Have you ever played Animal Crossing and thought “this is too in-depth for me, what I really want to do is just decorate my home, without all that weeding, digging and talking to other people”? Somewhat implausibly, Nintendo have you covered with Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. You’re the newest employee at entrepreneur Tom Nook’s decorating company Nook’s Homes, and Happy Home Designer follows your exploits as the town’s newest home decorator.
The care-free attitude Nintendo exudes seems a little lost at first, as you begin your first day at work clad in a sensible grey suit. Just as you think this is a touch serious for an Animal Crossing title, you’re then given a bright red blazer and gold tie to wear instead. It’s certainly a little bit more vibrant but then I remembered that this isn’t Animal Crossing: Quality Clothes Designer, it’s the houses that are the stars here, and there is the promise of accessorising your uniform in the future if your creativity feels at all stifled.
You’re led through the tutorial by a cheerful pink otter named Lottie, who tasks you with your first home design. You’re initially given a broad description of the home owner – who in this case likes all things cute and is looking for a room with a lovely atmosphere – before having to take the lead on their home’s redesign.
While the main screen shows a 3D image, the touch-screen plays host to a top-down view of the home you’re working on, and with each client there may be an item or two that they’re very attached to which you have to incorporate into your design. In the tutorial’s case there is a bright pink love seat which will hopefully lead you in the right direction when it comes to decorating. Items in the room can be moved around by dragging them with the stylus, or rotated simply by tapping on them just as you could in the last mainline edition of Animal Crossing.
Having started with a pink love seat, it made sense to me to fill the room with equally pink and heart themed furniture, as well as carrying the theme through to the floors and the walls as well. While it perhaps doesn’t sound like the most enthralling experience I was soon shifting tables so that they were underneath windows and rotating chairs so that they face the right way, before tinkering with the carpet to get it just right.
Once completed you’re given a run-through of the finished room where you’re also able to take a picture when you see the perfect angle of your work. You’re not quite finished there though, as at the end of each day you have to return to your desk to save your progress and advance to the next day.
After the tutorial my first real client turned out to be a dog named Goldie who had just moved to the area and requested that she would be surrounded by books in her new home. You’re then told the Client’s Vision which in this case was a “forest of books”, which I set about fulfilling this by leaving piles of books about her new home. You’re already granted an increased number of items of furniture at this stage, meaning that you can not only put together something that’s unique, but also that you have to put a bit of thought into each design as you go.
Having finished yet another simply outstanding design – I may be biased – I was told that there isn’t much to do the next day, but you can go back and check on Goldie and see how she’s getting on with her new pad. The client list displays the picture that you took after finishing the room which is a nice touch, but Goldie actually wants her own picture of the room, and you can play a spot of dress-up to match her newly decorated home. Taking those photos is as simple as holding down the L button and clicking the R button to take the shot.
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer uses both the upcoming amiibo cards and the Animal Crossing themed amiibo figures to invite various characters into the world and into the completed homes that you’ve finished designing. Fans of Nintendo’s money-spinning toys will doubtless be happy about that, though it almost seems like they’ve forced such integration into what may turn out to be a slim product anyway.
Happy Home Designer is a charming and welcome return to the much loved Animal Crossing world, but only time will tell just how expansive an experience it is after I dive deeper into the world of home decoration for animals.
