About Happy Island Designer
What Is This Site?
This site is a guide and resource hub for Happy Island Designer — a popular free online planning tool for Animal Crossing: New Horizons players.
Happy Island Designer (the original tool) was created by eugeneration and is open-source on GitHub. It lets you visually plan your ACNH island layout in your browser — placing buildings, drawing rivers, designing paths — all before you spend a single Bell in-game.
We embed that tool here and wrap it with tutorials, guides, and tips in English and Chinese, making it easier for more players to get the most out of it.
Why We Built This Site
When we discovered Happy Island Designer, we immediately found it invaluable for planning our own islands. But we noticed two things:
- The original tool has little documentation — first-time users often don't know where to start.
- Chinese-language resources are limited — most ACNH planning guides are English-only.
So we built this site as a companion resource: a place where players can not only access the tool directly, but also find clear, practical guidance on how to use it effectively.
What We Offer
🛠️ The Tool, Embedded and Ready
We embed the original Happy Island Designer tool directly on this site, so you can access it without needing to navigate elsewhere. We've also added a fullscreen button for a better planning experience.
📖 Guides and Tutorials
We publish in-depth guides covering:
- Getting started with island planning for beginners
- Terraforming tips — rivers, cliffs, and elevation design
- 5-star island strategies — what Isabelle looks for and how to plan for it
- Layout ideas — themes, zones, and neighborhood designs
- Tool tutorials — how to use specific features in Happy Island Designer
All guides are available in English and Chinese (中文).
🌏 Bilingual Support
We believe great tools should be accessible to everyone. That's why all our content is published in both English and Chinese, with care taken to make the Chinese translations natural and not robotic.
About the Original Tool
Happy Island Designer is a free, open-source island planner built by eugeneration. It uses the exact same grid as Animal Crossing: New Horizons, letting you:
- Drag and drop buildings (Resident Services, Museum, villager homes, shops, and more)
- Draw rivers, ponds, cliffs, and waterfalls
- Add paths, fences, trees, and flowers
- Save and share your island design
The tool runs entirely in your browser — no downloads, no accounts, no cost. Your island data stays on your device.
We are not affiliated with or employed by the original developer. We simply love the tool and want to help more players discover and use it.
Our Guides at a Glance
| Guide | What You'll Learn |
|---|---|
| What is Happy Island Designer? | Overview of the tool and its key features |
| How to Plan a 5-Star Island | Rating system, layout tips, and planning strategy |
| Island Layout Ideas | Popular themes and zone ideas for inspiration |
| Terraforming Tips | Rivers, cliffs, waterfalls, and terrain design |
| ACNH Island Planner Guide | Step-by-step guide to using the planner |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this site free? Yes, completely free.
Who made the island planning tool? The tool was created by eugeneration and is open-source. We embed it here with attribution.
Is this site affiliated with Nintendo or Animal Crossing? No. This is an independent fan site. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a trademark of Nintendo.
Do I need to create an account? No account is needed — for the tool or for reading our guides.
Can I use the tool on mobile? Yes. The tool works in any modern browser, including mobile. Desktop gives you the most comfortable experience for detailed planning.
I found an issue with the planning tool itself. Who do I contact? For bugs in the tool, please report them on the original GitHub repository. For issues with this site or our guides, contact us directly.
Contact Us
Have a question, suggestion, or just want to share your island design? We'd love to hear from you.
Email: hello@happyislanddesigner.com
We read every message and use your feedback to improve our guides and the site experience.