Koriko Island: Renaissance!

[Miss Witch]

I've been playing ACNH since it came out but I only joined TBT this month so, obviously it would be difficult to construct my island's history from the beginning. But I've been wanting to rearrange and rejuvenate it for a while and with the help of the 3D island planner and very kind people here helping me collect amiibo cards I need, I am getting ready to begin the process very soon! So I thought I could start my island journal off by documenting Koriko's current state and updating it periodically as I reconstruct :-D

Here is the current map of Koriko:

The major reason I want to reconfigure my island is because of how cramped and unnatural it feels to me; at first I liked the idea of having all the villagers in a "town" situated around the plaza with more natural area outside, but I've grown to hate the rivers being so straight and right-angled, and it feels like theres not much room to be creative with terraforming and decorating.
Here are the residents of Koriko!

The human characters are (from left to right): meep, Beeb, myself, Mimu, and Kenma. meep, Beeb and Kenma were all OCs I created in my NL town to display more furniture collections and be able to buy all four Redd paintings, and Mimu is new to NH! (Yes Kenma is named after and based on a character from Haikyuu but he's OOC enough that he might as well be my own character at this point LOL)
I love all my villagers very much, especially since some of them came with me from NL, but I'm beginning to think it's time for some of them to move on especially since villager conversations aren't as interesting as they used to be... and I'd like to meet some new villagers so part of Koriko's renaissance will involve the introduction of new neighbors!

 

[Miss Witch]

Town photos

Spoiler: West side of town

The east side of town is home to Shep, Wendy, Punchy, Velma, Melba, and Hazel, as well as Kenma. There is a park and basketball court, and a volleyball court on the beach. This part of town is the most cramped I think, I'm especially frustrated by how small the park is. My renovations will include a much larger soccer field and more playground space.

Spoiler: Center of town

In front of the plaza is... a second plaza. I wanted somewhere to put the fountain but of course, the game doesn't let you decorate the plaza so I built another paved area outside of it, along with some seating and decorations. This will definitely be removed, it takes up far too much space that could be used for more interesting or useful decoration (like the soccer field I mentioned before!)

Spoiler: East side of town

The west side of the island is home to Rolf, Kiki, Charlise, and myself, and Bud lives on the beach. This is the Oz-themed part of the island, complete with a lion, a tiger, a bear, a wonderful road of yellow brick, and a verdant floaty thing ;D there's also cute little heart-shaped pond surrounded by red windflowers (I mean, they kinda look like poppies?) and a pumpkin carriage. I'm happier with this part of the town but I realized recently it doesn't make a lot of sense for the froggy, ferny, unnaturally green wicked witch to be living in the EAST so part of the renovation will be to move my home to the other side of the island.

 

[Miss Witch]

Island photos

Spoiler: Shopping district

Cross the bridge behind the plaza and you'll find yourself in the shopping district! I like this area a lot and I'm going to leave it as it is during renovations, though I might try to spruce it up a little more.

Spoiler: West side of the island

The west side of the island has an orchard and a vegetable farm complete with a little fresh fruit stand! This is another location I'd like to expand, big enough for a villager farm house and a fresh vegetable stand to go along with the fruits. The west side also has a mushroom forest that's somewhat inspired by the Hyrule forest in the Link to the Past and Link Between Worlds games. There's a little clearing with a pan flute and a strange carving hidden in the trees.... I really need to unlock the sword item in HHP to complete the theme lol

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Also on the southwest beach theres a bunch of sea creatures vibing. I love them and theyre not going anywhere

Spoiler: East side of the island

The west side of the island is where Beeb lives and features a lighthouse, a bamboo garden which also houses all of the island's rocks, a flower garden, a hedge maze (featuring a Monster Factory reference LOL) and a florist-in-progress. This part of the island was inspired by my quarantine longing for the local botanical gardens and the theme will stay the same, though again I do want to expand the area and spruce it up, and have a villager take over as a floris. Unfortunately I'll have to demolish the hedge maze, it takes up too much space for not enough payoff. Please enjoy the open air toilet and gnome while you can.

Spoiler: North of the island

meep and Mimu live on the north of the island. There's also a little cliff with tulips that I build to house a Dutch-style windmill like the one there used to be in NL but no such furniture exists so there's just a silo there instead. The highest point of the river is somewhat inspired by the Zora's Domain in Link to the Past, I just love the aesthetic of big walls of waterfalls. In the northwest of the island is the campsite which is situated on an island in the middle of a huge lake I'm really proud of this build but like the hedge maze it just takes up too much space so unfortunately I'm going to have to demolish it as well. Hopefully when I move the camspite I can still decorate it well!

 

[Miss Witch]

4/23/22

Melba moved out today. She was in my New Leaf town and moved suddenly so I invited her to my island in New Horizons, and I was glad to have her! But now it's time for her to move on... at least I'll always have her photo to remember her by! Placed with posters of former residents Skye, Marina, Kid Cat and Deirdre.
I'm already in the process of inviting Peaches to move in! Fitting since peaches are my native fruit. Her house will become the farm house, which means I also need to start expanding the farm, so I've moved Hazel's house to beging the process of reshuffling the homes on the west side of the island.
I'm not quite done with my terraforming plan but I should be soon! When I'm done I'll post it here.

 

[Miss Witch]

4/24/22

Well, I was all ready to move Peaches in when Tex snuck in and took the empty plot I intended for her, so in order to not have to start the campsite invite process all over again I ended up having to move out Hazel instead. >:T so Hazel's photo has gone on the wall next to Melba's, and I'm gonna have to start working on moving in the villager who I intended to replace Hazel sooner than planned.
I'm also slowly working on terraforming but it requires some slope and bridge demolitions and moving houses, so far Rolf has been relocated to the north of the island and tomorrow Kenma's house will have moved down to the beachfront near the volleyball court.

 

[Miss Witch]

4/26/22

Finally finished the new map of Koriko! Some of these areas I still only have a vague idea of what I plan to put there but this is just a basic guide to help me terraform and move houses, I can fine tune things once I get a feel for what needs to be changed. I moved Punchy's house today which will eventually become Rex's, and soon I'll be able to move the campsite as well. Tomorrow I'm gonna start the process of moving Cherry in to replace Tex.

 

[Miss Witch]

4/29/22

More terraforming and moving... I finished the crescent lake and moved my house to the west. I'm also started the process of inviting Cherry. wahoo

 

[Miss Witch]

5/4/22

Tex is moved out and Cherry is moved in! I've also gotten a lot of work done w terraforming but I dont have any pictures. Beginning to feel a little worried that my planned decorations won't be enough to fill all the empty space I now have, I may have to get creative.
I feel mean kicking longtime favorite villagers out just to move a new one in so I'm waiting for someone to ask to leave before I get out the amiibo cards. This also means I can focus on befriending just a few new villagers at a time instead trying to come up with like eight new gifts a day LOL
Also I'd like to start doing redecorating in my houses but I'm a little preoccupied, I've just got a bunch of ideas floating around at the moment...