Disney Dreamlight Valley has reached my least favorite stage of any hit-life sim – basically any game with a building system. It’s the part where everyone has had a month to tinker with the details of their builds and now I’m inevitably jealous of everyone else’s village.
One day, when I was at Dreamlight Valley, I did what I always do in building system games: I stripped the room down to the studs. Every decorative tree, shrub, lamppost and flower pot was shoved into my inventory so I could gaze at my canvas in peace. I’ve slowly started putting everything back together: designing an orchard corner for all my fruit plants and trying to decide whether Remy’s gaudy house belonged in the small open neighborhood with Mickey and Goofy or whether his wild townhome belonged in the square.
As it stands, I only rebuilt my Plaza and Peaceful Meadow areas half way through, without even touching the beach, forest, or clearing I unlocked. That doesn’t stop me from surfing social media in search of building inspiration, though, and of course I’m drastically outclassed by these talented village planners. Here are some of the most inspo-worthy builds I’ve seen so far and the things I will absolutely steal from them:
@yannytokyo (opens in new tab)
♬ Disney BGM Easy Winners (828906) – Yuumi Iida (opens in new tab)
Yannytokyo single-handedly convinced me that curved paths are doable and well worth the time investment. The Dreamlight Valley build system snaps onto a grid, so of course I did as I was told and made paths full of right angles and just weave a little bit to keep things out of the way at correctly. Yannytokyo’s builds look so casually cute in comparison, despite being very specifically shaped and fringed with shrubs.
I originally found AJayy’s lovely garden for Wall-E, but I think the above Merlin speed is the inspiration I really needed. Again, those path edges are covered (this time with rocks instead of shrubs) and lots of colorful trees line the path to Merlin’s tower and potion area. Appropriately, there’s tons of purple going on in this build with those pine trees from the Forgotten Lands. I definitely need a reminder not to neglect colors other than green.
I finally got the Mickey Mouse fountain! How I wished!😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 #DDLVCommunity #DDLV #DisneyDreamlightValley #Disney #MickeyMouse #acnh #gameloft #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/QXVWbJzYg5September 27, 2022
Ylly’s designs for the Plaza area are all very orderly, sophisticated courtyards. I don’t think I want to grab this style specifically (the maximalist clutter is more my jam), but I especially enjoy the octagonal bracket shape of those garden beds around the Mickey fountain. The muted color on those shrubs is also a nice reminder that you really don’t need to put Plaza shrubs in the Plaza. You are free to mix plants and trees from any biome you like, whatever looks nice.
Autumn has fallen in the valley 🍂🌻 #DisneyDreamlightValley #DDLVCommunity #Disney pic.twitter.com/L4SQCNZDSVOctober 3, 2022
Speaking of maximalist, this fall vegetable garden from Cinnamon_Isle is delightfully filled with sunflowers, huge hay bales, barrels and more. Like plenty of other Dreamlight Valley screenshots you’ll see going around on Twitter or Instagram, the color filters and angle do something on this one, of course. With all the trees close to trellises, I feel like this build still looks super cozy from a player’s perspective.
This Forest of Valor neighborhood, built by HorribleGaming, is one that I will mostly cheat with. I’ve opted for a neighborhood style on my own island, but I don’t think I’ve sold myself to the shared backyard concept that I’m trying. This construction consists of winding front paths through the forest to connect the front doors of each villager’s house. As much as I enjoy the central backyard, a central front yard is probably easier for me and all the villagers to get around.
It’s no surprise that several of these beautiful builds come from players who also shared their builds in Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and The Sims 4, where maximalism also reigns. From all this I learned: the key to cuteness is always more clutter.
However, be careful with the messy stuffed look. Dreamlight Valley has a limit of 600 objects for your village, including village houses, trees, shrubs and all those rock clusters that everyone uses to limit their paths. You’ll probably want to focus that energy on a few key areas of your island rather than cram 100 bushes into just one section.
I’m building that again. Because my Plaza is only half finished and I haven’t moved a single tree in the Forest of Valor yet.
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