What sort of gimmick/theme do you want in the next Animal Crossing game?

[piratemiffy]

Since New Leaf was about being a mayor and New Horizons is about an island getaway, it's sort of unclear what direction the franchise could take next. Other people have said this, but I'm personally hoping the next game gives the player less power over their neighbors and lets them return to being an ordinary citizen.

As for the gimmick I'd like in the next game, I feel like working for Tom Nook again would be really fun. I think there would be a way to do it where it's still an escape from the real world. (For instance, unlimited days off or working whenever you choose, like how it was for The Roost in New Leaf.) Maybe he dips his toes into the hospitality industry and hires you as the manager for his hotel.. it would be fun to decorate the rooms and try to attract your favorite villager with their preferred furniture style and amenities. Maybe you could even hire them as your coworkers..! Ah, but being a villager's manager and being their mayor is pretty much the same, huh?

(Talking about managers made me wonder what a game about being K.K. Slider's talent agent would be like. It wouldn't fit the theme of the series at all but I'm curious all the same.)

 

[Croconaw]

Whatever happens, I’d just prefer the villagers to not move out without your permission. I like not having to worry about your favorite villagers leaving. That’s one aspect of New Horizons I love.

 

[Xara]

i’d be fine with anything tbh, though i would like if we returned to living in a town again like we did in the gamecube version, wild world, city folk and new leaf. the island in new horizons is cool and was a nice change, but i think i prefer towns. felt more homely and community-like to me, if that makes sense haha.

i enjoyed being mayor in new leaf, but i wouldn’t mind if we stayed a normal resident from now on as long as we keep the control we have in new horizons — choosing where buildings go, being able to relocate them etc. also don’t want villagers to go back to being able to move out without permission like @/Croconaw said.

 

[piratemiffy]

i’d be fine with anything tbh, though i would like if we returned to living in a town again like we did in the gamecube version, wild world, city folk and new leaf. the island in new horizons is cool and was a nice change, but i think i prefer towns. felt more homely and community-like to me, if that makes sense haha.

i enjoyed being mayor in new leaf, but i wouldn’t mind if we stayed a normal resident from now on as long as we keep the control we have in new horizons — choosing where buildings go, being able to relocate them etc. also don’t want villagers to go back to being able to move out without permission like @/Croconaw said.

hmmm, but aren't being a normal resident and being able to control where buildings go and when villagers move out antithetical to each other?

 

[Xara]

hmmm, but aren't being a normal resident and being able to control where buildings go and when villagers move out antithetical to each other?

haha true. i didn’t really mean normal resident as in we don’t have any control or we’re like the villagers, i more-so meant normal as in we don’t have a title or job attached to us, like mayor or island rep.

 

[-Blue-]

Hot air balloons. And animals living in/on a giant sized tree. I don't know how, but I just want to see it.

 

[nightglow]

Being able to sell your town after you reach certain goals and start a new town with a new town name. That way you can start over without really starting over. Also I want berry bushes to be a thing. Blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry. Also I'd like to see a dragon fruit plant or prickly pear plant some functional desert plants that grows in sand terrain. Also, yes villagers being unable to leave without your permission.

 

[spicedb]

I think it would be pretty cool if the game takes place on an oasis or somewhere with extreme weather

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

I personally want a gimmick that would be very fun: TIME TRAVEL. This could be how they handle Mystery Tours! Think about it: You step into a time machine, the animal in charge sets it to a date for the 1 of the 1st 3 AC games (PG, WW, and CF), and you go and meet a villager that hasn't returned from those games. If you want them to live in your town, you can play a game which involves a quiz (think of Super Paper Mario's Chapter 2 Merlee quiz or PM64's Chuck Quizmo), and if you win they agree to live in your town. You have infinite tries, so don't sweat it if you fail! After the animal agrees, they begin to follow you. Lead them back to the time machine, and they will remark on it looking "strange for an airplane..." (this is something that is designed by the player at the opening sequence), but board it anyways. From there, a menu will pop up, asking the player whether or not they want to keep the animal's model the same as it was in the game it's from, or if they want it to be updated to go along with the times. These options about the model are purely for aesthetic, and serve no gameplay purposes. After being brought back to your town, the animal will follow you to Nook's real estate operation (I've named it Tanuki Towers), and Nook will leave their house's location up to you. Once the plot is put down and you return to Nook, the animal will show a worried emote, and lament about where they will sleep for the night. Your character, who understands the situation, lets the animal sleep at their house for the night while their house is being built.

Sorry for the WALL OF TEXT, but I fleshed this idea out a TON.

 

[VanitasFan26]

Maybe the gimmick I am thinking of is to bond with your villagers and the more you do that the more rewards you get from them. Kinda like in Pocket Camp where if you do favors for your villagers that you get a level up in friendship and you unlock a lot of items. I always enjoyed that and I wish it can be part of the mainline AC game because it would encourage to talk to your villagers more often.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Being able to create your own songs and music using in game tools and instruments. I want to be able to make more of my own music beyond your town/island’s anthem. Let us arrange a full arrangement of Jingle Bells complete with bells and chimes for Christmas or even Funky Town using electronic noises. It’d give character to each piece of music you make and you could even have customized songs to play on stereos.

 

[Flymystical_DJ]

I'd like the abilities granted in NH to be balanced so that the pacing can return to that of the originals. The ability to chose if I want a small town in the forest or a big city like in city folk. Just something that makes me feel like I'm getting something out of choosing not to go customize every fine point and taking things slow.

I'm thinking the gimmick could be setting up a variety of businesses for Tom Nook with each one granting the player some of the abilities from NH like picking up trees, placing items in the world, etc. If the player chooses to get all of the businesses they will be as capable as they were in NH but there town would be considered a "big city" and certain travelers who prefer small towns wouldn't stop by like K.K. or the Flick. Likewise, other characters like the fortune teller would only appear in Big Cities where there is a lot more potential business. This would encourage both kinds of types of players to play the way they want AND interact and work together!

 

[projectx1991]

I really want the next game to have different choices for your “settlement”.

Desert? Glacier? Forest? Jungle?

It would give such variety and need for different fruit and veg. Perhaps certain veg can’t grow outside in the glacier setting and needs to be in a greenhouse or inside? Ice can’t be found in the Desert etc

That would mean different shops, mystery tours (with Kapp’n and Dodo Air/Land) would have a greater purpose in the game and players would have customisation without it feeling like the only way to customise is up craft and decorate with objects.

I want a better soundtrack, old dialogue brought back for villagers (especially the grumpy villager dialogue), Gracie to return, better shops and furniture sets and, for God’s sake, bring back Pete, Pelly and my Queen - Phyllis!

 

[McRibbie]

I'd also add that WW's gimmick was "exploring the characters of the AC world" and LGTTC's was... uhh... "let's go to the city"!

IMO, a lot of fan gimmicks for AC just end up overcomplicating things or going "what if we were able to choose different ways of playing?" (then the game would end up lacking as a result of trying to spread itself too thin, let's be honest here).

Ultimately I just want something that feels new while still recognisably feeling like Animal Crossing. That's it.

 

[Ossiran]

I'd honestly just prefer to go back to the days of just being in a villager. For things like ordinances and stuff, they could implement a system where you can petition Town Hall/Resident Services/etc.

 

[JKDOS]

To be honest, I don't think we need any gimmicks, aside from what we're already familiar with. I think New Leaf was the perfect formula. You have a small town you are responsible for developing, and attached to this town is a shopping district / strip mall.

Having an island in Animal Crossing isn't a bad idea. What was a bad idea was making that island the main town. If we had a town, and an island on the side we could decorate and populate, that wouldn't be so bad. I guess that is the only gimmick I would want. Make an island an additional area to our main towns. This would be almost similar to the way the Gamecube did it, but better.

 

[McRibbie]

To be honest, I don't think we need any gimmicks, aside from what we're already familiar with. I think New Leaf was the perfect formula. You have a small town you are responsible for developing, and attached to this town is a shopping district / strip mall.

Change it to a separate city, otherwise it runs the risk of making your town the narrative centre of the AC universe, which is the complete opposite of what your AC town SHOULD be, imo (ie. it's a fairly sparsely populated town in the middle of nowhere)

 

[JKDOS]

Change it to a separate city, otherwise it runs the risk of making your town the narrative centre of the AC universe, which is the complete opposite of what your AC town SHOULD be, imo (ie. it's a fairly sparsely populated town in the middle of nowhere)

I feel like New Leaf did it fine without making your town feel like the center. It was just another stop along a train route. I also enjoyed seeing villagers on mainstreet who were just visiting your town to go shopping.

The one problem with separating the shopping area from the town is that you'll have to go through dialogue and cutscenes just to get there, and could possible cause complications for multiplayer. However, I suppose it would allow Nintendo to put more work into the design of the environment if it was a separate map from your town.

 

[Flymystical_DJ]

Here's a Grab Bag of random ones I thought of:

- Game is a pack in title pre-installed on the Super Switch and has a lot of interactivity with Super Switch games like furniture for completing achievements and animals commenting on what you've been playing.

- Game is forced online and plays heavily into location based events and holidays. Want thanksgiving? Need to play with a USA Switch account during thanksgiving or visit someone with a USA switch account during thanksgiving.

- (Stole this one) Animal Crossing goes open world. Your city is as customizable as the one in NH but the world outside of it is as customizable as the village in PG (villagers moving in/out without permission, can't place furniture, etc.) I hate the "open world" trend but a randomized open world would be interesting in the way the original Animal Crossing's randomized village was which would be a cute way to return to their roots and a simple way of pleasing all types of fans.

- New Frontier: instead of a small island, you get an entire PLANET to customize

 

[JKDOS]

Here's a Grab Bag of random ones I thought of:

- Game is a pack in title pre-installed on the Super Switch and has a lot of interactivity with Super Switch games like furniture for completing achievements and animals commenting on what you've been playing.

- Game is forced online and plays heavily into location based events and holidays. Want thanksgiving? Need to play with a USA Switch account during thanksgiving or visit someone with a USA switch account during thanksgiving.

- (Stole this one) Animal Crossing goes open world. Your city is as customizable as the one in NH but the world outside of it is as customizable as the village in PG (villagers moving in/out without permission, can't place furniture, etc.) I hate the "open world" trend but a randomized open world would be interesting in the way the original Animal Crossing's randomized village was which would be a cute way to return to their roots and a simple way of pleasing all types of fans.

- New Frontier: instead of a small island, you get an entire PLANET to customize

What is Super Switch?

While it's rare I play a game without internet connection these days, it would limit gameplay for a lot of people to make it an online game. I also don't believe in region locking items and events. I do feel like there should be more variety in events though. Like Option A: release a new Christmas event every Christmas. Option B: Create a set number of Christmas events, and cycle through them each year. That way every Christmas there is something new to do that separates it from last year.... Also, let us celebrate foreign holidays for real, and not just get a mention and item.

Open world would be amazing if there was a world to explore outside of your town. Open World games are the only games worth playing as they are the only genre of games that offer you a bang for your buck.

Having the whole world is probably a better concept for a spin off game.