What are your design priorities?

[Agaphea23]

I would say a balance of both. A natural kind of design, like you would usually find in nature [a good balance between deep forests with packed in trees and an open meadow] so not all areas would have ease of access but for me it encourages exploration and to appreciate it more.

 

[Mick]

I'm trying to balance the two. I've visited some beautiful densely decorated islands and enjoyed exploring those a lot, but it would make me very unhappy not to be able to run everywhere on my own island. Especially when I'm trying to catch bugs or shoot down balloons.

I still need 1000 bugs for the achievement, maybe I'll care less once I'm done with it. My river has definitely become harder to fish in after I reached the fishing goals, maybe it'll be like that..

Also lag makes me unhappy and if an area starts to lag, I'll try to simplify it as much as I can without changing the feel I'm going for. I'd probably have more items out if the switch was more powerful, but I'll work with what I've got.

 

[princess.looking.for.frog]

I dont really like the cluttered look that sacrifices movement, so i am only planting trees, hedges and placing item in places that arent meant to be walked over. Mainly on mountains and such, so it is possible to still walk around the island!!

 

[Mu~]

Cluttered islands don't look good imo. So it's possible having the second one and also looking good.

 

[JemAC]

I prefer to be able to move easily around my island and reach every area without any difficulty, especially since I still have 4 bugs to catch to complete my critterpedia so I don't want anything in the way when trying to get these. I do try and find a balance between the two though as I enjoy decorating my island and improving the way it looks, as long as it doesn't affect my navigation or cause lagging.

There are some dream addresses that I've visited which have been decorated really nicely but many times I've found it can just be more stressful rather then enjoyable trying to explore it when I end up stuck for ages in an area that can't be navigated around.

 

[Xara]

both are very important to me - i want my island to look good and be something that i’m proud of but my island needs to be 100% easy to navigate through, too with all areas being accessible.

 

[Bilaz]

I voted looks because I've completed my museum so I'm just designing whatever and I've got no idea if I can still get all the fish to spawn properly or anything lol
but I don't really like custom paths or stuff everywhere so I have in game paths, so I guess it's all easy to follow.
So i guess it's easy to view, but idk if actually playing still works cuz all my rivers are scraggly little things. So yeah, looks, my island is for touring

 

[Airysuit]

I definitely want a really good looking island, but I don't really see how that would mean it's hard to navigate?

At least in my opinion it's not the same thing. I for one don't think the extremely cluttered or overly designed and complicated and hard to navigate islands are... good looking? I also dont think cottage core is pretty because it is just to much.

I mean i like having a lot of stuff and designing cute and 'realistic' areas, but I guess I'm more of a minimalist in the sense that i try to use a very specific number of items.

To me an island is really beautiful and cool if you can actually acces and 'use' every area, yet not feeling bare or empty or boring.

If that all makes sense

 

[Alaina]

Kind of natural and not overcrowded; everything has to fit. I'm still at 3 stars a year into it because it "needs more decoration." If something small feels right I add it, but every design change has been gradual over time (after my initial ground-up terraforming).

 

[xhyloh]

i try to do a little bit of both. as much as i love islands covered in clutter i also try to make it so visitors can get around easily

 

[Matt0106]

I like to think my island looks okay. Definitely no where near what others have going on with cottage core and everything, but I preferred to go with a more simplistic approach, since I want people to easily understand where to go when they visit, rather than getting lost all time. So I'm definitely one of those players who prefers an island that is actually meant to navigate and explore, rather than the ones that just look pretty for social media and stuff But to each their own!

 

[Chris]

Simplistic. I don't like clutter, navigation should be straightforward, and I prefer a natural look. I focus more on landscaping to decorate rather than using objects.

 

[juneau]

I think I have a balance of both as well, but I am definitely not opposed to sacrificing some accessibility to make my island prettier. Overall though, my island is well laid out enough I can everywhere I need to easily, as do my visitors. I do intentionally wall or fence off areas with lots of flowers so people can't run through them, so I can see that to be a bit annoying. I'm also not too bothered about catching bugs or fish, honestly - everyone plays the game differently and while I do try to catch bugs I haven't seen before, it's personally not my favourite part of the game, and I don't really get as much enjoyment out of finishing the exact same museum as everyone else, as I do creating new things on my island.

 

[sleepydreepy]

Accessibility is really important to me for my gameplay so I try to keep my designs simple. I can't imagine trying to play the game on one of those super messy cottage core islands, it must be a nightmare to get around.

 

[heaven.]

making sure the area(s) i'm working on are still easy enough to navigate while i'm decorating has always been a top priority for me so... both?

 

[LambdaDelta]

why not both?

 

[Nodokana]

I have a maximalist design style rather than minimalist. I wanted to make a pretty island and fill it with various themes. My island can be confusing in terms of navigating due to the hidden areas to get to different places. I like the idea of cottagecore and fairycore but for my island, I think it would drive me crazy navigating through with that much detail. I'm satisfied with my progress in the game in terms of collecting for the museum and those days are long over so I went and made the island my own without the rivers.

 

[arikins]

i wanted to make sure it was functional for fish and bugs as well. i made all my areas pretty square. its more urban so terraforming isnt a complicated thing for me, therefore its easy to get around (as a city should be) and has areas to get all the fish, even the ones that only spawn on cliffs or whatever. thats really necessary for me since i dont TT and i only have the fish and bugs from december until now.

 

[LuluLove102]

I’d say a mixture of both. I am currently redoing my island which is forester core/cottage core, so very natural. It’s my favorite style but most people on YouTube post this amazing islands that are very hard to navigate and too cluttered for my liking, to the point they usually lag a lot. So I tried to make mine very navigable and still playable, so I can fish, catch bugs, shot balloons without loosing them in fields of flowers etc. But I still want it to look pretty and cosy, so there is a good amount of decoration, especially the cliffs

 

[. Rarity .]

I need cute designs that I can turn dark. Or just dark designs in general

Since my island is a dark fantasy, cute on the outside. Dark on the inside.