# Guide: Designing Your Town



## Miii (Jul 28, 2016)

Since some people struggle with figuring out what to do with their towns, I thought I'd make a guide on how to design a well-landscaped town without a bunch of open space :3 I'll be starting from the very top (for those of you with brand new towns), so skip to whatever step is appropriate if you're a ways into decorating your town already.

*Step 1: Pick a town map you like (with the native fruit you want)*

Any town map will work, but some may require a more creative approach when utilizing the available space. Maps that might be a little harder to work with include those with a winding river (like mine) rather than a straight one, ones with lots of rocks or ponds, or ones where Retail, the Town Hall or plaza are in an odd spot. My town map looks like this.




*Note: if you plan on plot resetting and having a more organized town, consider doing Step 5 before moving on to Step 2!*

*Step 2: Create any extra characters you plan on having*

It's best to do this before you start building pwps, moving dreamies in and landscaping so that you can pick where exactly you want your other characters' houses to be (I made the mistake of moving dreamies in first, and Lolly's house is where I wanted my third character's house to be). If there are any spots in your town that you think will be difficult to landscape or place pwps in, consider putting a character house there. Even if you don't plan on playing on your other characters much, the extra houses are great for filling space. It's also nice to have extra houses to decorate!

My second character's house.


My third character's house. Currently redoing the exterior.


My fourth character's house.


*Step 3: Pick the pwps you want, and build them all where you want them*

Do this _before_ you move any of your dreamies in, especially if you don't plot reset (which I don't), so that you're guaranteed to have that space available. (Here) is a list of every pwp in New Leaf. If your town is new, you'll probably need to cycle villagers with different personalities in and out of your town to get all the pwp recommendations you need. I recommend time traveling to do this, but if you're against time traveling, just be prepared for this to take longer. I made a guide previously for moving villagers out, which you can find (here) and use for after you've gotten the pwps you need from an unwanted villager.

When picking pwps, you can either choose to stick with a theme and select pwps that fit into that theme, or you can go with whatever you think will look best. I have a combination of fairy tale, zen and random pwps.

*Note: When trying to get bridge pwp recommendations, make sure you have less than 3 bridges. Having 3 bridges will prevent anymore bridge pwp recommendations.*

*Step 4: Move all your dreamies in*

You want to have all your pwps built by this point, again, so your villagers won't take the spaces you wanted for your pwps. If you plot reset, choose where you want your villagers to move in, and get them there. You can move all your villagers into a certain area of the map (which might require you to landscape more in other areas to prevent parts of your town from feeling empty), or you can choose to space them out across the map, allowing them each to have their own space (which I personally prefer because I can landscape around their houses later to make it seem like they have their own yard/ garden). 

If you don't plot reset, simply move your dreamies in and allow them to plot wherever they happen to. When you do this, you might consider moving any flowers you don't want to lose onto your beaches, or to the edges of your town/ along the river, this way your new move-ins won't destroy them.

*Step 5: Lay down any path designs you want*

If you plan on having a designated walkway through your town, now is the time to make it, _before_ you've done any landscaping. Lay down your path designs, or if you plan on having natural dirt paths, lay down a temporary design anyway, just to mark where you want it to be so you don't accidentally landscape over it.

*Step 6: Landscape your town*

Here is where your creative side comes in! I personally like to landscape around pwps, villagers' houses, ponds, and anywhere I need to fill space. Like I mentioned above, I like for each of my villagers to look like they have their own yard, so I like to plant flowers, trees, shrubs and bamboo around them, and even use sea shells or coral to accent them. You can also line your walkway or dirt path with sea shells, flowers, shrubs, trees or lucky clovers. I've even done a lot of landscaping around Retail, my Town Hall, and around my plaza.

Some flower combinations I think look good together include...

*Blue and purple pansies
*Blue and red pansies
*Red and blue roses
*Blue and gold roses
*Blue and purple roses
*Black and white roses
*Pink cosmos and blue roses
*Orange pansies and black cosmos
*Jacob's ladder and black lilies
*Pink and purple tulips
*Pink and white carnations

Landscaping around my mayor's house.


To the left of my mayor's house.


Flower arangement between my four wisteria trellises.




Landscaping around Mitzi's house.




Marshal's house.


Geyser in front of Marshal's house.




My hotspring.




*Step 7: Decorate your characters' houses*

This step can be done at any point. I like for my houses to suit my characters, so I design them with what my character looks like in mind. I also choose a color theme for each room. I'm still working my 3 side characters' houses, so I'll show my mayor's house. 

*Step 9: Decorate your museum rooms and fill out Main Street*

This is entirely optional and only helps make your town look a little more complete (only when someone is visiting, as people can't access your main street or museum in your dream town). I'm eventually going to make my museum rooms into treasure rooms with tons of treasure chests, ore, and money bags c:

*Note: For those of you that are new, be sure to check the Retail board for landscaping materials! You can either post a thread stating what you need, or check out the shops set up there!*

Hope this was helpful, and in the meantime (while I'm taking pictures to add to all this), feel free to take a look at my dream address, which is in my signature :3 And if you want to post pictures of your town as well, please do; I'd love to see them!

Edit: I can only post 15 pictures per post, so I'll post the rest below xD


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## AppleTart0 (Jul 28, 2016)

This is really helpful!


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## Miii (Jul 28, 2016)

Biscuuit30 said:


> This is really helpful!



Good! ^.^ If you use any of the tips I listed, please post a picture!


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## Cudon (Jul 28, 2016)

I'd honestly say that there's slight flaws to this? Since it's kind of up to the person in what order they do things and to me personally some of the orders you picked are a bit weird. I mean, I get it's a guide for those who dunno what to do, but still. 

But I'd personally argue that it's nuts to put down pwps without knowing where the paths are going to go. I personally at least plan pwp spots after I put down the skeleton of my paths since then I see what places are available and where there is space. It also lets me plan my town instead of just throwing pwps willy nilly and hoping that I can somehow circle a path around it. Maybe that's just me, but putting down a basic path is kind of a first step for me. Pwp request nonsense is such a tedious task anyway that I personally avoid it as long as I can. 

I would also argue against putting down character houses as one of the first few steps, even if you don't plot reset, considering that at that point you don't even know where anything is going to go or only have a rough idea. I'd say it's better to put them down around when you get your dreamies in, since then you know where dreamies have been moving in / you've planned house placements if you plot reset. 

I don't mean to diss the guide by any means by saying this btw.


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## Miii (Jul 28, 2016)

Dinomates said:


> I'd honestly say that there's slight flaws to this? Since it's kind of up to the person in what order they do things and to me personally some of the orders you picked are a bit weird. I mean, I get it's a guide for those who dunno what to do, but still.
> 
> But I'd personally argue that it's nuts to put down pwps without knowing where the paths are going to go. I personally at least plan pwp spots after I put down the skeleton of my paths since then I see what places are available and where there is space. It also lets me plan my town instead of just throwing pwps willy nilly and hoping that I can somehow circle a path around it. Maybe that's just me, but putting down a basic path is kind of a first step for me. Pwp request nonsense is such a tedious task anyway that I personally avoid it as long as I can.
> 
> ...



I know you didn't mean to be insulting xD To each their own, and I'm sure someone will read your comment and prefer your method over mine, and that's fine! Whatever is most helpful to each person is what they should do, this was just meant to inspire some ideas.

Just to elaborate, in hindsight, I wish I would have put my side character houses down first, rather than waiting until I had more than half my dreamies because it was harder for me to find a good spot on my particular map, plus I lost the spot I wanted for my third character when Lolly moved in (I just couldn't stand to move her back out; she's so cute!).


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## Yomochi (Jul 28, 2016)

Thanks for taking the time to write this helpful guide! Even though I've had my town for a long time I'm pretty clueless when it comes to properly designing & I'm definitely starting to try very soon, this has expanded my knowledge & inspired me with some hopeful future plans, I'm sure I will be referring back to this now & then whilst I gradually make my town beautification progress! Thanks again. <3


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## HopeForHyrule (Jul 28, 2016)

This is really helpful! Especially since I've recently started a new town.

My biggest issue is finding path(s) I want to use and that'll match the kind of theme I'm picturing in my head.


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## Awesomeness1230 (Jul 28, 2016)

This is really helpful! I prefer to make my side characters after I know where their houses go, but that's up to you


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## Miii (Jul 28, 2016)

I couldn't fit all the pictures I wanted to post in the op, so here's more :3

Tree/ flower/ shrub arrangement.


The park I made c:




Area around my cafe.




Behind my cafe.


My police station.






Retail.


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## Miii (Jul 28, 2016)

And more landscaping pictures.

Path designs and landscaping.




Francine's house behind Retail.


Campsite behind Francine's house.




If only you could remove rocks...


To the left of my town hall




Windmill to the right of my town hall.




Outside my train station.


Pond outside train station.


Nana's house. Surrounding her house with heart tree stumps.


Path leading up to train station.


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## maplecheek (Jul 28, 2016)

Amazing! How did you get all the stumps to have hearts? Did you have to grow multiple trees to chop until they were all hearts?


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## Miii (Jul 28, 2016)

maplecheek said:


> Amazing! How did you get all the stumps to have hearts? Did you have to grow multiple trees to chop until they were all hearts?



I have a bunch of sliver axes (which ensure you get a special stump every time) saved up, and I'm chopping down and regrowing trees until I get all heart stumps :3 It's taking a while.

- - - Post Merge - - -

And more pictures >.>

Jeremiah's house <3


Right in front of Jeremiah's house.


Lolly's house.


Lighthouse next to Lolly's house.


My zen garden next to Chrissy's house.


Path up to Kabuki's house


Shrub/ bamboo/ flower arrangement.


And lastly, my mayor's house


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## Altarium (Jul 28, 2016)

What a helpful guide and what a stunning town! I love it


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## Miii (Jul 28, 2016)

Altarium said:


> What a helpful guide and what a stunning town! I love it



I'm glad you like my town and guide ^.^ Feel free to post pictures of your town, too!


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## Laureline (Jul 29, 2016)

I actually didn't know that bit about having three bridges prevents from asking for another type.


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## maplecheek (Jul 29, 2016)

Thanks for posting this! 

Also, Your mayor is super cute and now I feel less lonely because she has the same eyes one of my mayors, and I thought I was pretty much the only one lol.


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## SilkSpectre (Jul 29, 2016)

Very awesome!


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## moonbunny (Jul 29, 2016)

Great guide! Thanks for taking the time to write it.  I haven't done the stages in order -- my personal order has been Stages 1, 2, 5, 4, 3, 6 -- but I'm sure it's a great place to start for newbies who don't know what they're doing, haha. I'm still stuck in Stage 3 though... ugh, it's a pain. My villagers seem to suggest every pwp that I DON'T want.


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## milku-chan (Jul 29, 2016)

The tips I have to offer are:
1. trees trees trees 
2. symmetry
Easy peasy.


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## Altarium (Jul 29, 2016)

Hello again guys, a hesitating user here.

The thing is, I'm considering restarting due to my town layout. When I started I didn't think it through, and it's kind of cramped now. The location of the Roost and the Police Station is not convenient, and the campsite could be in a better spot. I just wanted to show you guys my map and ask you what do you think of it, because I'm having trouble fitting the PWPs.

I don't want to restart though, because I know it's going to be tough finding someone patient enough to hold 5 dreamies and a bunch of sets.

Anyways, here's my map. 

Ignore the third villager house, that's my plot resetting character.

The house near the train station is Julian's (it's a pain that he's there, but I couldn't plot reset the day he moved in).


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## Miii (Jul 29, 2016)

Altarium said:


> Hello again guys, a hesitating user here.
> 
> The thing is, I'm considering restarting due to my town layout. When I started I didn't think it through, and it's kind of cramped now. The location of the Roost and the Police Station is not convenient, and the campsite could be in a better spot. I just wanted to show you guys my map and ask you what do you think of it, because I'm having trouble fitting the PWPs.
> 
> ...



I don't think it's necessary to restart your town. I think you can work with this map, even though the cafe and police station are really close together (just pretend Booker really likes coffee). With a bunch of landscaping to fill any empty space, and a path leading you around the town, I think it could still look great :3


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## Altarium (Jul 29, 2016)

Miii said:


> I don't think it's necessary to restart your town. I think you can work with this map, even though the cafe and police station are really close together (just pretend Booker really likes coffee). With a bunch of landscaping to fill any empty space, and a path leading you around the town, I think it could still look great :3



Thanks! I'll try my best to do so, and yes, I hate the placement of the police station.


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## maplecheek (Jul 29, 2016)

Altarium said:


> Thanks! I'll try my best to do so, and yes, I hate the placement of the police station.



I also placed things rather thoughtlessly and don't want to restart. I think working around it is just fine. 

With empty spaces you can design gardens and more elaborate public spaces with multiple pwp and plants.


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## OviRy8 (Jul 29, 2016)

This guide actually lowkey makes me want to reset. Or get a new cart. The latter probably isn't happening tho...


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## Miii (Jul 29, 2016)

OviRy8 said:


> This guide actually lowkey makes me want to reset. Or get a new cart. The latter probably isn't happening tho...



Well you can if you want to, but there's no need to c: You can always work with the town you've got. I chose never to reset because I'm obsessed with getting all the badges lol I would die if I reset (I'm 3 badges away form having them all).


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## Altarium (Jul 29, 2016)

OviRy8 said:


> This guide actually lowkey makes me want to reset. Or get a new cart. The latter probably isn't happening tho...



Me too, I also think I should reset...

https://aclilyofthevalley.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/kawanokatachi.png

I'd KILL for a layout like D3 in the top middle section.


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## moonbunny (Jul 29, 2016)

Altarium said:


> Hello again guys, a hesitating user here.
> 
> The thing is, I'm considering restarting due to my town layout. When I started I didn't think it through, and it's kind of cramped now. The location of the Roost and the Police Station is not convenient, and the campsite could be in a better spot. I just wanted to show you guys my map and ask you what do you think of it, because I'm having trouble fitting the PWPs.
> 
> ...




Your map still looks workable to me, and I say this as someone who obsessed over choosing the perfect map when I reset my town. Technically I think that you can create a beautiful town with any map -- it all depends on how much work you're willing to put into it. Paths/landscaping make _all_ the difference. They can make your town look amazing even if the map itself isn't 100% ideal.


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## Miii (Jul 29, 2016)

moonbunny said:


> Your map still looks workable to me, and I say this as someone who obsessed over choosing the perfect map when I reset my town. Technically I think that you can create a beautiful town with any map -- it all depends on how much work you're willing to put into it. Paths/landscaping make _all_ the difference. They can make your town look amazing even if the map itself isn't 100% ideal.



I agree with this. My map would have been easier to work with (especially the top half) if my river was straighter, if the pond next to retail wasn't so big, if that rock by my fountain wasn't there, etc., but I worked with it and now I'm glad I kept it ^.^ I feel like the more time you invest in a town, the more you end up liking it and figuring out how to work with it.


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## Altarium (Jul 30, 2016)

Bump!


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## Awesomeness1230 (Jul 30, 2016)

Altarium said:


> Me too, I also think I should reset...
> 
> https://aclilyofthevalley.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/kawanokatachi.png
> 
> I'd KILL for a layout like D3 in the top middle section.



My old layout was exactly that map!


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