Folks who've got to grips with terraforming, what's your best terraforming advice?

[Sloom]

hi.

I think I speak for a lot of us when I say I'm overwhelmed. there's a lot of people posting about how they're overwhelmed and honestly all I want to know is where to start.
I haven't made a single change yet because I've seen people saying they ended up resetting because they spoiled their town

so, to the people who don't feel overwhelmed or managed to overcome their whelm
any tips?

 

[Solio]

Don't try to do everything a once.
Take on little projects first to get a feeling for how the tool works.
Path-making is simple, start with that. As for the layout, it's usually a good start to just connect the buildings with a path

 

[Wickel]

I just unlocked it yesterday, and I'm feeling overwhelmed as well. I've just started doing little areas one by one.
I started with the area where I pictured my museum being. It was on top of the highest cliffs with the little "pond which is actually a river". I extended the pond all the way to the back so it looks like an actual river and made stepping stones in the middle. I replaced the museum, so today it's in its proper spot and I've started placing a ramp there and will start decorating this afternoon
.
So I plan to do it just little by little, otherwise it gets too overwhelming and I don't like to have my entire town being half-finished. I'd rather have a nicely decorated area surrounded by wasteland and build it up bit by bit than have everything being meh.

On top of that I probably won't revamp the entire town. I'll just rework the already existing features a little. So I might extend the cliffs, move the river a bit, but I won't change the base of the town completely. It's too much for me.

Edit: I've seen people completely remove the river for as much as they can and then place a completely new one. That's not for me and I think I'd advice against it? It just seems like a recipe for disaster.

 

[Lavulin98]

tomorrow I'm unlocking terraforming. So excited! gonna watch this thread. xD

 

[missvariety]

I unlocked it this morning and just started playing with paths. As someone else has already said, I don't plan on completely changing my town, just making certain bits easier like I need the river to be narrower in certain places so I can place a bridge in the right place. Then just playing with a bit beyond that.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

I think it helps a lot if you try to get most of your layout done beforehand - figure out where you want things to go. Put in the pathways next. Then go in with the terraforming to fix those bits that you want changed, like if you want to put a bridge in a spot but the river isn't wide enough, etc.

 

[Krissi2197]

I get KK tomorrow so I'm assuming I unlock it tomorrow as well? Or maybe Saturday morning. So I'm def gonna follow this thread for some inspiration and advice!

 

[JKDOS]

My best advice is don't buy the permits if it's stressful, overwhelming, or scary.

If you're excited for terraforming, go all and and build the map you've always dreamed of.

If you need help visualizing or making a template, try this online editor: https://eugeneration.github.io/HappyIslandDesigner/

- - - Post Merge - - -

Edit: I've seen people completely remove the river for as much as they can and then place a completely new one. That's not for me and I think I'd advice against it? It just seems like a recipe for disaster.

I would not advise against it, as that inhibits creativity. Some of us need to remove the river to sculpt a new and improved one.

 

[Xara]

i just unlocked it today and i just wanna say that it’s not as overwhelming as it looks - the thought of it can be a bit much but actually doing it is fairly straightforward. plus, if you mess up, it is possible to undo it without resetting

 

[JKDOS]

i just unlocked it today and i just wanna say that it’s not as overwhelming as it looks - the thought of it can be a bit much but actually doing it is fairly straightforward. plus, if you mess up, it is possible to undo it without resetting

The only overwhelming part for me was when I tried it the first 5 minutes and did not know what to start with first. I have designed my island layout I want using an online tool, now I just need to follow it. After looking at it, the most important part to start with is removing the river where I don't want it, as it will block where I need to place new land. Next I work on my cliffs, I'll need to clean up trees and objects. Luckily the Terraforming mode does that, although slowly. Once I get the cliffs/land the way I want it, I'll add in the river.

 

[Sloom]

thank you for all the advice everyone!

I actually did create a happy island designer island, but I wasn't satisfied with it after I finished it and I'm still not satisfied now lol. so before I do anything substantial I'm going to go ahead and make another (or a couple others) until I'm happy with the design.

other than that, so far, I've stripped my island of trees. which could be disastrous, but I think I'll be ok since i have literally figuratively got trillions of fruit stacks in my storage. hated how my town looked before anyway

also also re: not changing the river shape, I get where you're coming from, but I would like to reshape my river. right now it's horrible (it blocks everything off and makes creativity hard), and i definitely didnt pick my map based on how the river looks, so personally I'd like to change mine. going to give it a lot of thought and consideration before I do though, of course

 

[JKDOS]

thank you for all the advice everyone!

I actually did create a happy island designer island, but I wasn't satisfied with it after I finished it and I'm still not satisfied now lol. so before I do anything substantial I'm going to go ahead and make another (or a couple others) until I'm happy with the design.

If you helps, you can just make smaller changes to your map to make it flow better. Since we've had about 2 weeks in our game now, I'm sure we've all (Aside from the dedicated resetters), have found some annoying things with our maps, whether very small, or huge. These can be easily fixed now without changing the whole island.

I would like to reshape my river. right now it's horrible (it blocks everything off and makes creativity hard), and i definitely didnt pick my map based on how the river looks, so personally I'd like to change mine

That's a great example of what I said above.

 

[popstar]

first of all i would say not to stress about it! you can generally easily fix or remake something you might have done by mistake or end up not liking, you should definitely take a screenshot or picture of your map originally just in case you want to go back to it at some point or use it for reference and for peace of mind

it does help to have some kind of idea of what you want to do before you start, you could make some moodboards or try to imagine what it is you're trying to make or the feeling you want that area to have, do you want this area to be flat and easily accessible? do you want this area to be surrounded by cliffs and rarely seen by visitors? do you want a giant waterfall here, or a small pond there with a cool star or heart shape?

i try to keep the terraforming changes that i make simple, online you see things like "waterfall caves" and some crazy waterfalls designs, but i wouldn't worry about doing any of that stuff unless you like how it looks, in which case there's youtube tutorials i believe for some different setups so you shouldn't have to stress about how to make them! you can definitely play around with the tools yourself to see what works and what doesn't, without completely redesigning the whole island

i would also say don't try to do everything at once and change the whole map in one day, maybe work on 1-3 different areas each day, remember that you can always keep going back to adjust things and i find it a bit easier and certainly less overwhelming this way

tldr; keep it simple at first! take a screenshot of your original map, make some moodboards to get an idea of what you like

 

[corlee1289]

I kept my town as is except knocking out the highest cliffs since you can’t access those anyways. Now, I have more place to put my flowers and fruit trees :3

 

[JKDOS]

I kept my town as is except knocking out the highest cliffs since you can’t access those anyways.

Your map had tier 4 cliffs to start with?

 

[Bioness]

Use this site or another one like it to plan your island. That way you won't have to redo work and can focus on certain areas first.

https://eugeneration.github.io/HappyIslandDesigner/

 

[cinnamonbella]

I have only terraformed two areas so far, i cut one of my rivers in half as i didn't want to purchase another bridge i would later remove.

It's easiest to start on one area first - i started with villagers area as this will take up the most space on my map so i knew how much room i had after and i could work around that

 

[Anna5176]

I would say to take your time with terraforming. I've nearly done all of my island now and I can say it was stressful at times to get everything right mostly because I always change my mind or certain parts don't join together as I had hoped. Don't expect perfection when it's your first time terraforming.
What I ended up doing the hard way and completely destroying everything on my island and dumping my flowers on the beachs so that I had a proper base to build up my island the way I wanted it. But It will take a long time if you do it that way

 

[akidas]

Add to what you have! Change little things and work your way up!