Animal Crossing: New Horizons Island Planner is a fan-made alternative

I learned a lesson in April from Polygon’s Cass Marshall: Terraforming in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is insufferable, and you should not raze your island to the ground and expect to rebuild it. Like Cass said, terraforming is a slow, finicky process. So far, my brush with terraforming has been to build a platform for my museum, and it took an embarrassingly long time.

The museum platform isn’t the only thing I have planned. My island, Sears, is under construction. Once I’ve finished moving each of the residents’ homes, I’ll continue terraforming, working rivers around the newly redeveloped residential area. It’s going to a be a huge pain in the ass. What’s even worse is that is a better way! Animal Crossing: New Horizons player and game developer Fichman created Island Planner, a tool to help plan out island remodels — or, of course, just to play.

An early build of the tool is available on itch.io. It’s still pretty basic, but it’s already exactly what I wished terraforming was like in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Instead of using your character to rebuild, players take a Sims-like approach. Using the cursor, you’re able to drag a tool to create rivers and plop down buildings. Despite some early build quirks, it makes building (and planning) painless.

Fichman said on Twitter that he’ll continue to work on and update the tool to add more options, like fences.

I’ve enjoyed playing around with the tool, and it’s definitely helped me visualize my island redesign a bit easier. Previously I’d been considering drawing out a map to help plan where all the new stuff will go, and now I don’t have to. I’m sure to get frustrated while I’m terraforming the island of my dreams, but at least I’ve got a plan now.

Switch Lite

Prices taken at time of publishing.

Nintendo Switch consoles are often sold out, but you can still pick up the handheld-only Switch Lite, which is perfect for portable gaming.

Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sbvLsp6opl6YvK57kWlpaWdlZIJwfpBra3BvaG18orrIppilZZOnvLS%2FyKeeZqaVrHqpu9Gisaimo2LBpr7Rmp2oqp2eu6h506impWWZqLmiusNmp6WZnqOysw%3D%3D