Michelangelo
Senior Member
After playing for a long time, I learned all about villager plot placement. In the old games, there were the reserved signposts scattered in town; never to be seen in acres which had main buildings. Now, villagers can move right in front of your town hall. Like public works projects, houses and buildings have buffer zones. Buffer zones cannot overlap. Each buffer zone takes up one square of space and it goes all the way around. Houses are a bit different. The front door is the culprit.
H: house O: buffer zone X: empty space-trees and bushes can be planted
XXXXXXXX
XOOOOOX
XOHHHOX
XOHHHOX
XOHHHOX
XOOHOOX
XXOOOXX
An extra space for the front door will alter the buffer zones. And the buffer zone will wrap around that extra space. With that in mind, a house can move in front of another house within three spaces because the buffer zones won't overlap. A house can move next to another house within two spaces. A house can move in front of a river, rock, or cliff within two spaces because there must be room for the buffer zones. However, if a house moves next to a river, rock, or cliff, then only one space in between is required. Same goes for if a house moves behind a rock or river--only one space must be between.
This is why villagers can move in funky spots. They can because the space around their houses can be right next to the space around another house or public works project. They'll move right in front of your house because it's not breaking the buffer zone rules. The only way--besides plot resetting--to make sure plots don't appear in bad places is to build temporary public works projects in those areas where you don't want a house to be.
H: house O: buffer zone X: empty space-trees and bushes can be planted
XXXXXXXX
XOOOOOX
XOHHHOX
XOHHHOX
XOHHHOX
XOOHOOX
XXOOOXX
An extra space for the front door will alter the buffer zones. And the buffer zone will wrap around that extra space. With that in mind, a house can move in front of another house within three spaces because the buffer zones won't overlap. A house can move next to another house within two spaces. A house can move in front of a river, rock, or cliff within two spaces because there must be room for the buffer zones. However, if a house moves next to a river, rock, or cliff, then only one space in between is required. Same goes for if a house moves behind a rock or river--only one space must be between.
This is why villagers can move in funky spots. They can because the space around their houses can be right next to the space around another house or public works project. They'll move right in front of your house because it's not breaking the buffer zone rules. The only way--besides plot resetting--to make sure plots don't appear in bad places is to build temporary public works projects in those areas where you don't want a house to be.
