anyone else find terraforming hugely stressful?

[beemayor]

i unlocked terraforming on my newest island just this morning and i was having a go at paths... its so stressful! even though i have a pretty good idea of what i want my town layout to look like, for some reason laying paths in particular is so stressful. i dont even want to touch terraforming the shape of the island (which i did on another island) because i know im just going to mess it up.

i feel paralyzed by choice... anyone else have this problem?

 

[Audrey Marie]

i do! no matter what i'll do i'll see someone elses and feel like mine sucks haha

 

[kkfenrir]

I feel that way sometimes too, the prospect of redesigning my island from the ground up has been quite daunting to me. My advice would be just to do a little bit at a time, don't try and do a ton in one huge sweep. It's always something you can change and improve on over time, so if it doesn't look great on the first attempt, you shouldn't stress out over it or compare your work to others in a negative light! All you can do is practise and try your best! :3

 

[Mokuren]

I was afraid at first that I will mess my town up but now I live terraforming. I changed my complete island and can't stop xD looks great so far. I can see why it's nothing for everyone but the island shape in general is good enough to make something beautiful So no need to terraform if you don't feel like it!

 

[JKDOS]

No. Not in the slightest . It's a slow and grueling process, but truely amazing at the possibilities it gives. Since I am not required to terraform, and there are no consequences for failing to do so, it is 100% stress free for me.

because i know im just going to mess it up.

Terraforming is a 2 way road, anything you do can be undone. It's not permanent.

 

[Burumun]

Sort of, but this game is also way more forgiving than New Leaf was. I'm going to plan everything out with paths and designs first before moving the buildings, but everything else I can play around with, at least.

It also sort of helps knowing what's set. For one, the grassy area is basically a big rectangle and only juts out into the beach area in some places, so that makes it easier to draw and make a plan for than I originally thought (I was going to from the start, but have been putting it off), and since the Resident Services building and airport can't be moved, I plan to start there.

 

[itangerine]

I haven't unlocked terraforming yet but have you tried cleaning the island from trees/rivers and turn it almost into a blank canvas? it might take awhile im sure but maybe that way you will get more inspiration, it was like as if you were starting over. I had that idea for awhile and it's going to be a pain but hopefully it comes out with a satisfying result. good luck!

 

[pocky]

I was afraid of it when I started. I think it took me over 7 hours to get my river how I wanted it. Just deleting and starting over a bunch of times. In the end I decided to approach it like drawing. Instead of going in blind I "sketched" up my river by making a very thin version of it. It was only once I had the shape that I wanted that I started thickening it up. Once I started over with this method I was able to get things done very quickly. Still nowhere near done, but taking the time to sketch things really helped me work it out. Really glad that I stuck to it despite of how uncomfortable it made me at the beginning.

 

[CamelotHannah]

it stresses me out, but what i do is rather than change my island from the bottom up is just change things i don’t like as i go. like say i’m running around my island doing something and i find that i don’t like the way i have to maneuver around a certain part of the river, i’ll just fix it and move on

 

[Heyden]

Yes, I went crazy the moment I unlocked terraforming, completely removing my river and whatnot. Right now I'm a bit overwhelmed because I've added/removed so much stuff and don't really know what to do next. My advice although would be to take a screenshot of the area you're about to edit, in case you want to revert it back to its (mostly) original state.

 

[lunachii]

I get what you mean, I unlocked it over a week ago (I timetravel) and I had a plan for my layout and was really happy about it. Now today I realized I hated it and is currently working on fixing it and re-doing it ;_; I feel like I'll never be happy though and always wants to change stuff

 

[Romaki]

Same. It's so hard to get the shape you want too, but at the same time I love the ability for it to change.

 

[JKDOS]

I was afraid of it when I started. I think it took me over 7 hours to get my river how I wanted it.

I love the stepping stones in the water

 

[Rosch]

It is stressful, and mostly it's because of me constantly changing the idea I have in my head.

Last night, I just had to put the game down to grab some pen and paper. Now I've got the general layout sketched out and terraforming was a lot less stressful since I know where to put things. Now, it's all about building the ramps and moving the houses where I want them to be, one at time.

I should've one this before I started terraforming.

 

[Chachamaru]

Silly question. We don't HAVE to use our river exits? As in, if we don't connect them to something else, we won't miss out on certain fish/the river will still be deemed a "river"?

 

[JKDOS]

Last night, I just had to put the game down to grab some pen and paper. Now I've got the general layout sketched out and terraforming was a lot less stressful since I know where to put things. Now, it's all about building the ramps and moving the houses where I want them to be, one at time.

This is better than pen and paper: https://eugeneration.github.io/HappyIslandDesigner/

 

[JKDOS]

Silly question. We don't HAVE to use our river exits? As in, if we don't connect them to something else, we won't miss out on certain fish/the river will still be deemed a "river"?

Correct. I was nearly tempted to leave one empty.

 

[pocky]

Silly question. We don't HAVE to use our river exits? As in, if we don't connect them to something else, we won't miss out on certain fish/the river will still be deemed a "river"?

mine isnt connected to my river exits, will test to see what fish I get there

 

[Larimar]

Before I even unlocked it I was feeling overwhelmed by the idea of being able to have SO much freedom, I couldnt fathom what I'd even be doing ;o; but now that I've unlocked it and have been playing around with it I've even discovered some fun lil tricks that I'm excited to use someday!

I dont have any specific plans in mind, but I plan on slowly flattening it out and removing the rivers and then rebuilding it from scratch :0 I'm taking my sweet time with it cause long-term terraforming is painfully boring, and I don't want to burn myself out. Plus it gives me more time to brainstorm what I want to do for my island, and hopefully by the time I'm done I can start slowly putting my ideas into action! Or maybe there'll be a point while flattening everything where I'll feel like starting from there!

 

[pinkfawn]

I'm having a really hard time smoothing corners or making them round instead of square. I tried to make a crescent moon pond last night and got the top half looking great but had difficulty with the bottom half and now it's pretty deformed. But I'll keep trying.