Where/How do you get inspiration for your island?

[Imbri]

I voted winging it, but that doesn't mean I have no idea at all of what I want.

I had a general idea of what I was looking for on my island, in terms of natural, a little whimsy, areas that incorporate where I live IRL, etc. I didn't want to do heavy terraforming, so I had to adapt and move things around on the fly to incorporate them. And other areas have evolved or changed completely based on items I've received, conversations with friends, or images I may see.

 

[Manah]

I have some general ideas that I try to match as closely as possible, but sometimes I see an item and immediately know what I want to do with it.

 

[niconii]

A little bit of both!
Before I start working on a section of my island I usually already have a vague idea as to what I want to do (ie: if outdoor maybe making a cafe, library, etc. Indoor: bedroom, hideout etc).
Then I’d think of the furniture that would look good in that kind of place and order it.

As for inspiration, I usually just browse twitter to look at pictures of other islands. I imagine that I might also use dream suite too to look for inspiration one of these days!

 

[maria110]

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

Thanks! There are a lot of books and tales for which I've made big or small outdoor points of interest and/or interiors: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Snow Queen/Frozen, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog, The Chronicles of Narnia, Peter Pan, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Rumplestiltskin, and Little Red Riding Hood. There are a lot of good novel-length retellings nowadays of the old fairy tales that I enjoy reading by authors such as Robin McKinley.

There are other inspirations that I haven't been able to specifically depict with in-game items such as my character is Miranda after the gal in The Tempest (I guess the monster statue could represent Caliban though), and the island is Vesperia after Vesper Holly, the lead character in a series of tween historical adventure tales by Lloyd Alexander (sort of Indiana Jones-ish). Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare and some of his other plays are also inspirations as well as contemporary urban fantasy like Dresden Files and Tithe. There's an outdoor area for Titania and the Seelie Court (in the woods behind Sterling's house) and another area that's for Mab and the Unseelie Court. Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa is another favorite; I've been reading the newest one which inspired my Japanese garden.

 

[NatsumiSummer]

For my island I didn't really get any inspiration from other people.. I was just playing the game, and my island layout just naturally came to me

 

[eko]

For my island I didn't really get any inspiration from other people.. I was just playing the game, and my island layout just naturally came to me

"Inspiration" doesn't necessarily mean looking at other people for ideas, rather what sparks your motivation to create something

 

[Pintuition]

When I started I had about 3 specific ideas for things I wanted to do on my island (raised museum area, outdoor bar/spa area, cafe) and I tried to tackle those things first. Along the way I sort of made up the rest as I went!

 

[NatsumiSummer]

"Inspiration" doesn't necessarily mean looking at other people for ideas, rather what sparks your motivation to create something

Ah well then just playing the game I guess...

 

[Xara]

kind of a mix of both. prior to the game coming out, i tried to come up with some ideas which was a bit hard since at the time, information on what would be available and possible wasn’t super disclosed yet. however, now i try to incorporate some of the ideas that i came up with based on what’s currently in the game and the knowledge that i now have and kind of wing it. i don’t really like taking inspiration from other people’s islands as that makes me feel like i’m copying them and i don’t like that so if i’m to take inspiration from anything, i’ll look at real life examples of landscaping and interiors and go from there aha

 

[Bunnii]

I usually just make it up as I go.

But if I’m looking for ideas/inspiration, I think Pinterest is the best. And then I use Instagram and sometimes Twitter & Reddit.