Terraforming and the Pursuit of “Perfection”
Three days ago, I was finally able to roll credits in Animal Crossing New Horizons, and therefore unlocking the terraforming feature of the game. As you can tell, I haven't written anything since then precisely because I have been busy in-game trying to figure out how to craft and hone my island the way I'd like it to look like. (I am writing this midday as opposed to a nightly writing sesh because I know that if I pushed any of this back further, I wouldn't be able to write at all!)
Let me get this out of the way first – the hype of the game slightly ruins your perception of how you think you should be playing. Besides the time-traveling issue, I admit I jumped in the bandwagon two weeks late, so as we speak, everyone else who had the first dibs on the game since day one has had the terraforming option for a while now; everyone else's island looks perfect. They, my friends included, have so much more stuff, are able to freely hunt for dreamies now that housekeeping is out of the way, and their game screenshots feel like an unattainable dream. So when I unlocked this limitless potential, I was stuck and totally overwhelmed. So many possibilities! What to do first? But the thought that struck me the most is – how was I going to make it look like everyone else's, perfect?
It took me a few hours running around in-game and scrolling through endless images on the net to realize that 1) there was no way I could make it look like that with the limited amount of bells I had in my purse, and 2) did I want my island to look like that anyway? My brother, who also plays the game, got fed up with me ranting and said, “Do whatever feels right. Like gut-instinct right”.
So I abandon all previous ideas I had and just went with the flow – I kept my natural river path and just added a bit of cliff, following the original curve. I didn't start with my house, but with my villagers instead – like a victor's village in a sense. Three days down, and I've added a tiny hidden path to an eventual spot for the museum, a bamboo grove at the very top, and slowly working on a private little beach at the back of my island. It looks all very basic and less modern (think of a tiny rural village with more grass than pavement), but this feels just right for me.
It won't be picture-perfect, but I'll still be posting my progress on Twitter! All that effort and time I put should still be up there.
6/100
I'm currently doing a challenge called “100 Days to Offload” – you can join in the fun too by visiting https://100daystooffload.com
If you'd like, drop me a message here – I would be absolutely thrilled to hear from you!