed coffee, this place is for you. Don't let the reserved barista intimidate you - he is an expert in his field and while not particularly talkative, he will always lend you an ear. You should try your coffee with some pigeon milk. It might sound strange, but you'll come back for more every day!
Catch up with some old friends
If you visit the Roost, chances are you will run into some old friends! Why not grab a coffee together and catch up?
Not feeling like leaving the house?
Sometimes it's nice to just have a relaxing day at home. Twinleaf's residents love writing and receiving letters, so bad weather is a good opportunity to catch up with some mail.
Everyone is really caring and social on the island so the others will probably notice if you're not out and about. Your friends will pop in from time to time with some snacks and check on you, so why not cook something together or play some board games?
Sorry about yesterday, I didn't have any time to continue our tour because everyone and their mother was out hunting down that one singular yellow butterfly. As a result, all shops were closed, all planes on strike and I had to evacuate Blathers from the Museum, since he was too terrified to step outside by himself. I am so glad to inform you the monster has been caught and will be handled safely by professionals aka it will sit in my storage for approx 5-23 months. Tense?? I seem tense to you? ahhah nonsense
Let's get on with the day, shall we? There are ever so many responsibilities, so let's go!
New business partner
You wouldn't believe the amounts of mail in my inbox every day! I usually start my day by sifting through dozens of letters. This is one of my recent favourites by Colton, you might remember him? He comes up with new business ideas seemingly on the fly and I always get the honor of hearing all about them in his letters. This one is actually quite touching. If you do decide to stay here more permanently, I have to advise you to never, ever, no matter what, start a business with Colton. He has a heart of gold, yes, but he also has taste of gold, meaning he WILL spend ALL your profit on a new marble pillar for his marble pillar collection.
Twinleaf's got talent auditions
After opening my mail I typically check what's going on at the plaza. Because of all the butterfly drama it totally escaped me that auditions for Twinleaf's got talent are now open! Head to the plaza and perform your special skill in front of our very stylish and strict judge Labelle. If you get lucky you can win! What to win you ask? Why, you should probably join and find out yourself
Fishing 'till I cry
You'd think I make a comfortable amount of bells being the island representative and all, but you'd be surprised. In fact, all I ever seem to do is pay off the improvements I choose for our infrastructure. A fund? Yes, there is a fund for that. I am that fund. And to fund this fund, I gotta fish. I have tried collecting shells or digging up random stuff, but this remains the best source of income. Everyone else on the island seems to agree.
After fishing in every possible body of water I usually am on the brink of collapse and go home for a nap. There are many more facets to my job of course, but this is all I can tell you for now before I pass out ~ See ya tomorrow!
The next few entries here will not focus around any kind of narration (I think), but instead on my step by step process of building a few new areas on my island.
Twinleaf island being created out of my childhood memories, I can't not include Super Mario anywhere. I have spent an ungodly amount of time playing New Super Mario Bros alone and with friends, all night at sleepovers or during summer holidays. Somehow I never got tired of this game ^^
For this build I knew I wanted to create a small interactive area to hop around on like you typically would in a Super Mario game. The venue being animal crossing meant that there actually wasn't a jump button, so I had to work around that.
As with everything I do I went into this without a plan and just randomly plopped down pillars until it looked kinda alright. The idea was that I would be able to jump around on them and collect coins, with some overhead blocks to mimic the game.
I added some water around the pillars and some enemies (Koopa + Thwomp) for a more "dangerous" feel. There are some coins to collect to keep it motivating when jumping around on the pillars. I miss piranha plants in the Mario DLC, and I wish the mushroom platforms would be bouncy... But it is what it is I guess ^^
Everything felt a bit flat, so I added an area in front of the pillars with this typical block combination. I wanted it to look like someone jumped on that Koopa and that the Mushroom came out of the ?-Block seconds ago.
To finish everything off I placed a flag post at the end of the parkour with some mushroom platforms for decoration. The pipe that I hid in the corner connects to my island pipe system, but is also a nod to the special "secret" pipes that lead to new worlds or paths in the Super Mario games.
I wanted to upload a video too where I walk through the parkour, but I don't have time to do that today. I will add that to this post tomorrow.
I'm quite happy with this, it's fun to walk through. It's a bit small for my taste, but I have many other things planned for the island so for now this is it. Might still add more stuff like standees later, once I finally get that god damn grass standee recipe.
I've been meaning to build something related to Pokémon ever since I created my island but always procrastinated. Good thing this event is pushing me to pick up the slack ^^ Some areas of my island are highly polished and finished and others look... well... overgrown with random stuff on the floor. So in order to be able to do anything at all, I had to tidy up first.
I had so many random terraformed spots everywhere, it was a real pain to remove it all. I took a long time to figure out where I wanted this build to go and more importantly - what to do in the first place. I decided I wanted to create an arena for Pokémon battles like they exist in the anime. I have long run out of custom design slots, so I had to use the in game pathing to create a border for the arena. I ended up squeezing the arena between my resident services and the museum. I had to move a few buildings around, so it took quite long until I was able to start.
After drawing a rough border of how I wanted the arena to look, Etoile stopped by to have a look what was going on, but she got distracted by a butterfly (relatable).
I decided to have parts of the arena under water with some floating bits for Pokémon to stand on. I have seen similar layouts online when looking for inspiration and really liked that idea.
Looks like Etoile told Pietro about my shenanigans, so he had to come inspect what was going on.
I figured a Pokémon gym without a Pokémon center nearby to heal up my team mates simply would not do, so I started building a plateau to place a Pokémon center on behind the arena. I also wanted to create a little area where spectators could watch (theoretical) battles and grab some snacks.
I used a second player to put a house on the cliff, which will become the Pokémon center tomorrow. When I logged in with that character I was pleasantly surprised to see that word had spread among the islanders about our new Pokémon gym.
They are a little confused, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.
This is where I'm at right now. Tomorrow I will decorate the surrounding area and the top of the plateau some more, as well as the inside of the building. I hope I can finish it before the event comes to a close ^^
If you've made it this far, thank you so much <3 I appreciate it a lot (´꒳`)♡
I attempted to recreate the exterior of the Pokémon centers found in the original Diamond and Pearl games by using the double orange roof of the zen exterior in combination with a simple light blue door... But I feel like colours aside my version doesn't really resemble a Pokémon center at all . Here's an image of an in game building for comparison.
I added a little Pokémon daycare to this building, as it was one of my favourite features when I first started playing. I was so fascinated by the Pokémon eggs that would show up and at some point I even did IV breeding for my competitive team.
With the outside being a bit of a flop in terms of accuracy, I tried really hard to make a good replica indoors at least. I used this image as reference:
It's hard to see in the picture, but my favourite part is the little table next to the nurse Joy standee. There is a buzzer on it and if pressed, a little light is flashing for a few seconds. It reminds me of the machine used to heal Pokémon :3
I also finished off the outside arena with some more items for decoration.
I arrived at the arena just in time for an epic showdown between Gnomeo's and Gyroid's team
I think this is one of my favourite areas on Twinleaf :3 I still have to figure out the path situation around it, but for now I'm happy with how it looks.
I believe this concludes my entries for the Journaling event! I've had a really tough month so keeping up was extremely difficult. One post took many many hours, between taking in game pictures, editing them and arranging the posts - hours that I actually didn't have, so I was up until 2 am regularly to finish these ;u;. I am proud of the end result though and that I stuck to one aesthetic.
I will probably update this thread again in the future, once anything noteworthy happens or if I have an exciting new build to share ~ I'll unlock the thread now, if anyone has questions about this island. ^^
WE INTERRUPT THIS ISLAND GUIDE FOR AN EMERGENCY BROADCAST 
. Here's an image of an in game building for comparison.
