A Neighborhood of Villagers or Spread out Villagers?

[Sholee]

Hellos All!

I'm redoing my island and curious on how everyone else situates them in their island. Do you prefer villagers in a neighborhood or spread out through the island? Any pros/cons?

I'm worried it'll take me forever to find villagers if I spread them out but putting them in a neighborhood doesn't give me much space to give each villager their own decor flair (unless i make it a huge neighborhood)

 

[SoftCrowbar]

I personally like my villagers to roam around because I don’t give them gifts every single day/have to find them, so my villager houses are very spread out throughout my map. (I usually find them at the Plaza anyway). I know if you kinda put them all together they tend to stay in that small area.

 

[Queenno]

I quite like the aesthetic of neighborhoods but when villagers are all living in the same area they tend to stay in that specific area. When I had neighborhoods I noticed that my villagers would never go in some part of the island and I felt quite sad about it. I like to walk on the island and meet villagers everywhere, I spread them now. On my first island I did spread them in 2 neighborhoods but I prefer when they are everywhere (also as I don't like to have too many items or cafe, parks, shops displayed on the island, having villagers' house spread out uses the available space in a better way in my opinion and I don't have to decorate the rest of the island too much)

 

[Altarium]

Both! Though I lean more on having them spread out because it helps to fill space, I also really like doing "mini" neighborhoods spread across the island and having villagers in sets of 2. It's especially nice if their house exteriors are similar. Fang-Skye and Diana-Ruby are some examples.

 

[Sholee]

I quite like the aesthetic of neighborhoods but when villagers are all living in the same area they tend to stay in that specific area. When I had neighborhoods I noticed that my villagers would never go in some part of the island and I felt quite sad about it. I like to walk on the island and meet villagers everywhere, I spread them now. On my first island I did spread them in 2 neighborhoods but I prefer when they are everywhere (also as I don't like to have too many items or cafe, parks, shops displayed on the island, having villagers' house spread out uses the available space in a better way in my opinion and I don't have to decorate the rest of the island too much)

Did having 2 neighborhoods help with them walking around or did they just stay in the two neighborhoods?

 

[Queenno]

Did having 2 neighborhoods help with them walking around or did they just stay in the two neighborhoods?

They were 6 on one side and 4 on the other, in my opinion it was not enough spreading. They almost never went on the cliffs or near my house for example.

 

[azurill]

My first island has them in small neighborhoods . 4 villagers behind RS , 4 in front of RS and two off to the top left. My second island they are all in a neighborhood. I find my villagers move around move on my first island. I do find the villagers on my second island on the back cliffs but not often.

 

[Kg1595]

My villagers are spread out across my island, and I find them all over my island. Granted, I always check around their home first when looking for them, but I have found them as far as the opposite side of my island from their home, so they do roam.

I like this set up, because I can geneally count on finding at least one villager in a certain section of my island at any given time, as opposed to them all congregating in one area and avoiding the rest.

 

[Bulbadragon]

My villagers are spread out now, and I've found that I much prefer it that way. When I had them in a neighborhood, they never went anywhere else besides the plaza. Now that they're spread out almost all parts of the island get visited. Plus, it helps fill space. I had too much empty space when they were grouped together.

 

[peachsaucekitty]

mine are spread out but i would rather have a neighborhood. it makes things more organized, more room for decoration, and you don't have to go through the whole island to find them if you need them lol

 

[elo-chan]

I have spread out neighborhoods in pairs/trios! I find my villagers all over the island, but they still are less likely to go up on 3rd level cliffs.

 

[JellyBeans]

on my previous island i gathered all my islanders into a little neighbourhood that spanned all three levels & had five on either side of a ramp, which i absolutely loved for convenience and general aesthetic. however this time around I'm at least trialling having my islanders spread out across more of the map, because this way I feel like there's more scope to design areas specifically for certain sets of villagers!

 

[Magus]

Personally I don't like when all the villagers houses are at the same place because they will explore less the entire island.

On my island I did some pairing sometimes and others are more alone, it depends, but they're spread out.

To be honest, most of the time, it's my villagers that inspired me to create new areas around their houses. So my island is divided in multiple thematic areas with villagers matching the vibe.

 

[~Melody~]

I think small neighbourhoods would be better.

I think it's more convenient in order to visit and talk to each villager throughout the day.

 

[VelveteenCat]

I like both, depends on how the island is layed out.
I plan on having two neighborhoods and one villager living a little secluded near the coast.
On my previous island, I had two neighborhoods as well, and even the unhabitated parts seemed to be somewhat frequented.

 

[nekomimi]

usually i prefer a neighborhood but i've found that i end up unable to really give plots their own unique touch depending on the villager via decor when houses are all bunched together in a neighborhood. spreading out houses helps me to fill out the island a bit better i think

 

[shellbell]

I have my 5 villagers in a neighbourhood in the west and 5 others in the east. I built it this way for the easy of gathering DIYs from them initially, and I've yet to change it. Each of them has their own little yard hehe. I find it pretty nice still.

 

[Sytred]

On my previous island I made 4 small neighborhoods of 2-4 villagers, it was pretty but I found I prefer when they are spread out on the island, it allows me to customise their surrounding more (my 4 neighborhoods had some theme like mountain/beach/town/... but it's more customisable this way!)

 

[Sucrose]

I've experimented a bit over time and I prefer mini-neighborhoods (2 to 4 villagers), this way I can create an aesthetic or story around them. It also helps structure my island in blocs. For specific villagers I'll give them their own zone (like a zen garden or a farm) if I think it suits their character.

 

[Moon Cake]

I really like having a designated neighborhood area for all of my villagers! There is definitely less yard space, but I personally prefer to organize my island in a more structured way.