Where/How do you get inspiration for your island?

[Dunquixote]

Both. I had an idea for a few areas beforehand, some of which I added onto as I went and most I had left stuff out since the game is missing the items I need and some can’t be improvised.

Other ideas I came up with as I moved stuff around, terraformed and I also found some inspiration from @Hobowire and @dizzy bone ’s towns (didn’t copy anything; I rather avoid doing that).

A lot of my ideas were inspired by other games (so far mostly Dragon Age lol).

 

[Hobowire]

Both. I had an idea for a few areas beforehand, some of which I added onto as I went and most I had left stuff out since the game is missing the items I need and some can’t be improvised.

Other ideas I came up with as I moved stuff around, terraformed and I also found some inspiration from @Hobowire and @dizzy bone ’s towns (didn’t copy anything; I rather avoid doing that).

A lot of my ideas were inspired by other games (so far mostly Dragon Age lol).

That's because Dragon Age is an awesome game!!!


I make it up as I go and if it fits I'll keep it and if it doesn't I'll scrap it. I think with design building with the limited amount of furn that we have there is a lot of trial and errors. Everything works out so perfectly in my head then when it materialize it looks like crud. I'm not deter from just scrapping the whole project and resetting. Just have to come back stronger.

 

[wanderlust//]

I like to look at dream towns/Pinterest/reddit but mostly just off the top of my head tbh. I just decide what I want to build (a cafe for wave 2 for example) and then I just roll with whatever I start doing

 

[xChives]

I definitely just make it up as I go then start to develop an overall theme based on the common elements. I’d get overwhelmed if I tried to just stare at a blank canvas so I like to separate it into smaller, manageable parts.

 

[psiJordan]

Where I live near the Great Lakes, there’s a lot of little historic islands off the coast that a lot of tourists go to. You take a ferry there, and usually you ride bikes around all the brick roads since there’s no cars. That’s mainly where my inspiration comes from, since a lot of aspects of my town are based on the design of those

think lots of old brick roads, historic brick buildings, flower baskets, downtown shops, and lots of rusty lamp posts and benches

 

[dividere]

I go with a plan beforehand but leave it somewhat vague so I can fill it in as I make it in-game! I gather lots of inspiration from pinterest and (now that they exist) dreams of neat looking islands I visited one that I absolutely loved the other day and took some screenshots of my favorite areas so I could break down what I liked about it so I can learn how to put my own mushy ideas into reality

 

[eko]

Mine is loosely based on folklore and fantasy books. For the landscaping, I don't do much terraforming or waterscaping, but I have the max number of trees and have arranged them to give the impression of a small town with forested areas around it. I'm trying to recreate the feeling of being a kid in a park or natural area, thinking that magic is possible.

Oh that's so good!! Sounds very unique and interesting omg, any fantasy books in particular?

I'm the "I make detailed plans and illustrations but I end up winging it" kind of person.

I've used the online island planner website and when I get a new idea I make very basic and bad tbh drawings in the notes app on my phone... But I don't reference them at all when I'm in-game haha. In that sense, I make it up as I go along but I suppose I always have a rough idea of what I want a certain area to look like... Even if I change 90% of that idea along the way

Same, I drew a plan for my new leaf town but since terraforming is available in new horizons it's rather overwhelming creating something with so many options haha

Both. I had an idea for a few areas beforehand, some of which I added onto as I went and most I had left stuff out since the game is missing the items I need and some can’t be improvised.

Other ideas I came up with as I moved stuff around, terraformed and I also found some inspiration from @Hobowire and @dizzy bone ’s towns (didn’t copy anything; I rather avoid doing that).

A lot of my ideas were inspired by other games (so far mostly Dragon Age lol).

That's a shame, what items are missing that you needed? :0c
Oh Dragon Age is so good!! I actually named my town after dusklight camp from Inquisition (though it bares no resemblance or inspiration, I thought the name sounded cool and it doubles as a Destiny reference haha)

I go with a plan beforehand but leave it somewhat vague so I can fill it in as I make it in-game! I gather lots of inspiration from pinterest and (now that they exist) dreams of neat looking islands I visited one that I absolutely loved the other day and took some screenshots of my favorite areas so I could break down what I liked about it so I can learn how to put my own mushy ideas into reality

Great idea, I'm still yet to use the dream address feature (too busy decorating my own island haha) but I imagine it must be super cool to explore and take screenshots! Also reflecting on what you like about things is such a fantastic skill to have for art/creativity :0

 

[Dunquixote]

Oh that's so good!! Sounds very unique and interesting omg, any fantasy books in particular?


Same, I drew a plan for my new leaf town but since terraforming is available in new horizons it's rather overwhelming creating something with so many options haha


That's a shame, what items are missing that you needed? :0c
Oh Dragon Age is so good!! I actually named my town after dusklight camp from Inquisition (though it bares no resemblance or inspiration, I thought the name sounded cool and it doubles as a Destiny reference haha)


Great idea, I'm still yet to use the dream address feature (too busy decorating my own island haha) but I imagine it must be super cool to explore and take screenshots! Also reflecting on what you like about things is such a fantastic skill to have for art/creativity :0

More variety of food for my markets/tavern, sword/bow, suit of armor, pile of clothes, rugs that can be placed and rotated outside, wooden crates/boxes, letter set (something similar to but smaller than essay set), pillars, broken pillars, vinegar bottle, smaller version of gallant statue.
It is! It was my favorite series, though I don’t think I’ll be playing any more if they keep multiplayer and because the writer I liked quit so, kinda worried about the quality since Inquisition was missing some quality (still was good). That’s really cool! I was considering not going with a DA theme again even if I named it the same as in NL, but I wanted to use a lot of the DA qr codes so I ended up going with DA again lol.

 

[eko]

Those items are so good, I'd definitely be using a lot of those myself if they were in the game! Pillars + broken pillars especially sound wonderful. If rugs could be placed outside, there would be very nice flooring or even improvised "paths" that would look great

I'm a sucker for pretty scenery and characters so I'm not fazed by or even noticed the quality drop everyone refers to haha. Also omg there's Dragon Age qr codes? I'll have to see if there's any custom designs too!

 

[Paperboy012305]

Pretty much both. I plan on what I want where, but how I make the thing I planned is based on how I go with it.

 

[Dunquixote]

Those items are so good, I'd definitely be using a lot of those myself if they were in the game! Pillars + broken pillars especially sound wonderful. If rugs could be placed outside, there would be very nice flooring or even improvised "paths" that would look great

I'm a sucker for pretty scenery and characters so I'm not fazed by or even noticed the quality drop everyone refers to haha. Also omg there's Dragon Age qr codes? I'll have to see if there's any custom designs too!

Here you go! I made some myself, but I think mine a pretty bad and cannot compare to meglish’s . I tried contacting her to see if she had plans on uploading her NL designs to ACNH so I can hang up the designs in able’s but no luck yet.

For now, I think the zen stone makes a decent substitute for the broken pillars and the frozen pillars actually look quite nice in spite not fitting my theme . The other items can’t be substituted at all though like the clothes pile and being able to customize it with Able’s pieces of clothing (not just the patterns they give you) was really a nice option that I hope will return. Yeah, I was so disappointed to find out I couldn’t put out rugs when i got the magic circle rug and tried to do so lol.

 

[Arckaniel]

I don't plan it thoroughly but I just kinda imagine what I want an area to look like and just work it out and make it up as I go... Like usually I terraform an area then just think of possible decor I want to put in that area, get furnitures that I think I'll use, then just place it, remove, rearrange, until I'm satisfied on how the area looks! I take inspiration from town tours before but now I made a pinterest account and I take a lot of inspiration there, I don't copy however, I just take inspiration and make it my own... Like if I see an element I like on a design someone made then I kinda use that as inspiration along with other designs I see and just make an area inspired, but still unique to my island rather than just a carbon copy...

 

[niko@kamogawa]

No inspiration here. I just make it up as I go and play the game normally. I also don't succumb to social pressure about showcasing their beautiful islands. I don't see any reason why you need to do that.

 

[Clock]

I do both, I have specific plans, but then I add more as I go which makes it look better.

 

[bxbblegum]

when the game first came out I spent hours watching youtube videos which gave me tons of inspiration, so I'll often go into designing with a rough idea but I'll adapt as I go depending on what new items I find and what fits in best with the surroundings! I just wish you could place rugs outside because it would really improve the look of some areas of my island...

 

[dizzy bone]

I usually start with a plan or a theme and then scrap it and just go with the flow. I always end up growing attached to my first/original villagers but sometimes their house exterior or general look doesn't match the theme I had in mind. Most of my areas have developed around the look of their house exterior. For example. Scoot, Jambette, and Ursala all have the same style housing so I opted to group them together in a residential area. Ken and Hamphrey also have the only Japanese style houses so I made a little village for them. Usually my second game copy will go with a themed route where I search for specific villagers to match that theme... but since we need a whole new switch for that I don't think I'll be doing that this time around.

 

[Le Ham]

I went in having a basic vague idea of what I wanted my island to be, then learned what I can and cannot do with what we're given, then I just starting figuring out the details as I go. Since I don't take much inspiration and I haven't been much of anywhere in my life, my sense of design ends up looking more like the product of my OCD and what an alien who rediscovered the human race thinks we lived like. Oh well.

 

[Alicia]

I've been making it up as I go. I had a plan for my maps design, but that changed in some ways as I was designing my island. I like grabbing items I think would work for an area and figuring it out from there. This is probably why there is a bunch of random items dropped on my island right now.

 

[eko]

I went in having a basic vague idea of what I wanted my island to be, then learned what I can and cannot do with what we're given, then I just starting figuring out the details as I go. Since I don't take much inspiration and I haven't been much of anywhere in my life, my sense of design ends up looking more like the product of my OCD and what an alien who rediscovered the human race thinks we lived like. Oh well.

From the screenshots in your Espera thread, your town looks gorgeous! <3 Especially love your map layout wow, might do a dream visit soon. Ever since I got diagnosed with ocd I've become increasingly aware of subtle ticks and habits like replanting a single tree 10+times :'3c

 

[JSS]

Those items are so good, I'd definitely be using a lot of those myself if they were in the game! Pillars + broken pillars especially sound wonderful. If rugs could be placed outside, there would be very nice flooring or even improvised "paths" that would look great

I'm a sucker for pretty scenery and characters so I'm not fazed by or even noticed the quality drop everyone refers to haha. Also omg there's Dragon Age qr codes? I'll have to see if there's any custom designs too!

Pillars and broken pillars would go amazing with the museum.. I actually kinda need them for mine..