Item crowding? Lessons in simplicity?

[OiGuessWho]

I, like many of you, have just got back into AC and I am readying up for the DLC. I've noticed that while I like a lot of my island, I seem to have crammed a LOT into it. While I've decluttered some of it, and changed some other parts I'd tired off (one bit's now a vegetable plot for Chrissy) I'd still like some of your opinions on parts of my island in regards to space usage. I'll post screenshots soon (It's late rn and I got work tomorrow, boooooo) but anyone who's familiar with what I'm talking about, either feeling like you've crammed too much into your island, or being proud of the simplicity of your setup, feel free to comment until then.

 

[Airysuit]

I'm pretty proud of how "few" items i used whilst decorating everything part of my island. IRL I want to be a minimalist in the sense that I want to have as few things as possible to live the fullest life as possible, same goes for my island.

All area's have theme or are decorated in some way, and while its definitely a developed town, I kept a lot of it natural and flowery.
Also, i personally didn't like to much clutter and want everything to be as interactable as possible (seats you can actually sit on, paths you can actually walk, farms which are actually functional etc). I took me over a year but I think it came together really well imo.

So I kinda think thats what you're looking for? Not necessarily my style but the selective amount of stuff I used while still making my island full and lively and decorated.

If you wanna check it out you can go to my dream adress, you can find it in my signature! But if you ever want a tour and have me explaining some areas just let me know! I'll be happy to help

 

[DJStarstryker]

Keeping a more simplistic island has nice benefits too - I personally do not have lag or pop-in loading on my island at all. But I also don't have tons of furniture everywhere like some islands do. I don't have a dream code to share right now since I'm not happy enough with my island yet to feel confident enough to share it. But basically I have an Asian + natural themed island. There are sections of my island that are forest with lots of trees and some water features but is more minimal on the furniture.

 

[OiGuessWho]

I don't have a dream code to share right now since I'm not happy enough with my island yet to feel confident enough to share it.

Bluh oh yeah, if any of you want to visit to see what I mean via dreamcode, you can (it's been so long I forgot about suggesting it, even though I've recently updated it XD)

Also, i personally didn't like to much clutter and want everything to be as interactable as possible (seats you can actually sit on, paths you can actually walk, farms which are actually functional etc).

A lot of my stuff is functional, but I do get item load lag like DJ said. One of my recent clean ups was 'optimising' the secret library so it didn't deload everytime I walked away from it - turns out Waterfalls take a lot of memory. removing one part of the waterfall next to the library was enough to stop most of the problem.

 

[Nooblord]

My island is made to play the game classically. It’s easy to access everything, don’t need to shimmy through furniture, trees, or bushes to catch bugs or fish. With all the possibilities you have and all the islands you get inspiration from, it’s hard to show restraint.

I also didn’t mess with my starting river because I enjoy the challenge of working around what I’m given, but I did add to a couple of areas with terraforming, like putting a little stream through my valley, and expanding a pond to flow through 3 tiers.

I really love how my island turned out, I still tweak it here and there, and I’m sure there’ll be a whole lot more tweaking done once the update drops. But all in all, I love the classic small town AC feel, and I think I’ve captured it quite nicely on Wits’ End.

 

[Kg1595]

I‘m in the less-is-more school of thought, and really enjoy my island. My island feels in now way bare or unfinished, but it is not overwhelming to the eye, like so many maxcore islands. I think it is a gorgeous place that shows the character and theme that I want, and it is easily navigable and generally has few lag problems.


Yeah, I don’t have every item in the game on display, but I can change up decor every once in awhile with the seasons, which I believe fits with the game’s philosophy of impermanence.

 

[Feraligator]

I do have a lot of trees and stuff on my island, and while it's easy to get around my island, I do think I should cut back. I barely have enough space for all the new furniture that looks great too, so I think I definitely will need to do some remodelling (and selling) across my island!

 

[VexTheHex]

I recently put out Halloween decorations which seems to have bogged down my island a little bit, but I typically try to avoid having a narrow and crowded island.

 

[Sansy]

I personally do not have lag or pop-in loading on my island at all.

Whenever I go to the Dream Island that has lag or pop-in loading, I don't even bother exploring. I just leave immediately. The lag and FPS drops that happen with islands like that actually triggers my motion sickness. I made sure to design my island to have no lag or FPS drops and I don't think it looks barren at all.

I also wanted to make sure it would be really easy to walk around my island and look at everything I've set up. I've definitely gone to islands that don't have the lag/FPS issues but they're kind of still designed in a way that makes exploration difficult? Like deliberately having areas without bridges/inclines that you have to backtrack out of to get to another area you might wanna take a look at.

Most of the items I have out on my island are easy to swap in an out. The only items I like to keep permanently out on the island are items I've placed in a villagers yard space. Most other stuff I swap in and out with the seasons, so I'm thinking that the only big change I need to back is scaling back my orchard to give room for vegetable growing. I built the orchard right next to my house for easy access so it seems like the perfect area. I have a little flower garden near my house to that I was debating putting veggies in but I think I'll leave it since it looks so nice.

 

[moonshi]

I love minimalist but also love seeing other crowded islands so yeah, it's kind of hard sometimes.

I do tend to decorate more simply by default just because I don't want to jam everything everywhere. Most of the time, less works better for me.

 

[moon_child]

My old island was fairycore, the works etc. I recently reset and while I was playing the first parts of the game I started thinking how pleasant it is to play freely in a more simplistic landscape so maybe for this island I will just do no theme at all. Maybe. I’m still not decided because I tend to enjoy decorating a lot but it just feels so nice to play in such simple space where you can run around freely and just plant anything in large spaces and stuff.

 

[Rosch]

I like to keep things simple but presentable. Majority of my island are just trees, flowers, benches, fences, hedges and lamps. And then there's the occasional furniture items to help accent the island for the current season.

I also don't use a lot custom designs because it can be too "noisy" especially once you put furniture along with it. I also don't like the footstep sounds of custom paths. So my island is using default paths. I also like spacious areas that's why my paths are linear and at least 2 tiles wide.

I'm more about accessibility and function so I can traverse my island without hassle.

 

[Pyoopi]

I'm waiting to see screenshots because I don't remember what your island looks like (also I'm a bit lazy to turn on my switch right now to visit your dream address, lol).

I wouldn't considered my island to be cluttered, it's filled but not packed. I focus on story when I design and it also just reflects my RL work. I know that creating story isn't always tangible and especially in this game with no narration, so to make each area more visible, I build a point of interest. I will say, I notice those who choose to pack in items don't like negative space at all. Granted, this is a general assumption, but having negative space (in this case, empty areas with little decoration) are just as important. It lets the eye to rest and it's an important component in art. In a way, it's like letting your island breathe a bit or something.
I try to think of how other players would traverse through my island and limit my dead ends. However, I realized that a lot of people do not use their maps at all and I witness a lot of people run into my dead ends (or death traps).

Hopefully the introduction of ladders will help out those poor souls and they'll never find themselves in an unfortunate situation like being chased by a murderous axe villain.

 

[OiGuessWho]

Here's several screenshots of the most item heavy areas on my island.

Spoiler: A sort of workout/fishing area. My little projects tend to be in close proximity to each other.

Spoiler: Not sure why my beaches feel crowded when all I've done is add recliners. I'm looking forward to the new ones with inbuilt parasols, they'll help.

Spoiler: Curlos's farm is quite item heavy. I might clear it out a bit for the new veggies, but I do have other vegetable patches on my island.

Spoiler: The secret library. I've already cleared this out a bit. I'm kinda proud of the background of it, making it look larger than it is.

Spoiler: The Date spot. There wasn't much here other than flowers, and I compulsively made this to fill the space. Bluh.

Spoiler: The MOST item heavy area on the island, all the cute zen stuff around Pekoe's house. It looks nice, but the l o a d i n g l a g. . . .

Spoiler: The meteor field. An odd mix of the realistic floating meteorites and the star furniture... it kind like it? It's a bit clustered though.

Spoiler: Maple's flower garden. Cute. That is all.

Spoiler: This chunk of land is the Castle Ruins. I takes up space, and uses a lot of items, but it's a nice set piece. I might revamp it to be more accessible when the update drops, ladders and sidling would be useful here.

Spoiler: Another item heavy set piece. The open air cathedral's tower includes a ringable nuptial bell. It looks a bit weird from the back, but it's worth it for the view from the front.

Spoiler: I recently replaced my faerie forest with this clearing. The fae forest was a bit inaccessible and i never went in there, and neither did my residents.

Spoiler: And lastly the fairground. It's a bit crowded and far from anywhere, and few people come over here. But I didn't know what else to do with this rocky corner.

So what do you think?

 

[OiGuessWho]

Do I bump a non-shop thread? Yes I do. (I hope this is okay...)

 

[Wickel]

Looking at your pictures I definitely see where you're coming from - but I also really love it. The Castle Ruins 'doors' are really creative and beautiful! The messy library, meteor spot and farm are gorgeous!

For me, I try to keep my island kinda in sync with the older games - so not as cluttered. I also want to be able to easily reach areas, as soon as I have to slide through tiny spots I get lazy and never go there lol. So I'm fine with clutter, as long as I can get where I need to be! So I do think your island is beautiful - but I would cleanup the laggy parts because for me, when playing, that would kinda be a pet peeve I can't handle. I just want it to be smooooth.

 

[Altarium]

I see where you're coming from, and I think the "cluttered" feel stems from the fact you tend to cram your designs into very small areas, as I can see from the screenshots. I think making bigger areas would help a lot, even if you feel like you will run out of space to fit in everything; that's okay! Usually, less is more, and you don't always have to have every bit of your island filled with something of value.

Between each of my "main" decorated areas, I always create transition areas in which I basically just put trees and flowers, and I feel like it does wonders for the flow as well as feel of the island. I also do very minimal cliffwork, as I like my island to feel very open and sprawling.

 

[OiGuessWho]

I see where you're coming from, and I think the "cluttered" feel stems from the fact you tend to cram your designs into very small areas, as I can see from the screenshots. I think making bigger areas would help a lot, even if you feel like you will run out of space to fit in everything; that's okay! Usually, less is more, and you don't always have to have every bit of your island filled with something of value.

I get ya. I might spread things like the Meteor field out, maybe make it cover the entire hillside - not add MORE meteors, but spread out the ones that are there. I might move the bug spot (unpictured) and move the date spot there instead - it wouldn't have Wolfgang's house and shed in the foreground then, and would instead have the fairground in the background I've said ground too many times . I might declutter the beaches a bit more. Maybe I should spread the fair ground out a bit more? There's the beach concert area right next to it... um. I might move some of that to the other side of the concert area (I like that place and I'm not messing with it) and put it in front of the beachfront bar. I might move the fishing areas about (the one on the left has never quite sat right with me ngl) I might swap the cafe and the flower field around so it's more of a central area next to the square...
Ideas, ideas! So many ideas!

Looking at your pictures I definitely see where you're coming from - but I also really love it. The Castle Ruins 'doors' are really creative and beautiful! The messy library, meteor spot and farm are gorgeous!

I do plan on keeping the castle and the library just the way they are right now
I'll keep you lot posted on what I do. Also, roll on 15/11/2021! THE CALL TO INTERIOR DESIGN BECKONS ME!