What makes your island your island?

[Moritz]

And it can't just be a theme like cottagecore lol
If it is, what did you do to make it yours?

For me, I wanted an island with a cold melancholic brick city.
Sort of like an old city, turned council estate.
In the middle of autumn.

I was nailing it until I decided I didn't like being stuck to a theme.
I'm still on theme, but some deviations, which are touches of me.
References to my favourite show and my old island.

How about you?

 

[Croconaw]

I don’t really have a theme. I just included things that I liked. I have a hockey rink on my island as a huge hockey fan. I never really stuck to a theme. I just wanted a natural island with things on the island that I liked.

 

[Moritz]

I don’t really have a theme. I just included things that I liked. I have a hockey rink on my island as a huge hockey fan. I never really stuck to a theme. I just wanted a natural island with things on the island that I liked.

No theme is a lot more fun in my opinion
It allows you to just do whatever you feel like wherever you feel like. And then your island is all you.

I ended up with a theme because I have 2 switches. One had my main island, and the other was just one to mess around with.
I reset switch 2s island a lot. Messing around with layouts and ideas. Just for fun.

But then switch 2 ended up with an island I loved more than my main island.

So after a lot of thought, I reset my main island, and kept resetting until I got an identical map. And remade the island from switch 2 on my main console.

Now it's my main island, the theme is only partly there.
But the bricks everywhere is never leaving, and the autumn stuff has to stay. The island is literally called autumn.

But I have an ice area. A star area. A forest. A mausoleum.
Lots of stuff

 

[RemMomori]

I don't have a theme either but here is what makes my island mine:

-References to my favorite games. I made my own paths, face paint, and signs based on my favorite characters and put them all around the island.

-Having some of my favorite villagers on my island. Two of the villagers I have Wolfgang and Nan, were actually two of my starting villagers from City Folk, the first animal crossing game I played.

-Just putting stuff I liked wherever. I currently have a library next to a pool which is above a restaurant and a casino-like area. It doesn't make much sense but these are all things I wanted on the island. I tried to plan my island once after I flattened it a year ago but I didn't like the plan I came up with very much and basically did whatever I wanted.

 

[QueenCobra]

Gyroids everywhere and a custom sumo sign (with face-hole) on the beach.

 

[Moritz]

Gyroids everywhere and a custom sumo sign (with face-hole) on the beach.

Does the sign mean something or is it just a funny sign?

 

[QueenCobra]

It’s one of those touristy boards (don’t know the word for it) where you stick your face in the facehole and get your photo taken. I did a custom design and drew a sumo wrestler (love watching it), so you could stick your face in the facehole.

Post automatically merged: Jun 17, 2022

Does the sign mean something or is it just a funny sign?

It’s one of those touristy boards (don’t know the word for it) where you stick your face in the facehole and get your photo taken. I did a custom design and drew a sumo wrestler (love watching it), so you could stick your face in the facehole.

 

[Moritz]

It’s one of those touristy boards (don’t know the word for it) where you stick your face in the facehole and get your photo taken. I did a custom design and drew a sumo wrestler (love watching it), so you could stick your face in the facehole.

Post automatically merged: Jun 17, 2022

It’s one of those touristy boards (don’t know the word for it) where you stick your face in the facehole and get your photo taken. I did a custom design and drew a sumo wrestler (love watching it), so you could stick your face in the facehole.

Ah so it is just for laughs.
Always love it when an island has a spark of fun to it.

Too many islands out there with no life to them.
Someone willing to have some personalty is always awesome

 

[CrankyCupcake]

My island is an island with just 3 bridges and everything I like on it. Very rustic. It's full of hardwood trees so that I can take lots of pictures of pretty sakura in spring and gorgeous foliage in autumn. It has an area that grows is dedicated to glowing moss balloons because I love glowing moss balloons! There is a mushroom forest. Flowers everywhere so that I can take self-indulgent snapshots. Beaches are beaches, not prime commercial beachfront property. Only horseshoe crabs, snapping turtles, seaweed, shells, sandcastles built by my lazy islanders and the occasional soggy heap colloquially called Gulliver. Last but not least, my island is a fence-free island. This means I can walk anywhere and everywhere however I wish. There are no fences to tell me "WALK THAT WAY."

 

[skarmoury]

There’s a rich, rich backstory behind my villagers. My island is heavily inspired by modern Japan and anime/manga school tropes, so y’know there’s gotta be a whole high school drama fit for the theme.

Spoiler: rambling

(In very very brief summary: Bea and Genji like each other, but they’re both emotionally constipated. Genji‘s sister is Ruby, who is best friends with Felicity, who has a past with Genji. Lobo likes Ruby (but not vice versa), but Vivian likes Lobo. Julian sees Ruby as his baby sister and is overprotective of her, thus hating Lobo. Shep and Fuschia are just supporting characters and friends with Genji/Lobo/Vivian. Same with Sherb, who is close friends with Bea; he’s pretty much just chill too.

In the grand scheme of things, they all have an important role in high school. but detailing everything would take up so much space LOL.)

In essence, the villagers are what sets my island apart from the rest.

In other news, I made a new island named Tanpopo, which is Japanese for dandelion. I’m planning to make it a sort of run-down/“abandoned” village so I don’t have to be too meticulous with terraforming and planning LOL. I like the thought of plants overgrowing the island so I’m going with that. Similar to my first island, what I think sets apart this island from the rest of the abandoned city themes is the backstory and villagers. I saw a line somewhere that said, “Everyone comes here for a reason.” and that struck me. No one wants to live in a run-down village just for a vacation or something, and I liked the idea that every one of the villagers has a deeper reason for staying there.

 

[themysterybidder]

I don't have a theme, whenever I see something I buy it. I have a lot of coloured floor lights around my island as I love them, especially at night. But I have just started a second island, so might go for a theme with that one since I know how the game works now. It looks like an everyday place you would live, apart from the fairground area so I would say that makes it my island. Villagers go in and look at the rides, sometimes they enjoy them that much they sit for a while studying the teacup ride going round and round.

 

[kayleee]

I don’t really have a theme, I just made my island a place I would enjoy actually living - it feels pretty cozy to me and has touches that relate to my interests. It’s not super colorful or crowded, it just feels relaxed and comfortable.

 

[Vintersol]

I love to have as many ponds I can have in a row that follows the train station. 4-5, and one in a complete other spot so I have a pond near my villager area. I want retail and town hall in same row as the ponds. Plaza can be wherever. I want my own beach and incline where I put my house. + South river.

I have lilies that follows the river. It is my fave flower.

Other then that I do not know yet. I am a new nl player so I just found a map I love. Took a while figure out what I wantet.

I saw this is new hoirzon

 

[dizzy bone]

My island is a regular city theme inspired by my memories of when I lived in Korea. Most of the shops have signs that I drew based on neighborhood shops I remember. All the paths and patterns are made by me because I wanted a personal touch that no other island had, even if it was a similar theme to others.

But what makes it uniquely Tansan are the villagers. I tried to make it their island as much as it is mine. Ever since the beginning I always tried my best to landscape the island based around their appearance/personalities/house exteriors. I've kept the same villagers since launch aside from 3, so my island also gradually developed around them. Scoot and Ursala, my starters, always lived together because their houses were very similar.. so a little neighborhood developed around them. I also tried not to stray from their original color schemes when redesigning their exteriors. Ken and Hamphrey also had similar exteriors so I always put them in their own village. They've gone from a little japanese village to a fishing village over the years. I never wanted to change Cyd's grungy house much, so I developed a seedy beach district dedicated to him near nook's cranny that became my shopping district.

 

[Bluebellie]

I know you said it cant be a theme, but i think it can be. Just like my island name “Melancolia,” my island has a gloomy theme. It reflect my asthetics, so in a way I made it my own. I made my island sort of gothic/gloomy, which is what I’m known for.

Its also a continuation to my new leaf town. Sometimes I prefer to refer to my island as a town rather than an island because it still feels like I never stopped playing new leaf. Many islanders and villagers made it back from new leaf as well. I had four characters on new leaf, and two of those I recreated on new horizons. They both kept the same looks, and some of their house rooms from before. I have a particular way of designing where i like to make things cute, but look run down at the same time, and I incorporated that into my whole island.

I also really love creating personal signs. Signage around my island i like to create my self rather than getting them online. I think it give its a personal touch. I thought it was really fun creating them in new leaf, and ive brought back again some of my previous designs, and added a bunch of new ones.

Though my island has messy areas, I like to think of it as a sort of organized mess. Everything is placed strategically. That also represents me. I hate getting stuck or lost navigating, so i made my island very symmetrical. I also made it so that i don't have to use any ladders or pole, or have to hop from place to place.

I love my island. I dont think i would love playing it if it didn't have a theme

 

[Imbri]

I don't really try to stick to a theme, but I do like more natural looks. I planned my island so that it is more developed near the airport, and becomes more woodsy as you move back and up.

I also included some whimsical areas, like a fairy village with dollhouses and stunted trees; a gnome council at a stone table with gold and jewels around them; and a "treehouse" built up on a rise with trees and vines all around the base.

I keep a gnome-run stall near the dock that changes with the seasons. Right now, it's a surf shop. There's a flamingo breeding ground tucked into a small area of beach, with weeds, moss, and bamboo. The nests are mush stools and Bunny Day eggs are in each one.

There are little things tucked all around, that don't really mean much, but I feel they show my personality and interests. Other people may have done similar things, but collectively, it makes my island unique.

 

[Disneyfangirl23]

Idk really XD

 

[Flicky]

Probably that there are multiple areas to it, rather than one dedicated theme.

I'd also say that the villagers each having their own personality and home outside of what the game assigns to them is also something that makes it feel like my own.

 

[Rosch]

Hmmm. If I have kept my idea of theming my island around jock/fitness-only villagers, then I guess it would be unique. But I discarded it.

So currently, my island is not really all that different to others. But I gurss there's one distinguishing feature of my island that I kept, which is my Zen Muscle Lake. It's a lake shaped like a bodybuilder flexing, which is the same shape as my Flexmont island flag. It's surrounded by bamboo and has a Japanese zen garden motif.

 

[ZeldaCrossing64]

I actually have a very subtle Majora's Mask reference on my island represented with certain pieces of furniture.

Southern: Wooden fish and trumpet
Northern: Fake rock statue and timpani drums
Western: Sea bass and guitar
Eastern: Ocarina and skull radio

Those items represent the races that are in those respective regions (Deku, Goron, Zora, and Hylian/Terminian) as well as the instruments you play when you transform into those races via the masks (trumpet, drums, guitar, and ocarina).