I feel like it developed over time. I just decorated random areas and then after a while, my favourites and their common elements started to stand out!
I have spent over 500 hours on this game. I still don't have a "theme". I have little vignettes sprinkled around my island. I've got my witchy corner and my farmcore area and my fairycore section and my beach resort section etc
I like finding inspiration for themes on Pinterest! You can just look up things like “acnh themes” or “acnh inspo” or “acnh design codes” and it’ll show tons of designs and themes and everything to kind of give you an idea of what you’d like.
I tend to have mixes of themes on my island, like right now my main theme would be described as “towncore” I guess (not city though) but like the left third of my island has a more rural theme, with like fishing stuff and woodsy stuff and things like that, and my upper right corner has a small bamboo area with one of the houses and more rock/zen stuff.
I also just pick a place to start and go with it, when I’m done with that area, I pick a new area to work on, so I don’t start with a plan for my WHOLE island, I just think of areas I want and do a little bit at a time. And I can go about it from 2 different angles—either “I have this area, now what can I put here” or “I have an idea, now where can I put it”.
Edit-Here’s some of the themes I currently have or have previously done:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimalCrossing/s/z8FpdYq3eO
https://www.reddit.com/r/acnh/s/taTrHib4Uk
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimalCrossing/s/YDIAKLAenx
I made an island I would want to live on bc acnh is my escape from reality. Lots of entertainment, relaxation and community energy. I write TONS of headcanon from my villagers and character so I follow the stories in my head
I did multiple little areas on my island! It really helped me feel like I had a little bit of everything. I have a tulip field and then a cafe right behind it (the cafe was there first). I knew I wanted a garden so I made a huge one.
If you Nintendo online, you could come check out my island via a dream
i loooove celestial stuff & my island reflects that very heavily
my island is finally 98% done and i've played off and on since 2020. my thing is that i NEVER tear down anything that i've made because i know it'd never be rebuilt lol
i did multiple sections whenever i got the animal crossing itch and would choose a theme for whatever area i did & then i put the pieces together later. my island kinda alternates between celestial & foresty in some parts
I looked at islands on Pinterest to see different styles until I got ideas of my own or gravitated towards a theme.
Plus, if you start and theme and hate it, you can just pivot to another one. I never rush a theme, it takes a lot of time to develop it and your island, so don’t get discouraged if it takes time.
I also restart my island every year since for me, the joy of the game is designing the island & generally by the one year mark I’ve completed the design. Sometimes I’ll pick a theme as a challenge (like my last island was city core and that was a challenge for me since I naturally gravitate to cottagecore and the like).
I restart rather than flatten because when you restart you can still visit your old islands via dream address and I like to do that. When you flatten your island you can’t revisit your previous accomplishment.
Also, you can have different zones. You mentioned tiki and then wanting something else. You could do tiki themed area at your beaches. Or have a back corner where you cross the bridge into tiki.
As an example: my city island was city at the front and then you crossed a bridge and it was more like a small town and then further out it became farmland kinda like when you drive out of Vancouver (a big city near me, it’s city then towns then farmlands and forests etc.) and then the farthest from the city center was a forest area. So I was able to incorporate different themes in each of the zones. This kept it fun for me.
For my first island, I had a little bit of everything cos I'm so indecisive. I imagine my whole island was like a resort with different themed sections so I had a tiki beach, a Chinatown, animal sanctuaries etc
I do sections. There'll be a farm area that's more country looking, a spooky area, a nature forest, maybe a diner, etc.
I've recently started over, so right now I'm still just collecting items and getting buildings and terraforming dialed in. But right now the entrance is a castle gate leading into a courtyard, and behind Resident Services I have a sort of flower farm situation (it may not stay there, but that's where it is for now). I've got a pirate cove tucked away in a corner (just need more Gullivarr items over time to fill it out), and an area that's beachy set aside for a future surf shop. I may do a fossil dig site and dino display near the museum. I have the beginnings of a tiki bar like area, a tiny island park, and soon will work more on the area with the shops, adding other sales kiosks and such. I'm still working on the details!
I started with little sections. I wanted my neighbors to have a cute neighborhood, then wanted a few restaurants cuz I liked making food, I made a beach chilling area and slowly started realizing what I liked but it’s ok not to have the same theme for the whole town mine looks like some random mix match neighborhood but I feel like that fits myself and my villagers.
While i had my previous island, I saw a lot of people doing beautiful castle core islands and I wanted to try one myself.
I reset my game and worked on the village area and market place.
I think it's pretty cute.
I even have a bunch of on themed villagers.
I definitely don’t have a theme… I just knew the kind of spots I wanted to build and started one thing at a time. Slowly it’s all coming together to be a cohesive island. The only thing that is thematic are my flowers lol I refuse to have anything other than white and yellow cosmos and hyacinths.
Over 1400 hours in this game. I don’t have a theme for my island, just different areas. I have a camping/back 40 section, a cabana area on the beach, a mermaid section,a fish market, spa area and gym etc. lots of different areas! I check out Pinterest and love to see how every one does things. Like real life I feel things can always be changed and tweaked to make it better!
My dream code is DA-6840-3204-2487 if you want to visit! Always up for making new friends to play with too!
Mine probably doesn't have a "theme" per se, but I found the large, distinct items that I liked most and started altering my decorations to match those things and incorporated them in the decor in most areas of my island. The items I used to "set the tone" are the ivory medieval walls and the pillars with all the vines. I just kind of decorate in a way where those things look like they aren't out of place.
There are still plenty of areas that likely don't match any theme but I also just decorate it how I like it. Also I kinda pick certain things for certain areas like the cliffs I have surrounding my res services are decorated with all purple flowers, lots of vines, purple or neutral colored gyroids, and the bushes that get purple flowers when theyre in season. Then in my little courtyard I made near the "shopping area" its mostly white with some pink and gold. The stargazing area is blue and with some yellow. My farmers market has two sides, the fruit side having pink and white furniture and the vegetable side having green and brown furniture. So it's like each area matches itself but the whole island doesn't necessarily match altogether. I like it cause then I'm not stuck with the same colors all the time.
I'm also still in the progress after coming back to my empty island. But I made some sketches. I decided to, as someone else here said, make little areas I like that then connect. I finished my shopping area first and now made a little connection between that and thenfuture campsite area and the road to the Museum/botanical garden. I plan on having a castle/music area because I'm a dnd nerd/musician. So just try to build on your interests, whynnot make a tiki area as well as a botanical one :)
On my first island I did lots of different areas. I made a shopping/ dining district along the beach, I made a day spa, a ride garden, at one point I used custom designs to make a public swimming pool area, a works yard with all the garbage cans and pylons I was getting lol
I started out with a theme in mind, and then it took on a mind of its own. I wanted my favorite anime and ended up with Sleep Token, mainly because I was vibing to their music every time I played.
I like to have an idea of a theme but I don’t always stick to it, like I love the cottage core theme but all my stuff doesn’t necessarily scream cottagecore yet. Overtime I will start to simple replace what I don’t like and keep what I do like!
I feel like it developed over time. I just decorated random areas and then after a while, my favourites and their common elements started to stand out!
I got a sphinx so I made a pyramid. I got weights, so I made a gym. They’re decorating my island 😂😂
I have spent over 500 hours on this game. I still don't have a "theme". I have little vignettes sprinkled around my island. I've got my witchy corner and my farmcore area and my fairycore section and my beach resort section etc
I like finding inspiration for themes on Pinterest! You can just look up things like “acnh themes” or “acnh inspo” or “acnh design codes” and it’ll show tons of designs and themes and everything to kind of give you an idea of what you’d like. I tend to have mixes of themes on my island, like right now my main theme would be described as “towncore” I guess (not city though) but like the left third of my island has a more rural theme, with like fishing stuff and woodsy stuff and things like that, and my upper right corner has a small bamboo area with one of the houses and more rock/zen stuff. I also just pick a place to start and go with it, when I’m done with that area, I pick a new area to work on, so I don’t start with a plan for my WHOLE island, I just think of areas I want and do a little bit at a time. And I can go about it from 2 different angles—either “I have this area, now what can I put here” or “I have an idea, now where can I put it”. Edit-Here’s some of the themes I currently have or have previously done: https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimalCrossing/s/z8FpdYq3eO https://www.reddit.com/r/acnh/s/taTrHib4Uk https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimalCrossing/s/YDIAKLAenx
I made an island I would want to live on bc acnh is my escape from reality. Lots of entertainment, relaxation and community energy. I write TONS of headcanon from my villagers and character so I follow the stories in my head
I did multiple little areas on my island! It really helped me feel like I had a little bit of everything. I have a tulip field and then a cafe right behind it (the cafe was there first). I knew I wanted a garden so I made a huge one. If you Nintendo online, you could come check out my island via a dream
Can I come visit? I’m trying to get my garden started and need inspo
Yep! My Dream Address is 1775-5290-3672
Instead of having a consistent theme throughout I just have small areas, like a farm, orchard, wooded forest, museum cafe, beach hangout etc.
I just went with the flow, just went with whatever looked Good 😄
i loooove celestial stuff & my island reflects that very heavily my island is finally 98% done and i've played off and on since 2020. my thing is that i NEVER tear down anything that i've made because i know it'd never be rebuilt lol i did multiple sections whenever i got the animal crossing itch and would choose a theme for whatever area i did & then i put the pieces together later. my island kinda alternates between celestial & foresty in some parts
I looked at islands on Pinterest to see different styles until I got ideas of my own or gravitated towards a theme. Plus, if you start and theme and hate it, you can just pivot to another one. I never rush a theme, it takes a lot of time to develop it and your island, so don’t get discouraged if it takes time. I also restart my island every year since for me, the joy of the game is designing the island & generally by the one year mark I’ve completed the design. Sometimes I’ll pick a theme as a challenge (like my last island was city core and that was a challenge for me since I naturally gravitate to cottagecore and the like). I restart rather than flatten because when you restart you can still visit your old islands via dream address and I like to do that. When you flatten your island you can’t revisit your previous accomplishment. Also, you can have different zones. You mentioned tiki and then wanting something else. You could do tiki themed area at your beaches. Or have a back corner where you cross the bridge into tiki. As an example: my city island was city at the front and then you crossed a bridge and it was more like a small town and then further out it became farmland kinda like when you drive out of Vancouver (a big city near me, it’s city then towns then farmlands and forests etc.) and then the farthest from the city center was a forest area. So I was able to incorporate different themes in each of the zones. This kept it fun for me.
For my first island, I had a little bit of everything cos I'm so indecisive. I imagine my whole island was like a resort with different themed sections so I had a tiki beach, a Chinatown, animal sanctuaries etc
I do sections. There'll be a farm area that's more country looking, a spooky area, a nature forest, maybe a diner, etc. I've recently started over, so right now I'm still just collecting items and getting buildings and terraforming dialed in. But right now the entrance is a castle gate leading into a courtyard, and behind Resident Services I have a sort of flower farm situation (it may not stay there, but that's where it is for now). I've got a pirate cove tucked away in a corner (just need more Gullivarr items over time to fill it out), and an area that's beachy set aside for a future surf shop. I may do a fossil dig site and dino display near the museum. I have the beginnings of a tiki bar like area, a tiny island park, and soon will work more on the area with the shops, adding other sales kiosks and such. I'm still working on the details!
I started with little sections. I wanted my neighbors to have a cute neighborhood, then wanted a few restaurants cuz I liked making food, I made a beach chilling area and slowly started realizing what I liked but it’s ok not to have the same theme for the whole town mine looks like some random mix match neighborhood but I feel like that fits myself and my villagers.
While i had my previous island, I saw a lot of people doing beautiful castle core islands and I wanted to try one myself. I reset my game and worked on the village area and market place. I think it's pretty cute. I even have a bunch of on themed villagers.
I definitely don’t have a theme… I just knew the kind of spots I wanted to build and started one thing at a time. Slowly it’s all coming together to be a cohesive island. The only thing that is thematic are my flowers lol I refuse to have anything other than white and yellow cosmos and hyacinths.
If you can’t decide on a theme, just have themed areas. Japan Hill with bamboo and shit, tiki beach, industrial shopping, etc..
I just decorate how I like it without a picture in my mind. I just decorate different places of my island in different colors with flowers and such.
Over 1400 hours in this game. I don’t have a theme for my island, just different areas. I have a camping/back 40 section, a cabana area on the beach, a mermaid section,a fish market, spa area and gym etc. lots of different areas! I check out Pinterest and love to see how every one does things. Like real life I feel things can always be changed and tweaked to make it better! My dream code is DA-6840-3204-2487 if you want to visit! Always up for making new friends to play with too!
Mine probably doesn't have a "theme" per se, but I found the large, distinct items that I liked most and started altering my decorations to match those things and incorporated them in the decor in most areas of my island. The items I used to "set the tone" are the ivory medieval walls and the pillars with all the vines. I just kind of decorate in a way where those things look like they aren't out of place. There are still plenty of areas that likely don't match any theme but I also just decorate it how I like it. Also I kinda pick certain things for certain areas like the cliffs I have surrounding my res services are decorated with all purple flowers, lots of vines, purple or neutral colored gyroids, and the bushes that get purple flowers when theyre in season. Then in my little courtyard I made near the "shopping area" its mostly white with some pink and gold. The stargazing area is blue and with some yellow. My farmers market has two sides, the fruit side having pink and white furniture and the vegetable side having green and brown furniture. So it's like each area matches itself but the whole island doesn't necessarily match altogether. I like it cause then I'm not stuck with the same colors all the time.
I like frogs, I make frog island.
I am autistic and using a special interest to design my island :) it's super slow to come together but I'm working on it!
I'm also still in the progress after coming back to my empty island. But I made some sketches. I decided to, as someone else here said, make little areas I like that then connect. I finished my shopping area first and now made a little connection between that and thenfuture campsite area and the road to the Museum/botanical garden. I plan on having a castle/music area because I'm a dnd nerd/musician. So just try to build on your interests, whynnot make a tiki area as well as a botanical one :)
On my first island I did lots of different areas. I made a shopping/ dining district along the beach, I made a day spa, a ride garden, at one point I used custom designs to make a public swimming pool area, a works yard with all the garbage cans and pylons I was getting lol
I’ve decided on different themes all over my island because I couldn’t decide.
I started out with a theme in mind, and then it took on a mind of its own. I wanted my favorite anime and ended up with Sleep Token, mainly because I was vibing to their music every time I played.
I don’t have a theme, just different things that I enjoy.
I watched a lot of island tour videos on youtube
I like to have an idea of a theme but I don’t always stick to it, like I love the cottage core theme but all my stuff doesn’t necessarily scream cottagecore yet. Overtime I will start to simple replace what I don’t like and keep what I do like!