Mossglenn Fairytale Remodel Journal

[Demeter_Deme]

The Island of Mossglenn
​

Once upon a time, Mossglenn was an island aiming for a forest-heavy, pacific northwest with some fantasy kind of vibe. One day, in the beginning of October 2021, I decided to change the island up to have a fairytale-inspired medieval fantasy theme! Not so much a fairycore pastel theme as an earthy, cottagecore-ish, foresty fairytale vibe, still very green and overgrown.

One of my major goals for my Animal Crossing Island is to have all the patterns be ones I made myself, and to have an island that's fun to run around and experience day-to-day, than one big perfect dream address or one perfect perspective.

This journal intends to document the island's daily life and the remodeling efforts. It's kind of a scary big project, and with an island I was mostly happy with to boot, but I think it'll be a lot of fun!

Stats and Details​

Founding Date: March 19, 2020
Resident Representative: Deme

Animal Residents:
Katt
Sherb
Julian
Ketchup
Billy
Maple
Julia
Drago
Ione
Dobie

Human Residents:
Deme the Witch
Seed the gardener

Selected Major Posts:​

Castle WIP History

 

[Demeter_Deme]

Daily Life, October 17th, 2021:

​

Happy birthday to me! I decided to set up a diary to celebrate, since I'd been thinking about it for a while.
Surprised to see this trio of villagers be the one to greet me, but I won't complain! I got the set last year, so I saved a couple of cupcakes this time...Villager-Mom didn't send me a cake, though? Which is extremely rude.

Basically all the villagers except Julian were at KK's birthday concert and wouldn't leave for me to get greetings or cupcakes. I had to take a break and come back later.

Ah, yes, my silly little wise elder. Well, he is a unicorn, after all. He is as old as the sun, old as the moon...Probably.

I was about to say "Dude, you've only known me a month," since Drago was the first villager I picked up after making the choice to remodel. A decision which will one day probably take me to changing out a lot of villagers, to be honest. Or at least a few... But at the same time, that means he moved in and he'd heard my birthday was coming up more or less this whole time. So, yeah, I guess that's plenty of anticipation, heh.

Today was otherwise a fairly routine day. I'm not sure yet what layout I want the little castle town and market to have, and so I can't really move things around yet, and decorating things is at a bit of a delay.

My current map, while I mull it over. I was going to put the market aligned with roughly the museum entrance, with a road to either side... But there's really not a lot of space when I do that, especially not if I want to move a house there and have Sherb's house there. So I need to adjust my ideas, but I am not sure how just yet. I'm playing around in the Happy Island Designer to try and figure that out, but not yet... But in the meanwhile, here, have a map!

 

[Demeter_Deme]

With today being a relatively quiet day, I figured now would be a good time to share a little of the efforts I've already undertaken!

The Story, Already In Progress: The Castle​

The castle is sort of the first build of this whole concept, the one I started using to test the waters on it. And to get back into Animal Crossing, because I hadn't really played from about April to, oh, late September. Since I wanted to do a lot of ordering items, I started playing catch-up towards the end of September, working on this castle. One thing that I think makes it neat, as building builds go, is that I want it to encorporate the museum itself!

My old museum had sort of a botanical garden vibe, with a greenhouse and potted plants up on the second layer above it, and below it, a garden with lots of flower furniture and a flower river, inspired by the one in the Netherlands! It was quite nice, and if I find any good screenshots of that, they'll get added somewhow. The problem was that this area and the space below it lagged a bit more than I liked, what with it also containing my library, flowery hill, and a sort of Pike's Place inspired market.

So, here we have the castle, round 1:

My castle idea was to initially move it to be behind resident services. At that point, I was using a random castle-y brick pattern I found somewhere, to act as a proof of concept. While it's not a bad little castle, I wasn't really satisfied with it.

So, onward to round 2!

For one, my own patterns. I'm specifically trying to tie the warm cream bricks of the museum with the whites of the silos and bells. Which are, by the way, annoying to work with, but look very cute. Very fairytale. I'm also trying here to vary the patterns I'm using a bit, and specifically to replicate the banners on the museum, to tie it all together a bit more. I also like the multi-roofed approach in the back, so it might be an idea to return to, although the museum's height makes it difficult to do.

And I say "return to," because I was unsatisfied with a lot of things. For one, that there really wasn't a way to see my pretty falls that are just behind the castle. For another, putting it behind resident services...Actually makes it rather hard to get a screenshot in. For a third, I felt like it was a little bit "stuck on" the museum.

So, I decided to do a number of things to change the approach. The first was to have the museum on the second layer, as citadel atop the climbable battlements. The second was to move it to, funnily enough, more or less its old spot.

At this point, I didn't feel quite comfortable going 2 silos and 2 bells only -- they're not tower-y enough. The space was harder to fit together than my initial sketches, because the museum and the stairs were not happy with each other. I liked the general concept more, for sure, and being climbable is neat.

One issues I was having was what to do with the sides. Bookcases would be seen as bookcases on the other side when I moved around, and that issue bothered me a lot. But I couldn't leave the sides bare, either. My solution, for right now at least, is the frozen partitions! They're a little shorter than the cliffs, and not a great color match, but I liked them better than the rest.

Then, I looked at a bit more and decided to start playing with the furnishings, and my friend sent me some white lighthouses to play with. I wanted to fit in more towers, because the more towers, the more castle-y. That's how castles work.

After a couple of different configurations, I thought I quite liked this. Nice. Castle-y. And, with some backing, that allowed the museum to feel more attached to the castle. I'm not sure about the lighthouses being lighthouses,, and thus, lit up at night, and I am still not sure.

Also, a rare shot from on top the battlements!

Still, I felt like...The stairs were troublesome, weren't they? And they cut off the visual line at the top, too. Was there a better way to place the stairs?

So, 3 days later, I began to play around with that.

Big change here, folks! The stairs are behind the silo, oriented like > < , basically. The lighthouses actually get to be on a third layer, so the whole build is taller now! And I like the bells being on top of the battlements, it's neat.

The downsides, however, are that the front facade, while very large, was a little flat, and that would take some reconfiguring.


...And then the direct happened. And I learned I could just, like, use ladders. And also, there were going to be about a million new furniture pieces that could possibly be useful. The castle could have gazebos on it or something, who even knows.

...Which explains why, on my map screenshots from right around now, there's only one stair leading up to that museum level. Because I am waiting to see how I want to remake this build, more or less entirely. Ahahahaaaa....

But I did do one thing to try and play with it in the meanwhile.

Playing with the patterns! The windows, sadly, don't look quite right. It's a shame, because, I mean, look. I made windows with the Utena rose crest, that's rad. (The same basic design is at play in my new greenhouse, more on that later), but I like the use of definition on the regular tiles, and might try playing with that further. Maybe incorporating the sort of columns the museum has, or something. We shall see. For now, the castle is a little bit suspended to await new content, and still a work in progress indeed.

 

[Demeter_Deme]

Daily Life, 10/19-10/20: Castle Town Streets​

While I've got the title up there, I wanted to save some cute dialogue from Cyrano today. I missed the start, but luckily, it was a good chunk of dialogue.

I feel like I've seen more new dialogue, and better dialogue, over the past few months. Not "Everything's new all of the time," but I'm enjoying talking to my villagers more lately. It's cute!

Over the past two days, I've been hard at work, trying to figure out "Castle Town," a little village with a little market near the castle, which'll have my shop and some houses. Not too big or dense, but hopefully cute.

But how is it going to be laid out? I started flinging ideas together starting with a few ideas.

This version, take 1, was the "Straight lines connecting everything" version. Which is...Not bad, but I am not here for straight lines -- I think some irregularity and curves will let it feel more organic.

So, take 2!

All lines curve (except for Main Street, up to the castle), converging on a crossroads. But this is not a reasonable plan, and it'd be hard to work with.

But these were just ideas to get me thinking, so I managed an idea something a bit like...

With the yards and fencing, tentatively, marked in the tan. Of course, that involves moving 2 houses and the shop, so even today's street moving won't get it all the way done... But it was time to break out the spare eggs and get moving trees, flowers, and shrubs. And saying goodbye to an old friend...

My old market. It's got a little inspiration from Pike's Place, a famous Portland Farmer's market where they throw fish across some of the counters as it's cleaned, prepped, and purchased. It was a hard image to capture in Animal Crossing, so the inspiration's light, but I had fun.

Of course, putting all this back in storage? Filled up my storage again. Looking forward to my upgrades. For a brief window, I had a lot of trouble putting together the streets properly, because the little raised section in my planning was slightly different from the real one... But with some minor adjustments, I got quite a bit of road planning done, pending moving some buildings! ...And, like, making the flowers less of a mess, that's important, too.

....I'm not sure how I feel about my cobblestone patterns for that central crossroads; maybe I should use in-game stone pathing for the main street? We'll see. That's alll for now!

 

[Demeter_Deme]

Daily Life, 10/21-10/22: More Castle Streets, Sherb's Yard, Market​

Daily life continues. I have, uh, sadly noticed I have not been doing quite enough follow-up on my play: I forget requests or to deal with Gulliver/Gullivarrrr lately, which is a bit of an issue. Need to work on that.

Caught Maple and Ketchup having some dialogue I hadn't seen before: cute! I love how much more my villagers talk and interact with each other in New Horizons when I compare it with New Leaf, where a single conversation was OH MY GOODNESS THIS NEVER HAPPENS. While I didn't show all full screenshots of fun villager dialogue last time, this one had a bit more animation, so, I'm putting it in a little spoiler box after the first one.

Spoiler: Ketchup and Maple: Super Spies

I figured that the bottom two are a bit less ideal for me. I find a surprise present are the ones I like best, the ones that show that someone was thinking about me, and understands me.

They went...Somewhere else with it. I see.

You gals have fun with that. We'll see what happens next time Ketchup sends me with a delivery for Sherb. Sherb's one of my earliest villagers, and I'm delighted to have him...But I also feel like the slot could go to someone who fits the theme better. While I'm not ready yet, I will be building him a vacation home and saying farewell, one day. It's a sad little thought...

But in the meanwhile, I've moved his house to a new location in the town proper! His yard was a little bit tricky, since I had more space for it originally, but I think it's cute for now:

He's got a little toy ringtoss and some bugs and some bright blue flowers! Good stuff, good stuff.

You might also spot that I've changed up my pattern, because it's time for some fall colors for my island! In the fall, I like to make the moss a bit yellower, and of course, some mushrooms and autumn leaves. The path itself is meant to emulate the old games' cobblestone areas, just with more moss, and to not be a bad match with the games' cobblestones, either. I'll be putting it up in the Able Sisters' board later, for custom design purposes! I also save my spring/summer version there.

Over the next couple of days, I moved Nook's Cranny and Cyrano's house -- he's another who likely won't stay too long, but in the meanwhile, his house goes into town. Notably, with that, my layout for town is satisfied, building-wise, which means it's time for me to start roughing out the market!

Also, adding the well to the crossroads, very important, a good well. The market's not even near done, but I'm taking a little while to decide what to add. I figure maybe some sort of smithy would also be good, and of course some baked goods, maybe a little horse-pulled wagon or two... One step at a time, though, so why worry? Besides, I'm, uh, probably going to change so much, so so very much, when the update starts becoming actualized. That'll be fun!


Oh, I also had an idea for the area south of the houses in town, or maybe the space in front of the castle: Jousting lists. An absolute must, I figure.

 

[Demeter_Deme]

Daily Life, 10/23-10/27: More Market and Little Extras​

Soon, Julian. Soon.

Which is more or less the train of thought I have, constantly, as I look around. That said, I probably don't want Julian seeing my basement right away: it's got spare DIYs for friends who have restarted.

On that same day, I found a book! It took me a bit to guess who this belonged to...
But it was Katt! She was one of my starter villagers, and I am torn between the fact that I love her, this alley cat, and the fact that she is not super on-theme. But. Consider.

Also, super looking forward to fixing her house.

Recently, I've been trying to do all my dailies, in order to get as many nook miles as possible, since this will cost some. I'm up to 105k or so, not as much as I had before my last villager hunt, but doing better.

I was playing around a little bit with the market, trying to work on a pattern for the blacksmith's weapon rack...But this isn't it, just yet. Solid ideas I've borrowed, but it's not there yet.

Today, though, I found! A DIY I hadn't learned yet!
After, like, 1,000 hours, that's pretty rare. The Street Piano is pretty cool!

I also decided, just on a whim, that I needed to change up an area. I'd been thinking the bunny topiaries have a lovely whimsical fairytale creature look, and the gnome had just had a coffee pitcher or whatever there. Much better, now he has a little company to have a little snack with a buddy :3

 

[Demeter_Deme]

The Story, Already in Progress: The Great Pre-Update Pic Spam (10/27-11/2)​

Prior to the update, I was living my ordinary day-by-day, collecting a dialogue, and some other stuff, for a big post update...Which, uh, got distracted by the pure enormity and sudden shock of the update! I'll string things together as best I can, but thing's'll be a little touch-and-go here.

Maybe I was just in the right, and somewhat delicate, state of heart when I saw this letter, but I ended up favoriting it. It's...Nice, seeing something affirming, even when it is from a vidja game unicorn.

Since this marked the Halloween season, I should probably note that I started wearing a costume-outfit on the 27th or so. Which was not the costume I wore on Halloween, because that's how I roll. No, really: this year, I actually wore two different costumes, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.

Indeed! This is because purple in general has that connotation, but it's especially so when applied to tulips, which are especially associated with wealth due to the Dutch Tulip bubble, when tulips basically became a crypto currency, and a bulb of certain rare tulip mutations could cost the price of a nice townhouse, and people would put mirrors in the center of their tulip beds to make it look like they had more tulips. This has been fun tulip facts!

I like it when Sisterly villagers are interested in flowers, it's so cute.

Shep had a cute story for me, sharing a little bit of his life with me on a rainy day.

In the present, Shep's no longer a resident, so I'm glad to have captured this story.

He wasn't the only one with very good dialogue for me on that rainy day, even!

Kapp'n. Kapp'n. Please, please, I beg of you: Let Sherb on your boat! Sing shanties together! Please!
Lift. The. Sherb. Ship. Ban!

I missed the start of something Drago had to say, but it amounted to...Well, he doesn't seem to get exactly what the dragon position entails. He's dreaming of being a superhero, instead.

By day, a dragon, by night, a sleeping dragon, by days when he has his tights on, he is... Bagel Boy Jr.!

...I've got a sort of dragon fossil in his area, I wonder if he imagines that is Bagel Boy Sr.

But enough talk! It's Halloween time!

As promised, a different halloween costume! I was a kitty!

Darn straight, Julian. Darn straight.

Time to scare the neighbors! I'd gotten all of the original Halloween stuff, so this was just for fun. I kept a few lollipops in reserve, though!

Ketchup would say it's candy, but she is mistaken. It's costumes, pay attention, Ketchup.

And finally, before the update itself dropped...

I promptly sold this, whatever it was. I...do not want to have any dealings with an object so cursed a unicorn doesn't want it, that's just bad news. With that, though, I come to the end of my cute screenshots -- or, relevant ones, anyway -- of this slice of time.

Throughout this, I was doing things relevant to the update: Clearing space for veggies, mostly, but also just earning nook miles. But since those spots actually contained veggies later, or featured recolors, I decided to wait on the screenshots. In the world where this post wasn't delayed, they'd be here. Such is life...

Next time: UPDATE PIC SPAM.

PS: So, it turns out there are just whole castle sets in the update. Which...Sadly, makes my efforts a little redundant, but, well. Nothing is wasted: it all comes back to be an experience, right? Now, I need to get the items before I toy with how to use them...

 

[Demeter_Deme]

Post-Update Tweaks and Additions
​

While I still intend to do a big update daily life boom., it is so very large that I am taking out whatever chunks I can to make it more managable. And I figured this would be a good time to look at some of the things I did in the week after the update: mostly small things, since any big things require me to use and understand and make sense of my catalogue.

First off: A revision to my entrance! Why not start a fairytale tour off with a magic pumpkin carriage ride?

While I'd had a pumpkin carriage -- two, actually -- in Mossglenn before, the ability to give it a matching white horse via Cyrus -- my native springy ride-on is pink -- made it suddenly stand out as a thing to put in my entrance.

First of the vegetable additions: A potato patch in town, just a little cute one.

Speaking of veggies! Sugarcane and carrots, out behind Ketchup's house. I used to have a bridge here, and that pumpkin carriage.

And, continuing the farm theme, we have the rest of Ketchup's little farm with its tomato patch. Here in Mossglenn, Ketchup is a little magic tomato-duck, who built her house where she sprouted up. With some cajoling, she took care over the rest of the crops. The empty section is where I'd put my wheat IF I HAD ANY --

Oh, wait, sources are telling me I got wheat growing up there now. Good, good.

One of the first pieces of new nook mile items I ordered was the gazebo! I considered deploying it as part of the castle, and might yet still do so, but for the meanwhile, it has a nice little spot by the town plaza, filling the space I used to have the Able Sister's in. Perhaps that area might see life as a library -- we shall see, we shall see!

Once, my greenhouse was part of a botanical garden around the museum -- at present, it lines the walk by the Able Sisters, a greenhouse of roses. A birdcage, a greenhouse, roses...Perhaps that rose design might look like this is all something of a reference... (It's the same rose crest as the one on the castle window design I was cooking up.)

We'll see in coming times how new items change this scene.

And one final scene of mostly old items being brought some new life: the fairy ring's concert! The glowing moss is a delight, and I am still in the process of sprinkling it liberally through the island, bit by bit. This platform has a vine ladder, but it's mostly reachable by way of the pipe, connecting to another mushroom ring in the forest...

That's what has results, at least, but there's still a lot more to sift through. I've been having a lot of fun lately.

 

[Demeter_Deme]

Post Update Days
​

There's really so much to talk about and so many screenshots that I'll likely end up winnowing this down to a more managable amount, skipping a lot of the cute dialogue I saved and such, but hopefully, filling you all in on how Mossglenn's been doing. So, let's get going!

So, first thing I did was drop everything and talk to Blathers, who gave me a quest! A proper quest! In this case, to find the holy grail of Animal Crossing: Find Brewster. Which meant the second thing I did was run to the docks. Kapp'n time!

I've missed this ^-^

I didn't know the island was going to be a gyroid fragment island by default, so I was a little sad about not getting vines and moss first thing.

He had a little outfit! I didn't even notice that his shirt had a gyroid embroidered on the pocket. That's really cute for a shirt we will see once.

The next thing on my agenda was buying up loads of new NMT recipes and furniture and the like, and I headed home to put a few things away. I had the bug, sea critters, fish, and fossil posters from Blathers, which was nice, too.

The moment I headed home, Katt came over for a surprise visit!

The update had just dropped, and no one had shared too much yet, so playing a game with Katt was a really fun surprise. I was really delighted.

And noticing furniture was back! Which was very important for me. I've noticed villagers commenting on quite a few different ways.

And I didn't have to kick Katt out, which was also really nice. I didn't like kicking villagers out in New Leaf very much.

Third on my agenda, or fourth if we count Katt's visit, was Harv's island, to help kickstart the co-op.

Also, I am deeply invested in Harv and Harriet's broken and now gracefully repaired relationship. It just has a warm subtlety to it. I wanted to get cooking and gathering ingredients ASAP, so Leif was the first shop I payed for.

Onward to the next day! Where the first thing that happened was...Maybe a little sad.

Shep was one of my last additions to the island under its old, Pacific Northwest Temperate Rainforest theme, before the fairytale began. He was perfect for it, and he was not a terrible addition for the Fairytale theme: he was a nice woodsman. However...Nor was he a must-keep, and I have many plans for new villagers. So, I let him go.

Part of my wild, giddy excitement about the new update was having new recipes, both DIY and cooking, to learn. I hadn't thought about my villagers cooking, too!

Like, woah, man. Not exactly update-related, though.

The following day, it was time to experience DLC.

I'll save some of my HHP designs, because this is long enough as it is, but it was fun getting rolling!

Julian was the next villager to want to come to my house. Since he's my absolute favorite, I was wild with excitement. I took a great many screenshots, but let me show you a few favorites.

Awwww.... I just find that oddly sweet.

I just liked that he sat down in my garden/bath area. Also, that braid is my new regular hairstyle: it's absolutely perfect.

He noticed his own picture. <3

And his poster! Their noticing powers strike me as impressively broad and varied.

Next stop: To enjoy the delights of coffee.

It was a very nice, warm atmosphere.

Next new thing to play with:

Stretches! I freed the dodos! Of course, stretching in the rain is a...unique experience. Sorry, gang!

Billy came to visit my home next! He's my little old gym man, but I have to admit, I'm not entirely sure how long he'll remain in Mossglenn, in the long run: I have other jocks I need mightily. But for now, I'm quite charmed by him still. And his typographic stylings for this card game.

On the Harv's island front, my next pick was Cyrus and Reese. I had things I wanted remodelled, including the horses for my carriages above.
Next:

Sure. A legitimate art dealer. Yup. That is sure what we are supporting here... Well, to be fair, he does deal in legitimate art. Acquired illegitimately. And also illegitimate art (acquisition unclear).

My next Kapp'n island was... Yes. It was time.

VINES AND MOSS VINES AND MOSS VINES AND MOSS

I love this stuff, and stripped this island of quite a few bushes, as well.

I'd posted on a number of places about Shep moving out, and recieved a request to adopt him from a discord user named Caiti. She was able to adopt him!

She even tipped me in golden roses (picked) and a few NMTs for my next hunt. I sadly didn't take down the island name Shep will be living in, but I hope he's a good citizen for Caiti, who was an excellent adopter.

So,

That evening, I did a little treasure hunt. I don't really think Julian is that much of an evil mastermind, but I suppose he can pretend.

Tiny Straw Boater! Tiny Straw Boater! I still have a mighty need for this item, so I'm delighted to have it for my work uniform.

The next day started with treating Cyrano for an illness. Oh, dear. I also entered a few flash give-aways in the NoFeeAC discord, winning me quite a few NMTs for my search! Which went on, and on, and on. It was rather exhausting, but in the end...

In the end...

There certainly was magic in this encounter! What a beautiful villager. I was so stunned by her ears and paws having that nearly glow-in-the-dark fluorescence; it blew me away, and I invited her to live in Mossglenn on the double!

I've been thinking of giving her the spot my house is currently at, located around a starry lake, across the lake from Julian's home. It's a possibility.

Hee hee. Puns.

The next day, Ketchup had apparently had a bad dream about someone who told her:

Poor sweetie. She wanted me to come over and distract her, and I happily obliged. You can play the card game in their homes as well, and to my surprise...

I even got an extra little gift.

After Ione got settled, she had a little quiz for me:

Now, normally, I'm an herbal tea kinda gal, but I do start my day off with an iced chai, so I went with that.

She was...Not wrong about how my month had been going. I'm still in the process of de-stressing, weeks later. While I am cutting a lot of dialogue, I did want to share this conversation with a new resident.

I'd been saving up spare DIYs for a while, for various friends who'd restarted the game for the new update, and that was the day one of them came to collect! My friend Witchcore (discord username there) stopped by to learn DIYs, and I gave her a little tour as well. It was a good chance to show off some areas of Mossglenn, especially ones that I'm planning on moving out.

Here we have some screenshots from my cafe, boardwalk, and and theater area!

When I went for Coffee, I saw Mabel in the cafe!

As for Harv's island, over the next few days, I added Kicks, Katrina...

Sahara...

And good ol' Tortimer.

Nice to know he's still kicking!

That carries me all the way through the 10th, if we're not counting the HHP screenshots...I think this forms a nice halfway point in the sheer amount of things. At this point, my daily routine is to head on down to Harv's island to get my fortune told by Katrina, see if there's anything new, and then go to a Kapp'n island. Once I'm home, I go about the rest of my day, checking shops, etc. It's when I've wrapped up stuff on the island that I go to HHP. It's been a lot of fun lately, and I've got some cool castle upgrades!

...Especially because... I joined a cataloguing event during this time! I didn't catalogue everything on offer, but I did get the medieval and castle stuff, and quite a few others, and I've been having a lot of fun with those, so thank you, Shellbell and Shell's catalogue pit! I know I didn't contribute much, but I'm glad to have been a little part of it.

So stay tuned for that!

 

[Demeter_Deme]

Daily Life, the Post Update Binge Pt2​

Now that I'd gotten Tortimer unlocked, I find he's off work the next day!

Instead, I've got this mysterious acorn-man in front of Tortimer's trailer, laughing Tortimer's laugh. Very odd. Maybe he's a substitute Tortimer hired while he's enjoying his retirement? The world may never know.

Well, I won't complain about free acorns. Though I wonder if he's here only in the fall, the whole fall through? Because I've had Cornimer every day of every week, so I'm not sure what to make of it.

Meanwhile:

This is a fantastic recipe and I love it and I'm putting it in my kitchen pronto. It's good for a witch to have a cauldron! I'd been making due with a kettle bathtub for a long while, but this is more space-efficient by far! And glowy.

While I'm on recipes, I'll go a little out of sequence to share this one I learned from Ketchup. Given that she was once a little tomato herself, I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's maybe a little worrying.

I also got a recipe from Brewster for a cute little pigeon cookie. It's really nice to have a new person to befriend on the island.

And a chance to meet old friends somewhere else. I was really surprised to see people walk on in while I was there! It's a nice little detail, and makes the cafe feel happenin'. Actually, I saw a lot of people in the cafe over the last little bit:

Isabelle even got to get coffee and walk around! Good for her. Take a break, friend.

And we had a twosome in the roost, for a full coffee bar! I noticed that Daisy Mae didn't have a coffee cup. She is too young, so Brewster gave her a cookie. That's sweet.

Some cute Ione dialogue; I don't think I'd heard something so species-exclusive before!

Ione: "I hope that wasn't too much just now. We should all like our curls if we have them, gleam."
Curls are good. Also, yeah, that curl is just amazing, and she should be proud of it.

Give me a villager with a starry aesthetic and it turns out I'm putty.

Over the next few days, quite a lot happened with my part-time job for Happy Home Paradise, and while I'd like to share vacation home photos sometime, for now, here's just some amusing moments:

This is the Historia University: he's Professor Niko now.

I love Wardell, and these quiet moments are special among the bustle of building, and the sun hit that log perfectly.

Niko's confidence is a lot of airs; it's cute to see him nervous about this.

Ione had arrived only a few days ago at this point, but she was already quickly making friends:

Ione: "I guess it's good that it isn't, because I didn't finish reading the book in time anyway..."

It seems like she and Ketchup even have a little book club. Maybe I should make them a meeting place sometime.

I had friends over too, of course!

Maple stopped by for a blink in time, for example; not long enough for much, but it was nice to see her coming by.

That day, Kapp'n took me to a cherry blossom island! It was very pretty, the bright greens and the cherry trees. One of my favorites, and I've seen a few neat ones.

That evening, I spent a while messing around with some of the castle (still collecting those images, and this is a monster post as-is), but I also wanted to play around, constructing some model houses to get a sense of how I might want to use: what things would be the best constructions for town? What's most satisfying to walk by? Some of them are difficult, and I have some more ideas yet, but..

The colors aren't matching yet, but this was a fun model house idea, one that didn't use a lot of space or walls, while having a neat depth and fullness as you walk by.

The downside to building at night:

Tarantulas. Drago's dragon intimidation game really needs work. The traitor.


The next day, Drago was telling me about when he and his friend would play house...

I was also an "always a dog or a baby" friend as a little kid, so I can relate. When it was my turn to pick the game, we played horses.

About 4 days ago, Cyrano decided he might want to move. While he was an old friend, it seemed the best to let him go from Mossglenn.

In the end, I sent him off to parts unknown; I'll have to build him a vacation home, so we might meet again.

Ione: "The latest writing tools come with all kinds of features, so there's bound to be one for just about anyone...For me, there was that one special pencil, the one that made me care about what I use to write with. The softness of the graphite in that pencil made writing feel so good...Chilly-billy, it was inspiring!"

As a writer, I will admit to having a great many writing implements lying about. While I'm here, I want to appreciate Ione's room, and that beautiful rug.

Speaking of Stars, on the day Cyrano moved out, Kapp'n took me to a shooting star island, with star fragments in the rocks! I made a wish, even.

Ione isn't the only starry villager I have, nor the only one I love, I promise! In fact, I was thrilled when Julian invited me over.

Julian: "Trends can change on a dime, so you gotta be ready to pull out a fresh look at a moment's notice!"

Julian: "I think you'll find my place is FILLED with things that make me seem mature and smart."

Honestly, he really can be: it just sort of...sneaks up on him. Maybe "sensitive" is a better word.

He gave me a copy of Space K.K, which was not the song I expected! It's an interesting song, but not one I'd entirely pick for him. But he did say this:
Julian: "Listen to it when you're lonely and think of me. Or don't -- I'm not the boss of you."

So perhaps I will.

...That was one expensive chair. My shopping app had a luxury car in it that day, too. My wallet hurt a rather lot after that.

Now, about that empty plot... I had previously mad an arrangement with LittleMissPanda to reserve the right to invite someone over when I was looking for a new Mossglenn villager, so I made contact with her to see that through. So, I went to the cycling island to invite over a new friend...

A famed wolf, Dobie! In his younger days, I heard he was quite big and bad. I invited him over, and he's unpacking on the day I write this. It was a very smooth arrangement for a silver...fox? Well, wolf, of course.

And, as I catch up to the present, I'll leave you with one extra success to my name:

Holding the big Happy Home Paradise concert! It was very fun, and there's still more to do, but...I love some of the clothes for the event!

I think that catches us up in terms of major events, and so next up is my castle build work. There's still a few things to hammer out in that regard, but I'm glad to get this all caught up, just in time to make major use of the resources and ideas I've been collecting.

 

[Demeter_Deme]

Castle WIP Construction
​

With the options now available, it was time to give the castle another look, and see what I could do to make a more impressive fairytale castle! Step 1 was actually getting new items, some of which took going to a catalogue island and doing just a bit of cataloguing. I didn't want to spoil the fun of getting new items entirely, after all. So, castle time.

The first thing I tried to grapple with, in terms of layout, was wall height and length. The problem, essentially, of the set not exactly playing nice with the odd-numbered length of the museum. Also, where I was really thinking about how to use the plaza items and their colors. You can see me sort of thinking about that plaza clock back there, and my desire to just use the plaza arch...Which did come to fruition, though not in the way I was thinking.

But in the meanwhile, I decided I needed to move the museum if I was considering new layout plans, so some of my tests ended up taking place near the beach, where I tried to see how different items would interact with the building itself.

And also, how the blue and white castle items would look with the museum. Actually, they looked pretty good, IMO, and they end up being a key player on the castle as it stands presently.

The gate looked very nice, and also concealed more of the museum from view. One thing I haven't thought about is what sort of banners I might want on some of the walls. I don't really know.

Meanwhile., back in the actual position of the castle...

I was thinking a lot about how I wanted it to work, and whether I wanted the museum on the wall or not, or how flat I wanted it. This just felt...Very flat to me. So, perhaps I'd put the museum on the second level after all...But then I spent a long while banging my head against how to use the new ladder set-ups to save incline space, before eventually coming to a conclusion:

I couldn't really do that without leaving a gap I didn't want. So, better to change up how the whole moat/drawbridge situation works. To be honest, without the bridge looking like I planned here, and without real space on it for fences even, I might want to ditch the moat, but it just feels...So appropriate. The other thing I was considering was if anything was happening around or behind the museum, and the potential use of a third level.

There was one thing I was desperately trying to make work, but never could: a merry-go-round. But its roof was just a little too low, and the number of spaces too uneven and large, to make it work with castle walls. In the end, I did find a role for the arches, though: A way of getting more cute little turrets up front. Also, the bells!

I could keep the bells, so it was time to start moving my museum back into place. I cut out some of the moat to leave the stairs, with the archway-wide gap between them. Actually, now that I'm seeing it, I could try using the plaza arch again there, since the front 3 are covered by simple panels behind the arch anyway. We'll see.

The end result, with the museum back into place, looked a little something like this:

And the view from up top really is something. I am half-tempted to try playing around a little with archways and some configuring to see how I can make the back line, a stretch of third level, work. We'll see, but it's feeling very appropriate!

But, this leaves me with one major thought to consider changing it up... What if I tried some sort of business with the gazebo?

It'd add a very cool and dynamic bit of design to the front, but the downside is that it exposes more of the museum: not entirely a problem, but I don't know how I feel...Then again, it might not be as much of a problem as I felt at first.

Especially not from this screenshot angle. But I think maybe I am worrying too much, and it all looks rad.

But just in case, I did craft up a third option:

Though this one would ditch all but the smallest strip of moat from the front, so I am not sure. I might like an opinion on which of those three looks the neatest to your eyes! But, no matter what you like, I'm really happy with how most of the castle is coming along, and feel like there's a lot of exciting possibilities for further decoration around the castle.

 

[Demeter_Deme]

Daily Life: 11/24-11/28

11/24​

With life more back into the grind, we return to Mossglenn's daily life.

Dobie's moved in on the 24th, sweeping up and getting his nice little library-house in order.

And encountered my little blue boys having a chat:

Pizza actually is rather vintage! While "put stuff on a piece of flat bread" is ancient, and things called "pizza" have existed since at least the 1500s, where it could be a sweet pastry sort of thing: more of a "pizza pie," one might say, pizza that we would absolutely recognize as pizza existed since at least the early 1800s, where it was a cheap take-out meal for the common people.

Julian likes to sing, but he rarely actually does it in the plaza: his home's in the back, for one, but I think he's rather shy. But for the last few times Leif's come to town, Julian's come to sing by him. It's rather cute.

I wish her luck with whatever!

I love hearing about Katt's hometown, old friends, and family. It's very cute.

Julian is not exactly Mossglenn's preux chevalier, but certainly, Mossglenn's not a bike helmet town. Also, Julian, honey, you'd need to open your eyes for long stretches to drive, and the strong light would bug your sensitive eyes. There are many reasons you should not drive.

I also unlocked the room sketch app! I immediately used it to toy with some possible buildings, but it didn't seem like I could just exit out without saving, which sometimes felt wrong.

11/25

Happy Turkey Day, everyone! I didn't get much chance to eat as I went, given that I was mostly catching raw fish, but it's not so bad.

I even dressed for the occaison!

And I really did make the most of all my recipes in the end:

(PS: Hate it when Julian wears a hat that hides his horn. I really do. Which is a shame, because the rest of the hats are very cute!)


While running around gathering ingredients, I also did just a tiny bit of holiday decorating: mostly, I added a cornucopia to my mantle, with one of my favorite little gyroids inside:

And while on Happy Home Paradise, I saw a pair of old friends, from the town I lived in before I came to Mossglenn, enjoying each other's company! I remembered how close they were there, having cute sleepovers...

Maybe I should make them roommates in their vacation home! For old times' sake...

11/26​

Dobie had quite a bit to say today, mostly about food:

Unfortunately for Dobie, I can't make banana break. For one, it's not the right climate for bananas; for another, I'm actually allergic to bananas, which I will look past for a banana split, but not for a banana bread.

Awww. Julian[s a big sweetie, so I can see that going...Less than ideal. But it is nice to see them getting a long, since they'll likely soon be neighbors.

11/27
​

Drago came over! He gave me a pear and said he'd eaten a pantsload. Which is a new unit of measurement unlikely to become the new standard:

Apparently a literal pantsload of pears does not constitute honoring snacktime. I shudder with the question as to what does. Unless it's a sort of "second breakfast" thing.

What an interesting poem...Those were snow clouds, and soon, it would begin the first snow of the year...

It's a fortunate thing for some, but not for poor old Billy. And not for me, either.

Because that means Julian hides his horn under his stupid winter hat. It better be sensitive to cold, is all I'm saying.

The music advice was good, though, when I went to see KK in Concert that evening. So fair enough, I suppose.

11/28
​

Toom Nook dropped by while I was having coffee, and I bought...Oh, roughly 2 inventories worth of turnips. I want recipes, and besides, Daisy Mae was selling them for 90 bells a pop. Nevertheless, I had to admit, it might have gone a bit too far?

Behold: Turnip beach!

I also wanted to remember a few things as they were, as I start prepping for quite a few changes. For one:

Maple's house is in a position where I think I'll want Dobie's to be, up in the woods.

And for another, this bridge, which I have plans to utterly destroy. I think the flow of the town, and a few other ideas, would work better if I changed the river's flow considerably. I've got a rough image of my thoughts here:

Plans:​

It's a little rough, but I think it all pretty much makes sense. With any luck, I'd like to flesh it would with more specific ideas as we go along. But first, I need to get things and people into place.

...I also think I'll lower my bridge a little, so the road goes a little lower, and a few other things happen. (The different lines on the map around the castle were to help me plan it; came out fairly nice.)

Well, that's more than enough for now!

 

[Demeter_Deme]

Daily Life, 11-29 and 11/30: Town Street Edits Commence​

It's been a nice couple of days, and I'm happy to become a more reliable diarist as well. I do intend to, now that I'm a little more caught up, share some of my favorite Happy Home paradise builds...Probably starting with one I did on the 29th, so...

Have just a little teaser for that post:

My villagers have been getting into something of a sentimental, pre-holiday mood, too:

Julia was very sweet.

And Billy wanted me to help patch things up between him and Julian. I could see where it could need patching: They're not much alike at all!

Brewster, blink if you need help, or need me to call the hospital for Ketchup.

...I can't see your eyes through your glasses. I cannot tell when he blinks.

It is good coffee, though. Blissing out is a really good one.

Julian had some good low-key plans today:

Meanwhile, Maple and Ione were planning on making our newest resident feel welcome, but, uh,

Maple's gift-giving plans seem to become spy missions more often than not.

I found a bag. I thought it'd be Drago or Sherb's, but nope! Ketchup's! I wonder what she's got in there... Maybe the half-empty sugar packs from her dozen cups of coffee.

That's...Well, I don't try and act cool and aloof. But I suppose I rather do come across that way, sometimes..(Am a softie.) That said, I mainly picked it because I think octopodes are fascinating and smart!

Katt had a very hard time getting up this morning, poor dear. When she was up, she told me a story about a cleaning mishap, but I just have to ask...

She...She has a nose?????

We had a camper, but I'm not super impressed. Nice to meet you, have a good day.

Today, though, I decided it was time to begin at least some of those reorganization plans. Step 1: Modifying my river and beginning construction of a new bridge.

But in the evening, I also worked on the road adjustments I'd been considering. But this has me thinking: Should I move Sherb's house and yard foreward, with more buildings behind him? Or back, with more in front? Or just where he is? I'm not sure.

I also changed out which crop is grown in town, swapping potatoes and carrots. That about wraps it up for tonight, with more in mind to consider tomorrow, when Dobie's house has been moved into its place!