Feeling discouraged

[angiepie]

So I’ve been feeling a little discouraged since I’ve unlocked terraforming. I’m not all that creative and I always struggle with decorating things. I don’t even really decorate my rooms in my house, so I’m just feeling a little down about it. Does anyone have any advice? I’m going for more of a fairycore island feel.

 

[Imbri]

It's easy to get overwhelmed when you look at the entire island, your house, the villagers, etc. I remember being frustrated when I started, as well.

My advice would be to break things into small sections and work on them one at a time. Take a walk around your island and see if there is a spot that catches your eye. Would a chair or bench work? Maybe a statue? Play around with it and let it sit for a day.

Same thing with your house. Take one room at a time. What would you like it to be? A living room? Kitchen? Craft room? Again, play around with different colors and styles of furniture. Start simple and work your way up to more items. Sometimes a simple, clean room is best. Sleep on it and look at it the next day.

It's taken me 2 years to get my spaces where I want them. Now I just swap out decorations for the seasons and change a few accessories around. That's really the best part of this game - it's never really "finished". You will be able to make changes any time you want based on how you play.

 

[Belle T]

Don't be afraid to steal ideas from other people's islands that you see online. I know the idea of self expression is the primary focus of the games and everything, but starting from a completely empty canvas is very troublesome. I remember being quite frustrated when I unlocked terraforming, as well, because I had all these ideas in my head for what I wanted to do with my island beforehand, but was drawing blanks for several days when I finally obtained the ability. I think any of the ideas in this article would make for a very good starting point.

Basically, by emulating other people's designs, you'll eventually get a hint of what you want to do and how you want to do it.

 

[Flicky]

I've felt this. For the longest time, my island was a complete mess, with no real direction. The only advice I can offer is -

1. Visit a few dream islands that have fairycore designs, and keep a note of what types of items / layout designs you think would look nice on your island.
2. Make a wishlist of those items to help keep track!
3. This advice especially helped me: focus on one area at a time. I started doing multiple areas and adding things as I went along, and it did not work out well.
4. Try not to feel pressurized into having the 'best' island. I've seen it way too often with this game, and nearly wound up doing the same thing. Just go with what you think looks good, even if it's something others might not.
5. Optional: if you have online access (or you're comfortable with designing yourself), find some good patterns that match the fairycore theme. I wasn't going to use patterns at first, but they've really helped me out in areas where the in-game paths just weren't enough.

 

[Hsn97]

I’m also not super creative and haven’t used the terrain tool much. I just told myself that my island is my island and it doesn’t need to look like the Instagram islands for me to enjoy it and have fun. And actually, when I did try to decorate it to look like one of the island, it lagged so much that it wasn’t enjoyable to play on anyway!

I started by putting down some paths on my island between my main areas. One from my house to the shops, to the airport and museum. And then I just started putting out items that I liked. Like a little brick well behind a stone wall or a little picnic area. I didn’t force myself to decorate or create. I just did it in tiny bits as and when I found an item I liked. I didn’t hold myself to the picture of other peoples islands. It was much more enjoyable after that. And my town isn’t the most beautiful or terraformed now, but it’s my island and I love it.

 

[Moritz]

I suggest dropping the theme if you're not creative or into decorating.
A theme limits what you can do, without one you can do whatever you want with the island.

 

[tiffanistarr]

When I’m going for a specific theme I try to focus on one area at a time. That makes it easier for me to focus and get creativity for one area instead of being overwhelmed by the rest of the island. There are tons of terraforming and waterscaping tutorials on pinterest and youtube you can follow if you find something you like! The thing with fairycore is that there’s a certain natural element to it right? So you don’t have to totally focus on an overdone terraformed island, going more natural might be what you like.

Also there are tons of ways of to incorporate things without really having to get into the terraforming.

Take advantage of the sakura tree season and you can also time travel and stay in that timeframe. Unless you don’t time travel - it’s a pretty hot topic on AC. Do lots of forrest areas and mushrooms! The pink mushrooms from the mario furniture are my favorites.

I think if you do the more focus in on one area strat, I think that will really change how you feel about the game.

Do you have HHP? That is good practice for decorating.