Venting - Does anyone else feel their island is tiny?

[moonbox]

very much so. i'm struggling with terraforming to make it seem more expansive

 

[kojuuro]

I levelled off a lot of my island and closed a river so it's a lot bigger now. Before redirecting my river, my island was just split into tiny chunks which didn't work well at all for anything.

 

[Khaelis]

The map is definitely larger than New Leaf's map, by six acres in fact. It really just depends how you terraform your island. My map feels small because I deliberately did a 'valley' style and made natural cliff/valley paths that force you around the island a certain way.

 

[AccfSally]

Yeah, I'm trying to fit two themes on my island (One side Japanese and the other a small modern town).
Maybe I should stick to one.

 

[Fluuffy]

Definitely! I think it’s because i’m obsessed with fields or empty spaces.

 

[Noctis]

I used to feel like this until I started chopping down trees and relocating them in my location that I realized wow I have sooo much space. Right now I have decided to leave it this way incase they really do add new buildings in the future. at the meantime I've been decorating my beaches and reworking areas that I already finished.

 

[Zura]

Yes and no. Terraforming takes away a lot of space on the island and can often make the town feel small. It depends on where you place each structure so that everything feels open while also staying natural. Portion control is everything when it comes to designing. Bigger things in smaller areas often feel cramped and smaller things in bigger areas often feel empty.

 

[milkie]

i feel lk my island is small bc for some reason i keep making cliffs and planting too many trees. So far i've tried my best to make my shopping center flat and tried to reign in my trees and flowers

 

[GEEBRASS]

It's like... I don't feel like my island is too small, but... I also can't fit everything I want to fit and do everything I want to do!

As others have mentioned, at this point I want to keep a lot of "wild" feeling spaces intact and don't want to heavily change the original shape of the terrain. Those two things dramatically limit my "usable" space, but that's my choice for now. I love seeing some incredibly well done and beautifully terraformed islands, but then I'll get a glimpse of their map during a video tour and this one mind-blowing feature they've created fully takes up 1/3 or more of the island, which is definitely not what I want. I enjoy watering flowers and seeing what grows. I like shaking trees and seeing what falls.

Much as I'd love more space to work with, I think it's actually a brilliant element of the design of the game that you can't indulge every whim that you have, but that nothing is permanent; what is important to you today might not be what's important to you a month from now, and that either way is fine. You're still in control.

 

[Sephiroth]

My roommate moved all of his residents to a small spot now he has a bunch of space to do whatever he wants. I kept mine pretty much the same and just terraform to suit my needs. It feels small to me too, but I also know it is way larger feeling than my New Leaf town.

 

[R. Planet]

I try to work with my island and not against it which makes me feel like there is room everywhere.

A little example of what I mean? When I'm making a road or path and there is a tree right in my way? I just incorporate the tree into the path. I don't chop it down or even go around it. The tree is just part of the road now. Right in the middle of it lol.

I take a very LotR elvin view on how to design and plan out roads, structures and projects. I look for what's already there and make it a part of the design.

It really helps expand the island I feel.

 

[Xara]

i think my island is a decent size but i’ve gone to people’s islands where their island feels so huge compared to mine and just,,, how