Study in Cartography: Reading the Island Map

[Stevey Queen]

I think all four sides will be explorable. The gaps are where you can get to the rocks.

As far as the darker lines- caves would be pretty neat. But four caves? Makes me think that it is something else.

I don?t think shops though- those will likely go in the brown area near Tom Nooks place.

Ooo I like the idea of the gaps leading to the stone beach. I hope its true. I didn't think that area would be accessible but now I'm thinking yes.

 

[Feunard]

I'm wondering how we will get to the upper part of the island. There was no sign of a ramp whatsoever, while in ACCF they could be clearly seen from the map menu. Maybe those ramps will come back again, even if they don't appear on the map?

 

[Stevey Queen]

I'm wondering how we will get to the upper part of the island. There was no sign of a ramp whatsoever, while in ACCF they could be clearly seen from the map menu. Maybe those ramps will come back again, even if they don't appear on the map?

Makes me wonder if we have to construct a ramp or a staircase or a ladder.

Or the pole vault launches us up.

 

[Villager Fan]

I think the gaps at the top are entry points for the other side of the map. Notice how in the trailer and Treehouse footage, we don’t see the gaps not is there any effort to make the second level of the map visible. No bridges made so we could only get close enough to see a few things. I think ultimately, after progressing further along into the game, you get to create a resort with shops, amenities, a hotel and other activities. This will serve as our ”Main Street” of sorts.

 

[lars708]

I think the gaps at the top are entry points for the other side of the map. Notice how in the trailer and Treehouse footage, we don’t see the gaps not is there any effort to make the second level of the map visible. No bridges made so we could only get close enough to see a few things. I think ultimately, after progressing further along into the game, you get to create a resort with shops, amenities, a hotel and other activities. This will serve as our ”Main Street” of sorts.

That'd be really cool I hope they will let us make something grand like that!

 

[TheRealWC]

I imagine we have to choose where to place the ramps, since after all we seem to be in charge of fixing up the island.

The light green at the very top I'm assuming is more cliffs so you don't fall off the edge of the map. It also looks like a waterfall starts up here so this would make sense.

The gaps could possibly be caves. It would make sense for this game, especially since you have to go out and get materials. Would be a cool feature IMO

Those black lines might just be an artistic decision to represent a steep decline where the cliff meets the ocean. I'm not convinced those are anything yet but we'll see.

 

[Stevey Queen]

So in the treehouse stream, they have a couch co-OP multiplayer session where they place with someone else who is confirmed to also live on that island. But there's only 3 tents. The player, Hamlet, and Fuschia. Where is this guys home?

What if when you get near the top, the map starts to scroll up revealing more of the island? Probably a stretch but I really dont know what else to think..

 

[Justin]

The extra light green is a 3rd level visible for like half a second here:

The question is whether it's accessible by the player or not. I left it out of my map analysis since I was so unsure. It looks so small that I really don't know, leaning towards no.

 

[Kirbyz]

The extra light green is a 3rd level visible for like half a second here:

The question is whether it's accessible by the player or not. I left it out of my map analysis since I was so unsure. It looks so small that I really don't know, leaning towards no.

It seems as though it's just for aesthetics. They didn't give us any info on the upper levels, and I feel like that part is simply just for looks, and not accessible. Of course, I could be wrong, but that's the way it looks to me. For some reason it reminds of ACCF when we were on the bus and if you looked through the windows you could see layers of ground with flowers on it that was of course, only part of the design. In this case however, anything can hapoen.

 

[Roshan]

If the light green part is the elevated part, than the teaser they showed us was kind of strange because it would have to be recorded at tbe thin piece at tbe top, right?

Edit; yeah maybe it's a third lvl

 

[DJStarstryker]

I really like the ideas floating around on this thread about possibly us getting to build a ramp to the second level, but maybe you can use your vaulting pole to get up there before then. I feel like the vaulting pole has to be more useful than just crossing rivers without bridges, and that feels like a potential thing you could use it for.

It feels like the NH team is trying really hard to make our island super customizable.

 

[Nilesse]

If I'm correct in my assumption that cedar trees only/more likely appear on the higher up level, then it is the light green highest part that you can see during the winter part of the trailer.

Additionally, at the end of the trailer we can see that the highest level does go 'flat' on the side. That isn't really too visible on the map?

 

[Fey]

There are too many good ideas and interesting observations for me to comment on individually, but I'm overall really excited to read everyone's thoughts so far!

I'll try updating the first post whenever something new is spotted or revealed so that we have a comprehensive overview of all the map features

✵​

Have you noticed the light blue triangles below the airport and at the top of the map? I wonder what they could be since they don't seem to be randomly placed to me

I think the symbols might only be for aesthetics, but agree that they stand out enough to be included in the analysis. I'll add them to our Unknowns just in case, and we can see if something comes of them!

The extra light green is a 3rd level visible for like half a second here:

The question is whether it's accessible by the player or not. I left it out of my map analysis since I was so unsure. It looks so small that I really don't know, leaning towards no.

I knew it had to be a separate level, but also can't decide whether it'll be more than an inaccessible border...
It appears that there are even smaller, lighter green areas on top of the strip, so that might give credence to it simply being a little hill range. Still, the strip seems just barely wide enough for a row of structures, so I won't rule out the possibility until we know more.

Also, thanks for providing that conclusive evidence for the third layer!
I haven't included any other pictures yet, but the more the better! I'll have to check out your map analysis ^ｪ^

If I'm correct in my assumption that cedar trees only/more likely appear on the higher up level, then it is the light green highest part that you can see during the winter part of the trailer.

Additionally, at the end of the trailer we can see that the highest level does go 'flat' on the side. That isn't really too visible on the map?

Oh I've tried my best to ignore the thought of cedars being limited to the second layer, but unfortunately agree that might be the case.
My optimistic hope is still that we won't be restricted in placing any of the vegetation (i.e palms on grass, fruit trees on beach), but even with their emphasis on customization I think it's unlikely.

As for your other point, I don't quite see what you're describing. Do you mean the layer above the one with the bonfire, or the small corner of the third level on top of that? Maybe I'll need to re-watch that section to see the "flattening".

 

[DJStarstryker]

If I'm correct in my assumption that cedar trees only/more likely appear on the higher up level, then it is the light green highest part that you can see during the winter part of the trailer.

That would make sense. Even in New Leaf, cedar trees are restricted to the top half of your map. Since it seems like NH actually has 2 levels (unlike NL), then that would be an easy way to do cedar tree restrictions.

(Slightly off-topic for this thread - I wish they'd stop doing the cedar tree restrictions in AC.)

 

[BossMK]

Since we don't automatically have bridges and in the trailer the player could pole-vault, it could be that before the ramp you could craft a ladder to get to such elevated places, or resort to rock-climbing. Endless possibilities that will take 9 more months (or less) to confirm

 

[Nilesse]

As for your other point, I don't quite see what you're describing. Do you mean the layer above the one with the bonfire, or the small corner of the third level on top of that? Maybe I'll need to re-watch that section to see the "flattening".

Ah yes, my wording was a bit off. At the part of the trailer right before all the characters are on the beach and the release date appears, we can see them on the beach running northeast. During the fade/scene change, it's visible that the higher parts (the non-dark green parts) are cut off flat, like cliffs.
I was wondering if that's where the world ends or if the beach still continues and the cliffs are just oddly straight. I tried looking on the map and there do seem to be some straight parts but it feels odd to the immersion to have them that straight, I guess.

 

[Fey]

Upon re-watching I noticed two more things:

1. Like indicated by the shades of green on the map, there is (what appears to be) a 1-space strip of the second level lining the third level. This would possibly allow us to run all the way along the edges of the light green level, therefore making it useless as a barrier/town limit.

2. A level/cliff (with cedars and weeds) can be seen behind the block cabin (1:05).

If the cabin is on the first level this shows that cedars can grow there
If the cabin is on the second level, this would mean that unless we have access to the third level (aka. the light green strip) there would be vegetation we can't landscape on our Island

(Additionally, on the level behind the cabin, there is another visible level in the far right corner. Whether this is the third or fourth level of the map depends on where the cabin is located)

Also, the north border of the Island is probably a rocky beach, not a mountain range. The rocks could still be tall, but I think that's less likely since there's no need to create a mountain barrier when we already have the ocean as a natural limit (plus it would be hard to see all those new horizons with mountains in the way!)

Ah yes, my wording was a bit off. At the part of the trailer right before all the characters are on the beach and the release date appears, we can see them on the beach running northeast. During the fade/scene change, it's visible that the higher parts (the non-dark green parts) are cut off flat, like cliffs.
I was wondering if that's where the world ends or if the beach still continues and the cliffs are just oddly straight. I tried looking on the map and there do seem to be some straight parts but it feels odd to the immersion to have them that straight, I guess.

I think I understand what you're saying, if you mean the steep side of the cliff being flat and going straight down, rather than a gradual slope.

From what I see in that section of the video, as well as in the opening shot on the beach, the cliffs all have very straight declines.

 

[Stevey Queen]

I wonder if the top rock beach thing will become like a boardwalk shopping district. I'm not sure that area is accessible because it doesn't seem you can fully walk all the way across it yet there are gaps in the cliff wall that implies you can get there.

Those black lines are still confusing me.

 

[AlyssaAC]

Interesting thread. I never noticed these things, but it would be nice to gain access to that upper level. I can totally see the shops going there, but how we can reach it, well have to wait and see. I'm very curious about the upper level or that lighter green part. So many mysteries right now.

 

[Cheybunny]

We can only wonder!!