Seeking Advice: I Hate My Island.

[your local goomy]

Yep, as the title says. I absolutely despise my island. I have a horrible map and the vision I saw in my head isn't working because of the placement of the stupid resident service building and my entrance being in a crappy place. A huge part of me wants to restart, but I think I'll actually die if I have to play the early game again. Besides, the one thing I don't hate about my island is my villagers, and I'm not necessarily willing to go hunting for them all again...some of them were pretty darn expensive for me to adopt, too.

This is my "current" map. I originally planned on putting cliffs on all four corners, but that wonky strip of land and the river made the right side look bad and since my airport is also close to the river, it made the cliff look TERRIBLE. I seriously don't know whether I should bite the bullet and restart completely or try flattening my island out AGAIN. I'm really stumped, and I've definitely been on the verge of deleting ACNH off my switch completely because of this.

 

[petrichr]

Hey I actually love your spiral design! That must nave taken ages to make. Speaking from my own experience, it can be hard to get over islands which you see on social media and then look at your island like "mine is trash!". But you get so much creative ability in this game that it all gets overwhelming!

I would suggest making a list of what you like about your island, what you don't mind, and what you dislike. You like your villagers - awesome! You hate res services and the entrance position? What about it is annoying? I see a lot of people wanting them close together. Is it because it's inconvenient to cross? Should you build a bridge?

Sorry if it feels like I'm just throwing questions at you. I think if you can establish what you want to do to change your island it will be easier. I have never restarted an island and its a bit daunting to me. Maybe someone else can comment.

 

[your local goomy]

Hey I actually love your spiral design! That must nave taken ages to make. Speaking from my own experience, it can be hard to get over islands which you see on social media and then look at your island like "mine is trash!". But you get so much creative ability in this game that it all gets overwhelming!

I would suggest making a list of what you like about your island, what you don't mind, and what you dislike. You like your villagers - awesome! You hate res services and the entrance position? What about it is annoying? I see a lot of people wanting them close together. Is it because it's inconvenient to cross? Should you build a bridge?

Sorry if it feels like I'm just throwing questions at you. I think if you can establish what you want to do to change your island it will be easier. I have never restarted an island and its a bit daunting to me. Maybe someone else can comment.

Thanks for the advice! I do enjoy my spiraling river, but it's more of a burden than anything else at this point. This map isn't SUPER current and I've built bridges and the like, so it's not hard to cross, but the river, as well as the location of the entrance, makes it hard for me to build decent cliffs in the corners of the island without making my island feel small. And yeah, looking for inspiration online makes me not want to play at all because I know I can never do anything like that. As for res services, I just wish it was a bit more centered, as I've had plenty of ideas, but its position ruins nearly all of them and of course it can't be moved.

 

[Sheep Villager]

I think if you flip your spiral so that the bottom rivermouth makes it go left instead of right you might be able to make the bottom right have a nicer cliff? Won't solve the issue you have around bottom left not being good for cliffs but it would remove one cliff issue.​

 

[your local goomy]

I'm fairly certain that I'm just going to flatten out my island. The spiral idea is just terrible with my stupid map and it doesn't even look as good as I wanted it to anyway.

 

[. Rarity .]

I'd just flatten it, no need to start over if you hate it. Just takes an hour or so, and you'll have a flat canvas again!

 

[Meadows]

I like the spiral design, and it actually doesn't look bad. You've got the town hall, ahop, and able sisters together, so it doesn't look too strange.

If it bothers you that much, you could have someone hold onto your items that you use or like, and get a couple villagers held onto.

Then you could time travel (as much as I don't like doing it), you could pretty much finish the little story right away, get the items you wanted back, and with the 3 plots you have to build, get 3 of your villagers back.

 

[your local goomy]

Yeah, I'm currently in the process of flattening. It's not really worth starting over, and I'm sure I can find a layout where the service building fits that isn't awful. I just need to get on a planner. I am considering a restart, but I doubt I could get anyone to hold onto my villagers for me and I don't know if it's really even worth it.