Ane of Animal Crossing: New Horizons' biggest features compared to past games is Isle Designer, an app for the in-game NookPhone that lets you terraform your island to your liking. This includes pathmaking, building water features, and building cliffs--or destroying those things, if y'all desire. The isle you get is non the island you have to take, and it can be changed to your center's content.

Beneath, we've outlined how to unlock Island Designer besides equally each part of the app, how to work each of its features, our best terraforming tips, and everything else y'all need to know. We accept tons of other Creature Crossing guides, so be sure to check out our Beast Crossing: New Horizons guide roundup for all the latest.

Tabular array of Contents [hide]

  • How To Become Terraforming: Unlocking The Island Designer App
    • Path Types And Unlock Cost
    • Unlocking The Waterscaping And Cliff-Construction Permits
  • How To Terraform Using Island Designer
    • Pathmaking
      • Special Cases
      • Using Custom Designs
    • Waterscaping
      • Alarm: Fishing
    • Cliff Structure
    • Waterfalls
    • Other Tips

How To Get Terraforming: Unlocking The Island Designer App

Island Designer is a later-game characteristic, so there are a few steps you lot'll need to take over at least 2 weeks of playtime in order to unlock it. You need to have unlocked the Resident Services building and begun Tom Nook'due south Project K assignment, which requires you to:

  • Build the campsite
  • Invite the first camper to live on your island
  • Build iii housing plots (following his instructions)
  • Become 3 villagers to move into those houses (one per day)
  • Get your island to a three-star rating

Project G will take quite a few days to complete, plus the fourth dimension and try it takes to decorate your island and amend your rating. Luckily, as long as you plant flowers and trees and put some furniture here and there, you should be able to get to three stars pretty hands once yous've improved your population numbers.

The day after you've reached iii stars, Tom Nook will requite you the Island Designer app on your NookPhone. At first, you'll only have access to the path tool and ii types of paths (grass and dirt), merely y'all tin unlock more path options, the waterscaping tool, and the cliff structure tool with Nook Miles.

Path Types And Unlock Cost

Each additional path type costs 2,000 Nook Miles with the exception of the Custom Design path, which costs 2,300. This will allow you employ any Custom Pattern as a path. Yous tin unlock each of the boosted path styles at the Nook Cease machine in Resident Services.

  • Grass (free)
  • Dirt path (free)
  • Stone path
  • Brick path
  • Night clay path
  • Arched tile path
  • Sand path
  • Terra-cotta tiles
  • Wooden path
  • Custom Pattern path

Unlocking The Waterscaping And Cliff-Construction Permits

You tin can unlock the ability to waterscape and, separately, the ability to build cliffs at whatsoever time after y'all've received the Island Designer app. Each allow costs half-dozen,000 Nook Miles and can be redeemed at the Nook End car in Resident Services.

No Caption Provided

How To Terraform Using Isle Designer

Earlier you really get going with Island Designer, you'll want to familiarize yourself with all the tools. The app itself includes a manual that will walk yous through the basics; each tool is operated with A, and you can apply the + button to switch between permits and path types. We outline specific employ cases and our best tips beneath.

Pathmaking

When y'all're using the path tool, pressing A on a plain grassy area will build a path, and then pressing A over again will remove it. You can also use the grass tool to remove paths if you adopt. You can use dissimilar path types next to each other, only they won't be affluent with ane another; in that location will exist a gap between them.

If you have a few of the aforementioned path "tiles" adjacent to each other, pressing A on them will get-go round the path, and you'll have to press A again to remove it fully. You can employ this to create rounded edges and diverse shapes.

For example, to make circles on the ground, put 4 path tiles next to each other in a square, then hit A on each of them again to round them out. For hearts, do a bigger 3x3 square with i corner missing, then round out the sides nearest that empty corner.

Special Cases

Not all the path types were fabricated equal. Yous tin merely dig into dirt, night dirt, and sand paths; yous can institute flowers and trees on these paths as well. All other paths are more solid, simply y'all can still identify items on top of them like you would grass, clay, or sand. Keep in mind that fossils will only appear on grass, and so it'southward not recommended that yous totally embrace your island in paths.

Using Custom Designs

You lot tin can also apply Custom Designs yous've either fabricated or downloaded every bit paths if you've unlocked the ability to do so (information technology costs ii,300 Nook Miles at the Nook Terminate machine). This is far easier and more efficient than placing the designs on the ground ane by i similar in previous games.

Regular Custom Designs mostly work like any other path, but unlike regular paths, you can remove them at any fourth dimension using Y (which is likely to be an blow and can be frustrating). Too, Custom Designs practice lay flush with i some other even if they're different. Because of this, yous tin make a more than complex path using several different designs; if your blueprint has multiple pieces, apply + to switch between them (like when making corners or edges to a route, for example).

If your Custom Blueprint has at least 1 transparent pixel, you can layer that design over the standard paths. This way, you tin round out the edges of your custom designs like you would the regular paths--but lay down and shape a regular path first, and so put your design over information technology. You can also place Custom Designs that utilize transparency on regular grass.

If y'all change a Custom Design in the NookPhone app, any path you've put down using that design volition change with information technology. This can make information technology like shooting fish in a barrel to update your paths without having to redo all of them, simply make sure you're editing the correct ones!

No Caption Provided

Waterscaping

For waterscaping, pressing A on land will dig a trench for h2o. Pressing A again will fill upward the trench; as with paths, if yous have a few "tiles" of water side by side to each other, pressing A volition first circular out the edges and then, when pressed again, remove the water entirely.

Waterscaping is the most finicky of the Isle Designer tools, and information technology definitely takes practise. For example, to round out a sharp corner, you'll accept to place your character a chip back from the edge. Exist patient!

When building rivers, go on in heed that bridges span four water tiles. The edges of the river also have to be even for iii or four tiles in lodge to support the bridge.

Your grapheme can hop across any water feature that's ane or 2 tiles wide. With this in mind, yous tin create land bridges across rivers without fully dividing the river--yous tin fill in a piece of land in the middle of a river and spring across it. Keep in mind that villagers won't be able to cross rivers without bridges.

Alert: Fishing

When waterscaping, brand certain you leave plenty river to fish in normally, if you care well-nigh fishing. You lot'll want at least some river on a cliff section in order to catch clifftop-only fish, and you'll want whatever river you lot hope to fish in to exist a normal width (iii or four tiles so you tin can become your bobber wherever you demand it to get).

No Caption Provided

Cliff Structure

Cliffs are built and destroyed from the level below them, and similar with everything else, you can circular them if you have multiple cliff pieces next to each other. Yous can build upwardly to iii tiers of cliffs on summit of i some other, but you won't be able to climb up the third tier, and you lot can't build new tiers right up to the border of the previous tier--meaning you tin't make big cliff walls.

Villagers won't exist able to go up cliffs without an incline, so proceed this in mind when placing villager houses on cliffs.

Waterfalls

To build waterfalls, you demand to exist upwards on the cliff you'd like the waterfall to become down. You tin and then use the waterscaping tool to build the waterfall at the edge. You need to fill in the waterfall first before you tin can destroy the cliff it's on.

Other Tips

When terraforming, it's a good idea to have anything edible on mitt--preferably your native fruit, since it'southward the to the lowest degree profitable of the fruits. Y'all can eat fruit to gain a kind of super-strength that allows you to dig upwardly trees whole and destroy rocks. Using this fruit ability, you can move trees in your way without cutting them down and having to grow them all over again. You can also destroy rocks that are in undesirable locations, equally they volition "grow" back in another spot the next day. Y'all tin can keep destroying rocks until they stop up in skilful locations.

GameSpot may become a commission from retail offers.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Electronic mail news@gamespot.com