Have You Given Your Villager A Backstory/History?

[Blue Cup]

Like for example, my villagers story started when he moved out onto his own in 2002 looking for a purpose, which came to a conclusion in 2013 when he became mayor of Memoria where he still sits in the office chair to this very day.

I ended his story there, but plan to do a reboot with Animal Crossing Switch. You can see his whole timeline here on my blog: https://channel-90.com/post/183802021535

So has anyone else developed their villager to be more than just the character they play as?

 

[Kimurni]

That is such a cool idea! I have stories for my characters, but they've never spanned multiple games!

Currently I've got a mayor who just sort of stumbled into everything, befriended everyone in town, and still can't decide where to put the stupid cafe. (More or less a character build around whatever I wanted to do at the time.)
There's also Hydrangea, who lives on her own in a mansio tucked away in the woods in a narrow pocket left by the river, who's upset that things our changing.
This led to interesting storylines where our hero had to negotiate between Hydrangea, who wanted to live alone in the woods, and Pate, who plopped her house as close to her as the game would allow. (Pre Amiibo there wasn't much to be done, so in an attempt to prevent any future disasters, the next town projects was to bar off that part of town with PWPs.)

I'm also running a second town now based around Splatoon, and all it's characters are based off of characters from the games.

 

[slatka]

no i've honestly never done this but it's very cute and adds a lot more meaning

 

[daisyy]

I loved reading about your mayor's story! It makes me want to create one now for my mayor, although honestly it's probably too similar to my own to be really considered my 'mayor's' story.

 

[moonbyu]

i always do!

 

[LadyDestani]

I have not done that, but your story is pretty cool. My main character is usually a stylized and idealized version of myself, but I am planning a themed town where the mayor and alternate character will each have a backstory.

 

[2kimi2furious]

I have not done that, but your story is pretty cool. My main character is usually a stylized and idealized version of myself, but I am planning a themed town where the mayor and alternate character will each have a backstory.

I do this too, but with my new town of Fujimori, I'm definitely going to try to incorporate backstories in. I think it makes for a richer, more vibrant town!

 

[Blue Cup]

I have not done that, but your story is pretty cool. My main character is usually a stylized and idealized version of myself, but I am planning a themed town where the mayor and alternate character will each have a backstory.

That's basically what my villager is. Same name and stuff, clothes mirroring real world clothes, etc. Immersion is a big deal for me in video games and is why Animal Crossing so dear to me. I get to live a peaceful, stress-free life that mirrors the time and season and festivities of real life, but without all the drama. It's my escape from everything and everyone.

 

[maple22]

nah.
it's just... me, I guess? it'd feel weird for my character, who is based on myself, to be so different from me irl.
my other two characters aren't based on anyone, though.

 

[Aria Nook Violet]

Yes I have a big backstory for my character and some vilagers like Agent S and Jay. It's a big story so I won't write it here but I plan to do Youtube videos about that

 

[Hayleigh_1]

Yes. My sister was even trying to write a short story about her. SO basically, she was originally from japan and had royalty running through her blood. But one night she ran away and got a one way ticket to nowhere. Then she landed in Sakura (my town) where she wants to build up a new society and change the world.

 

[amai]

i've only done it for my current mayor, since my last one was just,,, me lol. he ran away from home for uH personal reasons and traveled doing odd jobs until he came across my town and became mayor with a side job of running a cafe from his house!!

 

[salty-]

All of my villagers have stories kind of based around the theories that the kappas kidnap children and bring them to the world that Animal Crossing takes place in, I probably won't show a lot of their backgrounds in my characters homes when I get to actually making it into a dream town, but my secondary character Sweets will probably have a hint to it in her basement, and Princeton will probably have a lot of sewing items as a momento to his mother

 

[lPeachy]

Heck yes I do!
I have full stories for each town and all the playable characters in them. It makes it way more fun to play with the characters unique personalities and stories in mind.

Here’s my super basic mini version of their backgrounds:

Lorien is a small university town full of opportunity! The Mayor/Dean takes her students futures seriously and always has opportunity for allumni to open small businesses in town. One of such Alum are in the midst of opening their own bakery to complement the Roosts famous coffee. Her little sister is currently a student who wil work for her part-time.
Another has opened his very own ocean-front boutique hotel and is doing great at running his very own business!

Aconite is a small wooded town, hidden by the MAyor/Coven Leaders powerful protection spell. Only those who are invited may enter, or doomed they shall be! Her twin sister is a know necromancer and student of the dark arts. Liyana is the town herbalist and healer who stumbled into the edge of our forest accidentally on a foraging trip. Those tricky little fairies really turned her around!

 

[Stella-Io]

I like the idea of mayors having stories behind them. I don't really have a backstory for any of the ones I have now, just general ideas of who they are. But there is a character I plan on making, Liyetta, who was Leata (same pronounciation, I was a child back when I names her Leata, in my mind it made sense) that used to live in AkerCity (this game was full of bad wording). She is now a young adult and left the town she used to live in seeking adventure. She gets lost in a forest but decides to stay, cause somethin feels familiar about this place.

 

[DoctorPaine]

Yup! At least for Stardust- Paine is a runaway, spending about all their money on train tickets to just keep riding the lines as far as possible (quarter life crisis, what can you do). After a run-in with someone at an out of the way station, they wind up en route to the little town of Stardust, which in the last several years of the old mayor's tenure has grown rather shabby and worn out. Deciding that it's at least a sure job and something to do, they accept the job and get to work on revitalizing the town... and, maybe a few lives, even if everyone there seems to be have some ghosts of the past clinging to them.

 

[ShizukaJoestar]

I have some short stories for my mayor and the three playable residents in Morioh.

Josuke Higashikata - A 16 year old teen that wanted a world where no one would get hurt anymore since the events of Yoshikage Kira. He arrived in a town that was like an alternate Morioh by train. Upon his arrival, he was assigned the role of Mayor and is working hard to keep Morioh safe. He does receive letters from his mom, Tomoko Higashikata.

Okuyasu Nijimura - After spending time with his father, Mr. Nijimura, he had told his father that he wanted to be in a world where no one suffered. Even Mr. Nijimura. Okuyasu ended up moving to this new world Morioh where it was only animals. He hasn't regretted it since. His father does send him letters every once in a while.

Koichi Hirose - After talking about what to do next to his mother and his sister Ayana, he decided to go on a train to the next adventure. However, he landed in a town full of animals, and reunited with Okuyasu and Josuke. As long as his friends are okay, he'll live easier.

Shizuka Joestar - A very playful baby that always wants to explore, even her adopted father Joseph Joestar agrees. Joseph had decided she was able to go travelling by herself, as long as someone was watching her. She ended up being carried onto a train, with a cat named Rover. She loved animals, as she's currently developing a friendship with Wolfgang as she moved into Morioh. Luckily an adorable house was made for her, and she's always watching her favorite cartoons and TV programs. She sometimes writes letters to her big brother Josuke, though the writing is a messy scrawl. She considers Wolfgang her best friend, often calling him "Woofie".

 

[Sweetley]

I kinda made a story for my character in New Leaf. It's basically the story of some random girl ended up in the wrong train where she meets Rover asking her some question which she confused answered. When she then ends up in that town full of animal villagers that welcomes her as the new mayor, she actually wants to got back to the train but said train is already gone. Now staying in this town and being the mayor, she tries her best to do a good job, but she doesn't really take it serious. So the town is most of the time in pure chaos. Her villagers however seems to have no problem with this and supporting their new mayor with everything she does.

Yeah, I'm not so good in making good stories...

 

[Halloqueen]

Most of my characters don't really have backstories so much as basic outlines.

Haunton​

(Horror-themed town)​

The mayor of this town is the head of a cult devoted to the worship of Jack, who in this town's canon is a sort of deity. Seemingly nice on the outside to lure you in, but with dark true intentions hidden beneath, like you'd expect from a cult leader. Nothing happens in the town without her knowing about it, as all the residents are in on the cult.

I also have a vampire character in the town. In my head, I liked to imagine that Boris is a vampire as well (because of his tusks and because his name, Boris, makes me think of Boris Karloff. While Boris Karloff didn't play a vampire, he was in old Universal Monster movies as Frankenstein. Bela Lugosi was also in old Universal Monster movies and played Dracula. So I combined the two.) and either that he bit and passed the vampirism onto her, or it happened some other way and they happened to meet. I prefer him turning her though, more interesting. Either way, they're friends and next door neighbors.

I have two other characters planned, but that I haven't created as of yet because I still need to decide on names for them:

One will be a witch, though more of the common misconception and popular idea of one rather than the actual ones who are just normal people. She creates potions, casts hexes, etc.

The other one will be an Igor-style sidekick for Cobb (who, as is fitting given the interior design of his home, is a mad scientist in my mind) who helps him out and also handles the cemetery.

Mesmeri​

(Hybrid Circus/Magic Show-themed town)​

The mayor of this town is the ringleader of the circus, who also utilizes stage magic as part of the performances. But as it turns out, her magic isn't just smoke and mirrors, it is actually real, beause...

Another character I have planned will be her teacher, an actual mage. I like to imagine that they used their magic to animate a teapot and that's how we got Tia. I still need to figure out their name though, which is why they don't live in the town yet.

Another character who lives in the town is a clown, because how are you gonna have a circus without a clown? She hangs out with Astrid and Marcel and just wants to make people happy and make them laugh.

The final character in the town, who I also have yet to create as of this moment due to lack of a name, is going to be a sort of carnival strongman.

 

[LadyDestani]

So, I now have some characters with backstories. My mayor in my main town is still basically just me even though she's not named after me, doesn't dress like me, etc. But my alt is a farmer named Kazuo. He's lived in the town all his life, keeps quietly to himself most of the time, although he's friendly when approached. His favorite hobbies are reading and bug collecting.

In my second town of Nocturne, the mayor is named Amethyst. She moved away from home, got married and had a daughter, but an unfortunate accident took the lives of her husband and child. Now, she is in mourning but secretly in her basement practices alchemy because she plans to try to bring her loved ones back.

Azure (who I haven't created yet because the town is just getting under way) is Amethyst's younger sister. She moves to Nocturne to help support Amethyst after the loss of her family and ends up opening a public gallery in town. She's the more open and outgoing of the two sisters.