Tansan island life - Tansan 2.5

[dizzy bone]

Island info 🏝 Tansan is a Northern Hemisphere island with a little bit of everything. It's a mix of an urban beach town and rural landscapes! The island's development was inspired by my villager friends who moved into Tansan early in the game. I tried my best to work around all their houses and give them the best life! Certain areas were inspired by real life settings, specifically Seoul (my home city) and my very vague memories of Busan. Other areas and landscapes were inspired by my favourite games like Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2's Salmon Run! Tansan is currently on it's 2.5th version and is constantly evolving. I will try to document my progression here.

Villagers In order of move in: Scoot, Ursala, Jambette, Tabby, Erik, Freya, Hamphrey, Dizzy, Cyd and Ken. Bianca and Quillson have moved out.
Residents Island Rep Jules & Hyuji

General Tansan info - posts are edited with updates

Bulletin Board
🗺 Map progression
Dream address updates
🏝 Tansan Highlights

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Longer journal entries about Tansan daily life and updates on terraforming and design
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Tansan 1.0​	Tansan 2.0 + 2.5​
Day in the life of Jambette All about PUMPKINSautumn update series #1 Tansan's Halloween Decorations (part 1)autumn update series #2 Tansan's Halloween Decorations (part 2) autumn update series #3 Pumpkin carving!autumn update series #4 CJ's peculiar fishing spots Jambette's Birthday! Spooky season's costume roundupautumn update series #5 Halloween on Tansan!autumn update series #6	Tansan 2.0 Dream Address Update aHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Freya's birthday! Wish You Were Here - Tansan 2.5 Update Living Room & Bedroom Redesignhouse redesign series #1 Happy Birthday Dizzy! Happy Birthday Erik! Summer Round-Up Tansan's Recreational Activities!

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Drawings based on villager conversations

Erik's Grandma visits Tansan!
Cyd and Jules set out to find undiscovered islands (part 1)
What's on CJ's live stream?
Ursala visits her pals in her hometown

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Random daily snapshots of Tansan, new & old, as a way to keep this thread more active.
Will try to post at least twice a week!

Workin' Out
Rainy Friday

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Photoshoots done at Harvey's Studio Photopia

Annual Zombie Run 2020
Studio Apartments​

 

[dizzy bone]

Bulletin Board
This is my bulletin board for my blog + island. I will post random things here.
I just don't know what to do with this reserved space.
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Villager Spotlight: Ken & Hamphrey!
Residents of Old Town

archiving my favourite bulletin drawing here because it will be bumped off soon ​

Upcoming Entries / Backlog
these are just topics for my reference that I want to get posted soon!! I will cross them out as I finish them.

Tansan 2.5 update photos
Harvey Studio designs - Studio apartments
Summer round-up

https://twitter.com/x/status/1414190964134989837

Freya is a shy singer​

 

[dizzy bone]

Tansan’s Map Progression

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Original (Est. March 20, 2020)

First terraforming (Updated April 25, 2020)

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Summer (Updated June 18, 2020)

Fall (Updated October 7, 2020)

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Fall (Updated Nov 30, 2020)

Summer/Current (Updated July 4, 2021)

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[dizzy bone]

Dream of Tansan!

Autumn Update - Tansan 2.0 (November 26 -)

Autumn Update (October 2020 - November 26)

Spoiler

Summer Update (August 2020 - October 2020 )

Spoiler

updated at 5am in the summer

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[dizzy bone]

I’m going to be doing several spotlight posts on different key locations around Tansan! This is mainly for archival purposes since I’m always changing up my island. I’m also planning on posting some very early Tansan days that were never documented. Below are links to the locations I’ve currently covered or will cover. Locations listed under [Current Tansan] is what is most similar to how it looks in recent Dream updates above. Old/removed locations will be moved to [Old Tansan]. Updated in no particular order.

Current Tansan	Old Tansan
Grizzco Office Beach Town & Nature Trail Residential Block E-4 Residential Block E-6 Old Town Folk Village All Shops & Small Businesses	Seashell Village Snapper Peak Old Museum Death Gates Original Old Town Tansan Falls Tabby Town Gnome Villages Pirate Market

Tansan Then & Now [Master Post] (Coming soon)​

 

[dizzy bone]

Erik's Grandma visits Tansan!
Villager Stories #1

When I played New Leaf I wanted to create little drawings based on conversations I had with my villagers. I never really got round to that, but I thought it would be fun to finally start it with conversations I heard in New Horizons! We often complain that personality is watered down in this game, so I like to imagine my own little backstories and lives for them based on their generic dialogue.

The other day Erik told me that he keeps his log stool empty in case his Grandma came to visit! I thought it was the sweetest thing, since we're all missing someone in this crazy age of the pandemic and quarantine. I'm sure Erik's grandma would be super proud of his beautiful garden! Here's what I imagine Erik’s grandma to look like! (Yes I totally dressed up Erik in a humble sweater at Harvey's for this!)

Hopefully I'll get round to drawing more of these little villager stories!

 

[dizzy bone]

Day in the life of Jambette

Tend to her garden

Do frog things

Tend to her neighbour’s gardens while they slack off

Nap

the end
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[dizzy bone]

All about PUMPKINS
autumn update series #1

As the title of this entry suggests, this post will be all about PUMPKINS and what I’ve done with them! Prepare to see the word pumpkin way too many times.

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The introduction of farming was my most anticipated “future feature” when dataminers discovered it. I figured we wouldn’t get farming until Harvest Festival so I was very excited when it was introduced with the autumn update! I already had a farm ready exactly for something like this! Thanks to @Pyoopi I got a couple seeds to plant a day earlier, so that was the first thing I did!

Here’s a picture of my farm before & after the update! It's the same layout except the pansies and mums are replaced with something we can actually farm..yay! No more sitting on my mums cushion. I can now sit on a sliced pumpkin.

Before & After of a small sitting deck behind my beachside market place (featuring @ViolinShapedObject when they visited eons ago ) I would often forget about this area because it is hidden by large stalls I put in front of it. So I made it into a small community pumpkin patch!

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Before & After of Scoot and Ursala's backyard. During the summer I decorated their backyard to have an outdoor pool with poolside beds! Now that it's getting colder I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to make better use of this little space. They never used it anyways













I thought my moderately sized farmland would be enough for my pumpkin crafting needs but production seemed to be a bit too slow for me, so I decided to make a couple more pumpkin patches around the island! These were spots that were rarely visited or hidden by my chaotic decorating, so a pumpkin patch replacement didn't seem like a big change.

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I also planted a few more pumpkin plots for decoration in the smaller villages that didn't have space for a farm. This is Hamphrey's Noodle Shack™ in Tansan's village "Old Town". He's now serving pumpkin rice noodles only available this autumn season!

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Erik's an avid gardener so he had get in on some pumpkin action as well. The dirt patch used to be a full flower bed of black and orange flowers, but I replaced a couple with pumpkins for the season. I'd like to think that his grandma taught him her secret to growing big and healthy pumpkins!

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Well, it’s still only the 9th of October but I’m not sick of pumpkins just yet. I can’t wait for more types of veggies to grow in future updates. This farming feature has inspired me to redo parts of my island to make it more rural/farming friendly! My next post in these autumn update series will cover Tansan's halloween decoration progress - the fruits of our labour! Thank you for reading!

 

[dizzy bone]

Grizzco Office
Tansan Location Highlights
[New Tansan]​

The first location I want to highlight is a very small but important area... Tansan’s Grizzco Office “Secret Beach” branch! This is the only area of Tansan with direct reference to a game/fandom. It was inspired by my favourite game mode Salmon Run for Splatoon2! I also made my town tune the Salmon Run theme and my Rep title is "Small Fry Friend" It’s quite random and might even be a little disjointed to the general feel of my island, but I wanted to somehow incorporate a little nod to my favourite game. Besides, if I’m not playing animal crossing I’m likely causing fish genocide on Salmon Run. I thought it was the perfect time to highlight this little area because Grizzco finally visited us after what feels like months!

The Grizzco Office serves as a recruitment headquarter for Grizzco in Tansan. There’s informational pamphlets and Salmon Run memorabilia! I was even able to snag a frying pan from a cohock for display! The closest island, the Ruins of Ark Polaris, is just a boat ride away courtesy of Redd. But remember to check the rotation schedule or else Grizzco might be closed.

Dizzy tried it once and hated it​

In other daily news, I was able to finally complete my stamp card after this photo shoot

https://twitter.com/x/status/1279126698282242049

Finally, here's a little video I made a while back of one of the routes into the secret beach, thanks to the help of fellow small fry @poqu (east forest gate isn't opened yet here though )

How to get there: To get to the secret beach, you have to first find your way through Tansan Falls, our island’s largest nature reserve. Ironically, what lies beyond the cliffs is mostly waste and propaganda. Get to Tansan falls by heading North East from town hall and through the east forest gate. From there, just follow the smog!
Did you know?: Golden eggs power Tansan’s gas pumps for our Lunar Rovers

 

[dizzy bone]

Cyd and Jules set out to find
undiscovered islands (part 1?)
Villager Stories #2

Captain Cyd and First Mate Sad Fry​

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The other day while I was hopping around doing the usual things frogs do, Cyd tried to recruit me to participate in one of his crazy adventure ideas. I didn’t have the heart to tell him no, even though I get sea sick easily. So I built a dingy sailboat following a recipe Tom Nook gave me that cost me 300 pieces of wood and my soul. I wonder what islands we’ll discover? (part 2 coming...maybe)

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[dizzy bone]

Tansan's Halloween Decorations So Far!! part 1
main residential area
autumn update series #2
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I think I'm almost done decorating my island for Halloween! I wanted to get my decorations up as early as possible so I can enjoy them for the whole month of October since I'll likely take them down after Halloween Day. I personally don't really like night time photos that much but I wanted to show how the pumpkins glowed around town at night. When I make a dream update soon I will save it at an earlier time at dusk. This post will cover Tansan's main residential area around town hall, residents: Jambette, Ursala, Scoot, Freya, and Cyd.

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This is the main residential area to the right of town hall. It's the home of Jambette, Ursala, Scoot, and Freya. This whole residential area is lined with glowing pumpkins and looks spectacular at night! It's Tansan's main "trick or treat" street and will likely be very lively on Halloween night since the festivities take place near the plaza. Villagers living on the outer areas of the island also welcome trick or treaters but getting to them might be a little...dangerous and out of the way.

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Here's a closer look at the decorations by my very first trio. The two hanging lanterns are displayed at the entrance to the museum. I haven't decided yet whether or not I want to decorate the museum and statue gardens for halloween, so I'll leave that section for another post.

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The only part of the residential area that diverts from the usual orange colour scheme is the alley around Freya's house. Freya's growing her own white pumpkins in her garden, so her halloween decorations are all customised to white! I made the hanging lanterns here green too for a pop of colour. The only thing that annoys me about these hanging lanterns is that when rotated inwards in the way shown above, the lanterns aren't actually perfectly aligned. One lantern will always be a little further up than the other. It annoys me a little when I'm running by it, but I just try to ignore it

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And finally, here's Cyd's house to the left of town hall on Tansan's beach town strip. This area is lacking in glowing pumpkins but I kind of prefer it that way. Cyd has a skeleton model set up in his garden to scare the kids. He's always had that skull record player, which I thought worked for his decor already. It currently plays K.K. Rock but I might change it to K.K. Dirge on Halloween.

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To end this entry, here's a little drawing I made based on the picture above. Cyd told me to take a seat with him. He was tired after putting out his one skeleton and candy basket. I realised we were both wearing shirts with animal faces on it, which I thought was really cute. It inspired this:

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The next decorations I will cover will be the villagers living on the outer areas of the island: Tabby in Tabby Town, Erik in Tansan Falls, Ken and Hamphrey in Old Town, and me and Dizzy on the top of the hill

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[dizzy bone]

What's on CJ's live stream?
Villager Stories #3

Have you ever wondered what's on CJ's live stream? Well now you know.

CJ's fresh new fish is a viral sensation​

 

[dizzy bone]

Tansan's Halloween Decorations So Far!! part 2
outer villages autumn update series #3

This post will continue the documentation of my villager's halloween decorations for this month! Last post I highlighted the villagers living around my main residential area near town hall. The rest of my villagers live in their own separate little villages spread out around Tansan. Even though Erik is a lazy baby that needs protecting from the world, he lives all on his own on top of Tansan Falls, our island's largest natural waterfall! Erik's house might be the most confusing villager location on the map because there's no incline that leads directly to his cliff. Instead, visitors have to walk around a small cliffside and jump over to his house. Because of this, most visitors get confused about how to get to his house. I can tell by how long people stare at their maps when they try to get here . Even though I told him that, Erik insisted on putting out candy just in case.

I gave Erik a hanging lantern and a regular lantern and left it orange to go with his orange and black garden! Erik also has his own little pumpkin patch growing in his flower bed.

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Further down from Tansan falls to the South East is Old Town where Ken and Hamphrey live. Their pumpkin decorations were customised to green. This area has a very overgrown and natural feel to it so I liked how the green blends into the village discreetly.

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Ken originally had a tea table instead of the spooky table. I'm not that fond of the face carving on the table but I thought I'd try using it here. I might change it back to the tea table and set up a pumpkin carving station on top instead. The face is just so distracting to me even though I know it's just part of the set, haha. The entrance to Old Town has another Spooky Arch - my favourite item this season. I might even make more, idk

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Moving onto the west side of the island! Here is what Tabby did with her front lawn in Tabby town! I used the green pumpkins again because I thought the regular orange might be too much orange. The photo angle above also shows Tabby's tiny pumpkin patch (it's normally hidden by a cliff).

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And finally here's Dizzy's decorations! Most of these decorations are pretty simple but I didn't want to go too crazy with the them since my residential area is the main trick-or-treat street. My go-to decorations seem to be the spooky lantern and tower because they are small and easy to throw around next to what I already have.

I'm contemplating maybe doing one more big Halloween decorating project and then updating my dream address for autumn: changing my floor mural in front of my museum into something spooky!! Some background on this mural - early in the game's release when I did a lot of trading with others, I realised that my "flyover" wasn't very interesting because my town hall took up 80% of the cutscene! I felt like I needed to spruce that area up, especially if I was going to have a lot of visitors, haha. I decided to make some kind of impactful drawing at the entrance of my museum so my flyover wouldn't be as boring. I drew something up on photoshop and made it into a QR and the result is what is seen above. I loved it for a long time but it was taking up 12 precious pattern slots! I also realised that I didn't really like a grand entrance as much as I thought. I wanted to try different landscaping designs that weren't so symmetrical and I wanted something more urban and messy. I think 6 months is long enough now so it's time to say goodbye to this mural and also to this middle section of Tansan. My plan is to change the design into a similar style greyscale mural but make it into a "spooky" theme. When the season is over, I plan to redo this whole area and reclaim those 12 slots!! I'll update my process on that once I get started on it.

 

[dizzy bone]

Pumpkin Carving in Tansan
autumn update series #4

Here's a new area I threw together this morning! Tansan's community pumpkin carving spot next to the (forever incompleted) cafe. This area used to be an outdoor second hand bookstore to go with my soon-to-be "book cafe". But I decided that I might change the house into a school later on so I can get better use out of the items. For now, this space is perfect for a little carving spot! Below is a clip I took of it. Wasn't sure what music I wanted to play in this area but I thought "KK Stroll" was kind of cute during the day.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1315934628969025536

A close up and a street view!

Aaand here's a "before" picture for reference. It always pained me to walk past this area whenever it rained so in my future build I may put a book store indoors or combine it with another market area so it's not on its own.

 

[dizzy bone]

CJ's peculiar fishing spots

Didn't think I'd be making another journal entry on this dumb beaver so soon, but here we are. I logged onto the game pretty late when all the shops were already closed so there was not much to do. I ran around the island probably 5 times trying to find who my special visitor was, until Ursala finally gave me a hint. Of course it's CJ. CJ is famously known around these parts for setting up camp in the worst possible locations. If I can't find my visitor within the first 10 minutes, it's probably CJ hiding somewhere on a cliff.

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So I followed my nose and set out to search for the beaver. It took me quite a while, but I finally found him hiding on the cliffs of Old Town's death gates. CJ... there's spikes on the cliff for a reason. It's to deter suspicious characters. I'm actually too lazy now a days to do his seasports challenges or gather fish to sell to him, especially when he decides to camp out in such annoying locations. So the main highlight of CJ's visit is always a game of hide and seek. I'm usually surprised and entertained by his peculiar fishing locations. Maybe he's actually just shy and doesn't want anyone to find him?

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Reminds me of the time when he spawned on this little square near my house back in May when Dizzy and I lived in a marshland. Looking through my old photos amazes me how much my island has changed... so expect a few Before & After posts soon

Anyways, here's my prediction for his next appearance:

 

[dizzy bone]

Seashell village
Tansan Location Highlights
[Old Tansan]

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The next Tansan highlight is a part of Tansan's history [Old Tansan], a small village in the corner of the map called Seashell village! This village was home to Bianca and Freya, my two pinkest villagers. I got both of them early on in the game when I didn't know what house exteriors looked like yet. I'm actually not a fan of the colour pink, so working around these villagers was a huge struggle for me even though I loved them both so much. I essentially hid their village away behind a huge mountain so they could be unashamedly pink together. The sea shell furniture seemed to work perfectly for this, thus sea shell village was born! Later on the village was disbanded because I decided it was a bit too pink for my liking, but it was a fun little area while it lasted! I sadly chose to say goodbye to Bianca, who was the 2nd peppy I invited from the mystery island. I liked Freya too much to part with her, so I eventually moved her to her permanent location in town where she lives now. Tabby was then moved into the sea shell village and all the shells were customised to brown and yellow, taking inspiration from my original decor!

I changed the decor around this area several of times but the main idea was that the ramp lead up to the top of the mountain where I placed the celeste moons. This sad tiny waterfall was my only way to catch 2nd tier waterfall fish and it was a huge pain in the ass. To think I even tried to grind stringfish using 200+ bait up here... makes me shudder (I didn't even catch it and eventually had to catch it at a friend's island!)

Here's another older version of seashell village before I made the ramp up to the mountain. The tiny beach behind the peninsula was a little coconut bar for tourists who wandered in! It was also the location for my light house (much more inviting than Tabby's private litter box turd rock which is what it is now)

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My very last version of seashell village looked something like this. I felt like something was missing and realised that the large green spaces made it feel a bit empty. The sand pathing worked perfectly to tie the village all together with the seashell theme! Unfortunately, this version lasted literally 2 days before I decided to move everyone around again My island during April-June was pretty much a constant terraforming project, which is why I have a lot of old versions to share. I used a similar layout with the sand dollar table in the middle for Tabby's seashell village version later on. So that's all for my highlight on my old seashell village!

 

[dizzy bone]

Jambette's birthday!

Today was Jambette's birthday! Jambette has a special place in my heart because she was my very first villager I ever saw on my first mystery tour on Day 2! Even though I've been playing Animal Crossing since Wild World, for some reason I had always thought Jambette was a snooty villager (probably because of her heavy make up and lazy eye). I was psyched to find out very late that she was actually a normal this whole time. Normal villagers are very kind and sweet and their designs usually reflect this, but I was never that attached to them as much as I was with other personalities. Jambette is definitely the perfect normal for me. She's a combination of sassy and sweet and her juicy lips never fail to put a smile on my face! Happy birthday to the best frog

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Ever since the first villager birthday I celebrated on this island (Cyd's birthday) I started a tradition of taking a photo with my friend poqu holding hands in matching party outfits. This was the perfect opportunity to dress up as frogs for Jambette! I want to compile my other birthday posts at some point - so far I've celebrated 6 of my villager's birthdays already!

Btw here's the gift Jambette gave my friend Villagers have terrible gift giving taste.​

Here's how I decorated Jambette's front lawn for her big day. I had the birthday signs customised to green for Erik's birthday in July so it already matched her froggy colours perfectly!

Some extra shots of poqu and I messing around at Tansan Falls. ​

Here's a little throwback of the first day I met Jambette and my bulletin post after inviting her. Yes, I realise that this is a terrifying drawing of Jambette so I'm glad she got a glow up on my most recent bulletin post hahaha:

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[dizzy bone]

Spooky season's costume roundup!
autumn update series #5

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Tomorrow is finally halloween! I was a bit busy towards the end of the month so I didn't get to play as much as before, but I wanted to make a post to round up all the spooky, silly, and casual costumes I wore throughout October! I'm not creative with names but enjoy!​

⇦ Casual autumn devil (today's outfit)

⇧ Cavity Alien

⇧ Caterpillars with @Pyoopi

⇧ 1.) Hoodie friends 2.) Vacation Kappa 3.) Hanbok Ghost (with @poqu and @Peter taken at poqu's island of Puddles)

⇧ 1.) Angry star with Fya taken at her island of Westclaw 2.) Nightmare fuel baby

⇦ 1.) A wild thing 2.) Grape

⇧ 1.) Steampunk duck 2.) Playground bully

⇧ Pascal's dad. Second picture taken at @Soralan's island of Galactic during the fishing tourney (with @Pyoopi and @Koholint)

⇧ And finally, 1.) A bear wizerd 2.) Jambette the frog​

 

[dizzy bone]

Halloween on Tansan!
autumn update series #6

Halloween finally came and went on Tansan! It seems like the month of October has flown by so quickly. I had some plans to redo a large floor mural into a spooky themed-pattern for this night, but I didn't have time to do that. I sadly wasn't able to carry out a lot of my Halloween plans on the night either because I finished work late, but thankfully I was able to invite a few friends over for trick or treating and goofing around!

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I started the night off by playing on my own and handing out candy to my villagers to get the last remaining items. I had already played Halloween last weekend on a friend's island, so there were not many items and DIYs left for me to collect. By the end of the night I had like...15 jack robes.

Here's a compilation of my villagers in their scary halloween costumes. How dare they judge how scary my costumes were when they showed up looking like the cutest bunch of babies. I noticed that none of them wore the halloween outfits I gave them throughout October, but maybe it's because I only played for an hour and didn't log on at different times to see them change? My favourite costume was definitely Dizzy's orange flashy animal outfit!

Below are a few pictures of @poqu and @Peter 's visit for trick or treating!

Museum pumpkin display and the residential area's trick or treat street.

The view from Tansan falls.

The pirate market and the view from Old town.

My Halloween display by my house!

At one point during the event I got all my villagers to play tricks on me to see what each of their mischievous tricking animation looked like. Ursala's trick animation was my favourite! She looks like a playground bully.

And finally, here's a family photo of my villagers on Halloween. I realised that I didn't get many pictures of my villagers reacting to my haunts and taunts because I had visitors over for the event. So I decided to stage a photoshoot to see how they all looked doing the new reactions! Freya actually looks terrifying.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween celebrations (and enjoying the egg hunt if you are celebrating on the forums!)


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For my next entries I will likely continue my Villager Stories and Tansan highlights, as well as some of my plans and terraforming progress for my island redo. Although I said I would start the demolishing right after Halloween, I think I need another little AC break before I dive into hardcore terraforming again. If you want to see Tansan with pumpkin decorations, my DA-0488-2098-9558 has been updated for autumn. It will be the last update with this version of the island!

 

[dizzy bone]

Ursala visits her pals in her hometown
Villager Stories #4

Ursala with her sister Cupcake, her childhood friend Ike, and Ike's son Poko.
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For my next villager story I decided to draw a conversation I had with Ursala about the very first gift I gave her - flower sunglasses! I haven't gifted my villagers many clothing items after learning of the iron lamp gift suggestion so many of them are still rocking the same accessories I gave them ages ago. I'm happy she still loves that old pair!

Above is a polaroid snap Ursala gave to me of her visit back to her hometown to meet her friends and family! Since I had already drawn what I imagined Erik's grandmother looked like, I wanted to include a member of Ursala's family in the picture too. After looking at some bear cub designs for inspiration, I realised that there already was a villager from animal forest called Cupcake who looks like she could be related to Ursala! Continuing with the theme of villager pairs, I drew Ike as Ursala's childhood pal and included his son Poko, apparently another animal forest villager!

I imagine that maybe Ursala's hometown before Tansan was another island filled with bears and bear cubs. Ike was her neighbour who taught her how to fix a flat tire, and Cupcake was the older sister with a significant age gap that missed Ursala's childhood, but now wants to make up for the years she missed (idk lmao). She's obviously living her best life after not making it into any AC game after e+.