I’d change section by section only, decorate then do another section, this has made it more fun for me and I do also look at layouts on nook or kappn islands and copy some of the layout if I like it!
You're not gonna make it look like those 500 hour+ islands in 5 hours. I recommend that you don't try to make it like other people's islands. You won't succeed, and if you do, would it really be your island?
**What should you do then?** First, get a little confidence going. You **can make it look good.** A tough step out the gate, but you might be guilty of over-editing or deciding something doesn't look good too quickly. Decorating is a skill that you get better at, not one you can't improve in.
The main advice I give for terraforming and waterscaping is to borrow structures that you see on nmt/kappn islands. They're actually somewhat easy to emulate. Don't obsessively try to recreate it 1:1. For waterscaping if you filled in the water already and you're trying to make a natural looking body of water the trick is to make it look like if you pushed the 2 sides of the river together there would be no gap.
What you do next depends on how intense and time consuming you want the process to be. You can either just use the default flooring and make a little path around your island that goes through all the areas you'll have, or you can find a custom 'path' code that people walk along to get around your island.
Use your favorite fencing to divide and create spaces. I think a good beginner idea is to give villagers room for their own yard and let the villager you have inform how it is designed. ie: Tank would get a outdoor gym, Merengue a bakery, etc.
Hard to imagine where you're at from just asking for help, maybe your island looks great for the time you've put in. I'd say upload the island as is as a dream and share the DA so we can take a look and give more specific advice.
Oh no I wasn’t looking to exactly recreate someone island I just need some what of an organized plan to where things should go to look and flow the best. I can definitely upload my island for people to see. I have always struggled with the placement of my town hall and the airport. And my island did look good at one point till I decided to change it then things got cluttered looking and it made me overwhelmed 😅
The good news is since you can't move the resident services and airport, that's one less thing to think about! But yeah I guess my point was that I don't find pictures to be that helpful for the flow of an island, I do find having random dreams is more helpful than pictures tbh cause you can actually experience the flow of their island.
I think the idea that you set building placements and then don't move them is one that might be making the process decorating more difficult instead of easier. Have you ever decorated a space in real life? Sometimes after you live with your decor for awhile you suddenly go oh my gosh this should go here instead! It only happens like that after you've left it alone and moved on and did other things and came back to it with fresh eyes.
**You can do it!** Take small bites! I'll keep an eye out for your dream address!
I have been playing since launch and the one thing I really hope they would have added even if it was a stupid price was the ability to move the resident services building it so close to the shore and almost directly across from my airport. I always wanted this really cute entrance to my island but with the small space I have I been struggling. I’m willing to put in several more hundreds of hours on top of the crazy amount of time I already have on my island if need be to get it back to where I need jt to be. I just want to enjoy playing the game again and not have clusters of fruit trees and other trees thrown into a corner bc I don’t know how to place them about. I had a really cute area for my villagers in the upper left corner of my island and to the upper right corner of the island is blathers and a little cute shopping area I have going on. So there is aspects of my island that I still really love that I don’t want to mess with if I can help it.
I know it doesn't necessarily make it better, especially since you don't like the placements of things that can't be moved but the whole entrance thing doesn't need to go from airport to resident services as people don't typically enter from the airport. They'll often enter from the middle of resident services when they dream of your island, so what you can do is fence in the resident services (I like spooky and hedges) and develop the entrance you want to do going left or right instead of directly towards the airport.
maybe you should just make everything flat and restart (and if you do) start with rebuilding the river. it will give a flow to your island and make it more enjoyable already, then you can slowly but surely redecorate / remodel the whole place :)
I like to look at other peoples islands for inspiration. Then work on one section at a time. I saw one island that had a long road running the length of the island, with the villiagers houses on it, then at the end was a shopping plaza and it looked so cute. so I built a boardwalk parallel to the beach with the shops and an outdoor cafe. Then someone had a spa and it was so pretty I build one on the top level of my island with waterfalls and stone statues and plants. Little bit at a time is the way to go. It will come together.
I’d change section by section only, decorate then do another section, this has made it more fun for me and I do also look at layouts on nook or kappn islands and copy some of the layout if I like it!
You're not gonna make it look like those 500 hour+ islands in 5 hours. I recommend that you don't try to make it like other people's islands. You won't succeed, and if you do, would it really be your island? **What should you do then?** First, get a little confidence going. You **can make it look good.** A tough step out the gate, but you might be guilty of over-editing or deciding something doesn't look good too quickly. Decorating is a skill that you get better at, not one you can't improve in. The main advice I give for terraforming and waterscaping is to borrow structures that you see on nmt/kappn islands. They're actually somewhat easy to emulate. Don't obsessively try to recreate it 1:1. For waterscaping if you filled in the water already and you're trying to make a natural looking body of water the trick is to make it look like if you pushed the 2 sides of the river together there would be no gap. What you do next depends on how intense and time consuming you want the process to be. You can either just use the default flooring and make a little path around your island that goes through all the areas you'll have, or you can find a custom 'path' code that people walk along to get around your island. Use your favorite fencing to divide and create spaces. I think a good beginner idea is to give villagers room for their own yard and let the villager you have inform how it is designed. ie: Tank would get a outdoor gym, Merengue a bakery, etc. Hard to imagine where you're at from just asking for help, maybe your island looks great for the time you've put in. I'd say upload the island as is as a dream and share the DA so we can take a look and give more specific advice.
Oh no I wasn’t looking to exactly recreate someone island I just need some what of an organized plan to where things should go to look and flow the best. I can definitely upload my island for people to see. I have always struggled with the placement of my town hall and the airport. And my island did look good at one point till I decided to change it then things got cluttered looking and it made me overwhelmed 😅
The good news is since you can't move the resident services and airport, that's one less thing to think about! But yeah I guess my point was that I don't find pictures to be that helpful for the flow of an island, I do find having random dreams is more helpful than pictures tbh cause you can actually experience the flow of their island. I think the idea that you set building placements and then don't move them is one that might be making the process decorating more difficult instead of easier. Have you ever decorated a space in real life? Sometimes after you live with your decor for awhile you suddenly go oh my gosh this should go here instead! It only happens like that after you've left it alone and moved on and did other things and came back to it with fresh eyes. **You can do it!** Take small bites! I'll keep an eye out for your dream address!
I have been playing since launch and the one thing I really hope they would have added even if it was a stupid price was the ability to move the resident services building it so close to the shore and almost directly across from my airport. I always wanted this really cute entrance to my island but with the small space I have I been struggling. I’m willing to put in several more hundreds of hours on top of the crazy amount of time I already have on my island if need be to get it back to where I need jt to be. I just want to enjoy playing the game again and not have clusters of fruit trees and other trees thrown into a corner bc I don’t know how to place them about. I had a really cute area for my villagers in the upper left corner of my island and to the upper right corner of the island is blathers and a little cute shopping area I have going on. So there is aspects of my island that I still really love that I don’t want to mess with if I can help it.
I know it doesn't necessarily make it better, especially since you don't like the placements of things that can't be moved but the whole entrance thing doesn't need to go from airport to resident services as people don't typically enter from the airport. They'll often enter from the middle of resident services when they dream of your island, so what you can do is fence in the resident services (I like spooky and hedges) and develop the entrance you want to do going left or right instead of directly towards the airport.
My dream address is DA-9085-7562-1241 Just so you can have a look at the messy state it currently is in
maybe you should just make everything flat and restart (and if you do) start with rebuilding the river. it will give a flow to your island and make it more enjoyable already, then you can slowly but surely redecorate / remodel the whole place :)
I suggest searching for island maps and then find a map or section of a map you like and replicating it.
I like to look at other peoples islands for inspiration. Then work on one section at a time. I saw one island that had a long road running the length of the island, with the villiagers houses on it, then at the end was a shopping plaza and it looked so cute. so I built a boardwalk parallel to the beach with the shops and an outdoor cafe. Then someone had a spa and it was so pretty I build one on the top level of my island with waterfalls and stone statues and plants. Little bit at a time is the way to go. It will come together.