The Architects of Animal Crossing: Inside The World Of Island Designing
Words by Maya Bewley
If you’re like me, a solid portion of your childhood was consumed glued to a Nintendo DS. After desperately begging your mum for months on end, she’d caved in and Christmas day was spent trying to set up the tiny electronic console (you chose pink, because it was the best colour). Out of all the hours on Brain Training and Nintendogs, one game took the proverbial biscuit: Animal Crossing. Its premise is simple. You walk around a town, doing menial tasks and chatting to fussy animals while becoming eternally indebted to resident raccoon Tom Nook. It may not sound riveting, but it’s basically the pixelated equivalent of comfort food. So when a new AC game was released mid-pandemic, the world went understandably mad for a nostalgic haven from the hellscape of 2020. The revived version brought more opportunities than ever to be creative and design pretty much every aspect of an in-game ‘island’. Over a year on, a community of island designing has lodged itself firmly into the cyberspace of subreddits, Tumblr pages and Twitch streams.
Animal Crossing New Horizons
Type in ‘Animal Crossing Island Tour’ on YouTube and you’ll come across hundreds of videos proudly parading a cute little character around their island. Each has its own meticulously crafted aesthetic - ‘Forestcore’, ‘Rustic’, ‘Vintage’, ‘Tropical’ - names that all sound like they’ve been lifted from a Pinterest board. Watch one and you’ll discover that they’ve spent days, even months fine tuning every detail: from the picnic table to the particular flower by a lake. It’s both fascinating and charming to witness. But what’s behind the obsession with creating these highly intricate miniature worlds? And why is it art?
Small tea spot by @mellihuacrossing on Instagram
With Animal Crossing: New Horizons came the ability to customise a lot more. Alongside classic features like designing clothes and custom patterns, are newer ones which allow you to reimagine the entire geography of your island. If you want to build a giant cliff for no reason, you can. Combined with a packed selection of furniture items, the possibilities to go wild (pun intended) and decorate everything are endless. It’s best likened to the hype around Sims, notorious for its excessive variety over character and house construction - take the outlandish attempts to recreate Katy Perry, for example. But where Sims was grounded in reality, Animal Crossing’s visuals are much more cute and cosy. There’s no illusion that you’re talking to an anthropomorphic unicorn in dungarees. Released at a time when the psychological response to COVID was to curl up in a ball and hide, the game offered a soothing alternative to the outside. Nintendo had captured the perfect mixture of artistry and escapism, the chance to create something beautiful in a world that felt like chaos.
Reading area by @coralbayy_acnh on Instagram
So when you eventually begin designing your island, (ignoring financial debts to overlord Tom Nook) it’s kind of like picking up a paintbrush for the first time. There’s that nervous excitement of not knowing what to do, or the fear of messing up before you’ve even started. Before you realise, three days have passed and you’re still working on the entrance to your enclave. Enter: social media. In the same way that sites like Instagram have become mini-galleries for people to swap and share their artwork, whole hordes of Animal Crossing players trade photos of their island online. They effectively indulge in the feeling of inspiration. You can pore over the way one user arranged their fountain, or study the interior design of another character’s house. But that doesn’t mean Animal Crossing players are stuck up or self-absorbed. The community is surprisingly friendly to both new and seasoned gamers. Think of a kind of vibe that matches the game’s wholesome aesthetic.
Post Office by @acnh_scottie on Instagram
In the space between April 2020 and now, the game’s artistic possibilities have been stretched beyond initial belief. Several brands have co-opted the creativity in clever marketing campaigns. Take the high fashion outlet Net-A-Porter, who hosted their own themed island complete with exclusive Isabel Marant outfits. Maison Margiela recreated six looks from their AW20 collection thanks to visual artist Kara Chung. It’s unclear as to whether they’re simply capitalising on its short-term success, or if Animal Crossing could reflect the future of virtual fashion. Either way, both are a testament to an arts culture ever-adapting to being perpetually online.
Front Yard by @keilacrossing on Instagram
Animal Crossing: New Horizons takes designing and packages it in its most adorable, detailed and engrossing form. But you don’t have to be an artist to appreciate the game, or even share the result on social media. It’s the joy of being able to make something you’re proud of, of picking up your virtual shovel and starting anew.
