Okay, so I’ve been totally hooked on Animal Crossing lately, and I got this wild idea to try and plan out my island before actually doing all the work in-game. I’d heard about these “island planners” online, so I figured I’d give one a shot. It’s called “animal crossing island maker”.
Finding a Planner
First things first, I started by just googling “Animal Crossing island planner.” A bunch of options popped up, some looked kinda janky, and others seemed pretty cool. I ended up trying a couple, just messing around with the tools to see which one felt the easiest to use.
Getting Started
The one I finally picked had a pretty simple interface. You start with a blank, grassy island, kinda like the one you get in the game. There were these menus on the side with all the different things you could add – rivers, cliffs, buildings, trees, all that stuff.
Laying Down the Basics
I started by drawing out the basic shape of my island. I knew I wanted a kind of heart-shaped island, so I messed with the cliff tool until I got something I liked. This part was actually pretty tricky, it took a few tries to get the curves looking right. Then I added in some rivers, trying to make them look natural and flowy. That was another challenge, I kept accidentally making these weird, zig-zaggy rivers that looked totally unnatural.
- Drawing initial island shape with the cliff tool.
- Adding rivers and trying to make them look natural.
Placing Buildings and Stuff
After I had the basic layout, I started placing the buildings. I dragged my house, the museum, the shops, and all the villagers’ houses onto the map. This was super helpful for figuring out where everything would fit and how much space I’d have left for other things.
Adding the Details
Once the big stuff was in place, I started filling in the details. I added trees, flowers, and paths all over the place. This is where I really started to see my island coming to life. I even experimented with different furniture layouts, trying to create cute little areas like a picnic spot or a reading nook.
Saving and Sharing
Finally, I saved my design. The planner I used let me save it as an image, so I could easily share with my friend to get his good ideas, and it’s great to look back at my original plan and see how much my actual island has changed!
It was pretty fun playing with the island planners. Highly recommend if you’re as picky about your island layout as I am!
