Biting off more than you can chew and the art ability curve in NH

[Flower-Loving Punk]

Hi Gamers!

Just wanted to vent and chat a little about Island Decorating, and see if anyone has any advice on how to keep going. My island is technically 5 starts but I think it looks terrible.

I'm at work currently, but when I get home I'll post some pictures in this thread. I got very inspired in 2020 before I even had New Horizons to make a Ancient Grecian themed island I picked my specific island because it had two southern river exists and I wanted to make a giant horseshoe. When I finally earned enough bells to start real prep and real terraforming, I got to work and within the span of a week (with lots of time traveling) I managed to make a decent looking museum on a cliff with water falls and a really neat looking horse shoe river.

It was so exhausting that I took a 2 month break from Animal Crossing after that because I was so burnt out. I made a little campsite after, really took my time with it, and it looks okay but I really thought I'd get better at terraforming and decorating by that point. It was a little disappointing, to be honest.

After a couple of years I decided to change my island inspo and go towards more of an Ancient Minoan, King Minos and the Minotaur, vaguely Midsommar kind of vibe, and I drew out plans to make a labyrinth with the Monster Statue 'minotaur' in the middle. I started working on it but it looked terrible so I stopped. My island got overwhelmed with flowers so I just kind of gave up.

I eventually got back to playing, moved all my villager houses to the beach, worked more on the labyrinth, I like how it looks a little more now, but for some reason I just can't quite gets things to look right. I still have big plans, I have ideas for giant crop fields, I made a large eye at the top of my island near the secret beach I eventually want to move all my rocks to to make one of those cool rock rings around the iris. I want to make a giant villager plaza in the center of the rivers and have a little fake port near my dock with old rusty boats and outdated equipment.

I've seen so many spooky islands done SO well. Anything I try just looks tacky to me. I can't get the unsettling atmosphere I've seen so many popular islands make. Granted, I know making a spooky island in AC alone is pretty difficult (it's not a scary game), and a lot of the really popular horror islands aren't fight both for both "historic" AND "horror" vibes, which makes my own project a little harder on myself. I'm not really trying to be scary... just make things seem... off... until you wander into the labyrinth like Theseus and realize oh! There's a monster in here!

After so many years playing you'd think I'd get better at decorating outside by now. It's a little frustrating because I've seen my interior decorating skills improve so much, but my exterior ones not so much. If anyone has any advice for how to get emotionally over your own skill gap or how to actually improve and get better at terraforming I'd love to hear it!!

Thanks for reading!

 

[Flower-Loving Punk]

Some snapshots!! Also I have no idea how long ago I saved my dream address but it’s definitely not recent if anyone goes to it.

The video is a little snippet of the labyrinth. It’s not done yet, I have to keep tweaking the path a little bit, but there’s two paths, one to freedom on a pirate ship and the other to the Minotaur.

Edit I can’t post the screen recording so it’s located here.

 

[Pyoopi]

Oh, I like the appeal of your island map. The design is really cool so far. I think first, you should focus on your color theme through your flowers and types, then what type of foliage you want (bushes, crop plants, plant items) and dropped items (like mushrooms). Flower clearing is the biggest chores and it tends to stun-lock a lot of players. I think hyacinths, lilies, roses and windflowers would work well for your Ancient Grecian theme. You could probably limit the colors to blue, white, red, and black.

So because you want a gradual eerie storytelling that's engulfed in Greek mythology; it would help if you considered how you want your island to transition. Think of the airport as the starting point (like a board game) and from there: do you want to be immediately submerged in the spooky environment or do you want there to be a steady growth to decay in specific places. Since the museum is reminiscent to a Greek temple in their original color and centered, maybe as you pull away from that structure, the land becomes a bit more derelict. This will help you think of placement and what emotions you want to evoke.

I'm not well versed in Greek Mythology, but because you mentioned King Minos, you could create a Temple of Hades and create the feeling of descending to the underworld because we have the cave item. You can use the ruined pillars in black variation for example. I made a little list of items that might be beneficial: buncha items (some might seem random but it's more like ambient noise or if you turn around the item so you get its backside) Or you can make your own handy list! Play around with different angles and textures.

I would also try to reference real life temple ruins in Greece (Roman temples too) and through ancient paintings. Also using video games is really helpful with decorating. (Hades and Hades II pops in my brain atm) But if you wanted to update your dream address, I could also visit and give more feedback as well.

 

[Foreverfox]

^ Pyoopi’s feedback is WAY better than anything I’m prepared to give, as I struggle with liking my island as a whole too. My initial instinct was to tell you to focus on one area at a time to make it less overwhelming. However, now that I think about it, you might end up feeling how I do about mine how each area on its own is beautiful but combined, they don’t mesh. I think this happens because you take natural breaks between working on areas and then your mind comes up with different things that vary from the original plan but sound great at that moment. Then implementing those “at the moment” plans breaks the overall aesthetic. It’s also hard if you’re working with a really niche theme, because there are only so many things that fit that theme. I find that a lot of people that work in niche themes customize the wall partitions to fit their theme.

It’s hard looking at inspo islands, because it automatically thrusts you into that “compare” mode. There’s never a way to make your island feel like it looks as good at those, even if it really does. That’s part of the comparison conundrum. I bet your island is way better than you think it is! I’d be happy to visit it too, if you have a current dream address. Hope this helps some!

 

[Flower-Loving Punk]

I think hyacinths, lilies, roses and windflowers would work well for your Ancient Grecian theme. You could probably limit the colors to blue, white, red, and black.

So because you want a gradual eerie storytelling that's engulfed in Greek mythology; it would help if you considered how you want your island to transition. Think of the airport as the starting point (like a board game) and from there: do you want to be immediately submerged in the spooky environment or do you want there to be a steady growth to decay in specific places. Since the museum is reminiscent to a Greek temple in their original color and centered, maybe as you pull away from that structure, the land becomes a bit more derelict. This will help you think of placement and what emotions you want to evoke.

That's mostly the color palate I was going for! A lot of real standing Minoan temples incorporated a red/orange/black/blue color scheme. For the labyrinth, I modeled the pillars and my house exterior off of the ruins of Knossos palace, and I linked a pic below if you're interested in seeing it!

I am sort of going for a board game story progression point, I just want it to be... unsettling. I think the mythos of my island is: What would happen if a bunch of people moved to an island where a monster lived, and instead of banding together to defeat it, they instead made it like their whole life's purpose to serve it, in the hopes that it will reward them for their service. So the island has to be welcoming and attractive for the most part, it needs visitors after all.

In the original King Minos and the Minotaur myth, the beast is his wife the Queen's son. So while they can't kill or exile him, they instead hide him away under the city. After a war, they send tributes from Athens as punishment to him as food and entertainment (until Thesus slays him during his turn as tribute). On this island, the tributes are stray visitors passing through.

I like your idea of areas of focus. Yes, the museum "temple" and actual house temple are going to be pristine, the campsite will be well maintained and guilded, and the main village, town hall, port will be maintained, but the port is decrepit because the sailors and traders who at a normal island would be frequent are deserted (they keep going missing. Interesting), the shops are falling out of use because there is no longer an island economy, the farms are overworked and slim because it's been months since someone has stopped by and the beast must eat something.

I think the story is that You the Visitor are the next to come, and everyone is so excited you are here! Perhaps too excited. I'll set my character to have something like "Please, pay tribute in the Labyrinth before you leave!" making it seem like its just a temple you must honor inside, but in actuality you are another tribute to be eaten. I think I'll fix up the pirate ship area better to make it more like an actual escape boat if you manage to find that route.

I made a little list of items that might be beneficial: buncha items (some might seem random but it's more like ambient noise or if you turn around the item so you get its backside) Or you can make your own handy list! Play around with different angles and textures.

This is awesome! Thank you! I definitely want to incorporate those decorative plates and vases, theyre so colorful and will add so much to the theme! Thank you so much for throwing that together, I can't want to put more time into looking at some of those for decorative pieces!

I would also try to reference real life temple ruins in Greece (Roman temples too) and through ancient paintings. Also using video games is really helpful with decorating. (Hades and Hades II pops in my brain atm) But if you wanted to update your dream address, I could also visit and give more feedback as well.

I definitely want to use more statues and paintings in on my island! And I'll have to check them out for sure! I've never played Hades but I watched some streamers play it when it initially released. I'll have to boot them up and really pay attention to background element design later this week.

When I get home from work today I'll log on and update my dream address so you can take a look around! I really really appreciate the time you've put into helping me out! It means so much to me! Just as a heads up there's a lot of random items kind of thrown around; I was trying to grind out 5 stars so I could start collecting lily of the valley flowers and it did work but it also does mean my island is kind of a mess. Same with my black rose/gold rose farm. I had a better temple interior in my house for a while but it was getting annoying not having a real house so I swapped it back. The back room being a throne area is still up though!

^ Pyoopi’s feedback is WAY better than anything I’m prepared to give, as I struggle with liking my island as a whole too. My initial instinct was to tell you to focus on one area at a time to make it less overwhelming.

I think that's definitely great advice. When I did my first big project I did literally everything at once and I was so tired I had to stop playing for a while.

It’s also hard if you’re working with a really niche theme, because there are only so many things that fit that theme. I find that a lot of people that work in niche themes customize the wall partitions to fit their theme.

I had that idea in my house, to hide off rooms using walls so I can still have like, fun sewing rooms and my instrument room without it taking away from my overall island theme! I hadn't considered doing that across my island though, that's a really good idea!

It’s hard looking at inspo islands, because it automatically thrusts you into that “compare” mode. There’s never a way to make your island feel like it looks as good at those, even if it really does. That’s part of the comparison conundrum. I bet your island is way better than you think it is! I’d be happy to visit it too, if you have a current dream address. Hope this helps some!

Yeah for sure. And I think it's hard too because what I'm going for is just so different, all the inspiration is just not going to fit. And haha thank you!!! As I mentioned earlier, I'll update it to the current state when I get off work, and I'll ping yall on here when I do.

Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and time! It really means so much!!

 

[Flower-Loving Punk]

Hello y’all!! Sorry it took a minute, had to make an emergency trip out of town this week. My dream address is fully updated!

It’s in the map picture but I’ll repost it here for convienience!

DA-9841-2587-7898

Thanks again!!

 

[mayor.lauren]

a big problem i've always had with this game is comparing my island to others'. i think we're all our own worst critics, and especially in a game like ac, when we look at something for too long, it's so easy to find the faults in it, even if we're the only ones that see those faults. decorating and terraforming aren't really things that come naturally to me, so it's always hard when you see a beautiful build on pinterest or youtube or something, and feel like yours just pales in comparison. but, for you specifically, i think your island looks SO beautiful, and i love your theme! you're very talented!