{"id":117344,"date":"2020-08-29T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-29T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2020\/08\/feature_how_savvy_innovators_are_plugging_gaps_in_animal_crossing_new_horizons"},"modified":"2020-08-29T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-29T15:00:00","slug":"feature-how-savvy-innovators-are-plugging-gaps-in-animal-crossing-new-horizons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/08\/29\/feature-how-savvy-innovators-are-plugging-gaps-in-animal-crossing-new-horizons\/","title":{"rendered":"Feature: How Savvy Innovators Are Plugging Gaps In Animal Crossing: New Horizons"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/ff1c8ba5fcaf3\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/ff1c8ba5fcaf3\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<figure class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a title=\"Skinclusive Summer Line By Venus\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/ff1c8ba5fcaf3\/skinclusive-summer-line-by-venus.original.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/ff1c8ba5fcaf3\/skinclusive-summer-line-by-venus.900x.jpg\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" alt=\"Skinclusive Summer Line By Venus\"><\/a><span class=\"image-credit\" title=\"Image Credit\">\u00a9 Gillette<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CDewO9npC6L\/?igshid=vwxgmd82fj0a\">a recent Instagram post,<\/a> Nicole Cuddihy told her audience that creating more inclusive patterns for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/animal_crossing_new_horizons\">Animal Crossing: New Horizons<\/a><\/strong> characters has helped her accept her own skin, including \u201cspots, blemishes and stretch marks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cuddihy is a New Horizons pattern designer who collaborated with Gillette Venus to create the <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gillettevenus.com\/en-us\/animal-crossing\">Skinclusive Summer Line.<\/a> Cuddihy and the Gillette team created patterns for character\u2019s faces and bodies with vitiligo, psoriasis, cesarean scarring and bigger curves than default avatars have. Cuddihy, who has been playing Animal Crossing since the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/gamecube\/animal_crossing\">original U.S. Gamecube release<\/a>, has grown a following for her work and is one of a few creators trying to bridge gaps in features and designs the game hasn\u2019t already created.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qiIPqB6k7Yc\">previous Nintendo Life video,<\/a> our very own Alex Olney confessed he hadn\u2019t played Animal Crossing in a month but was coming back to the game after the summer update that included diving, Pascal and fireworks shows. Based on the comments under the video and opinions in similar reviews, some players have burned out a bit on the game or feel it wasn\u2019t complete at launch.<\/p>\n<p>In <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LXbUxH1RlEg\">this Crossing Channel video,<\/a> players wrote in \u201cunpopular opinions\u201d about the game, including that interactions with villagers are repetitive and don\u2019t have enough text variation and that diving update only adds a \u201cfew minutes of gameplay.\u201d One player complained about terraforming causing players to \u201cget sick of the game easily.\u201d Other common complaints include a lack of NPCs from previous games, like <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/apptrigger.com\/2020\/04\/12\/animal-crossing-new-horizons-new-npcs\/4\/\">Harriet and Brewster.<\/a><\/p>\n<aside class=\"object object-youtube\"><\/aside>\n<p>While many players hope for additional updates that return favourite characters or fix gameplay issues \u2013 like having to craft items one at a time, even when you want multiples \u2013 artists and fans like Cuddihy are creating solutions that address some of the missing features.<\/p>\n<p>Cuddihy said fan responses to the Skinclusive line have been incredibly positive and said she has heard from players who felt included and reflected in the game for the first time. When asked if she felt the project was especially timely given its wide array of skin tones, Cuddihy said she thinks it\u2019s been released at a crucial moment for players and hopes to see more skin tone representation in gaming generally. &#8220;This project hopefully allows people to still relax on their digital island, without having to put their identity on pause,&#8221; Cuddihy said.<\/p>\n<p>Animal Crossing character design has certainly come a long way \u2013 never forget the <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jvgs.net\/guides\/ac\/face-guide.shtml\">iconic and mandatory pointy, triangular hats<\/a> \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s complete. In the original GameCube version, facial features were determined by a short quiz and were not changeable unless a player started a new game. Later, players could tan on the beach to darken their skin but never looked anything other than white. Skin tone changes by <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/2016\/11\/3\/13508980\/animal-crossing-new-leaf-skin-color-mii-mask\">using a Mii mask<\/a> were added to later games, but New Horizons is the first Animal Crossing game to truly support a range of skin colours.<\/p>\n<p>Cuddihy said adding features that more closely reflect what players look like in real life has been one of the most meaningful projects of her life, and has helped her become more confident. &#8220;Seeing a character that I related to surprisingly filled me with a sense of confidence and self-acceptance. I wanted to share that feeling with others,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I\u2019m so grateful to Gillette Venus.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Cuddihy isn\u2019t the only creator working to fill gaps in New Horizons; Ben of the Crossing Channel recently built a new dream island feature that was included in New Leaf but not released in New Horizons. With the recent summer update, players could once again visit other islands in their dreams, assisted by the NPC Luna. Players lie down on the special bed gifted by Luna, go to sleep, and wake up on another island \u2013 provided they have the code to visit.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"object object-youtube\"><\/aside>\n<p>Ben\u2019s <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/crossingchannel.com\/dream-island-codes\/\">Dream Code Randomiser Tool<\/a> allows players to visit random islands by collecting dream codes submitted by players around the world. Ben, who films Animal Crossing reviews, tours and gameplay tips, said he worked alongside two other developers to create the project. &#8220;The tool is a replacement for the feature that was in <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/3ds\/animal_crossing_new_leaf\">New Leaf<\/a><\/strong>, but got taken out in New Horizons. I honestly don\u2019t know why they took it out,&#8221; Ben said.<\/p>\n<p>Ben said some fans have asked if he was frustrated he had to create the feature himself, but told Nintendo Life the process was fun. He said he\u2019ll be looking for features left out of future updates and find creative ways to adapt. He\u2019s also going to continue creating content and videos for New Horizons players since he feels this helps them overcome boredom or burnout.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019m trying to make content that will hopefully help people who are maybe feeling a little bored or burnt out with the game at the moment, and I think that\u2019s working,&#8221; Ben said. &#8220;I\u2019m so happy people still care about what I do after all of this time, especially given how much content there is for the game now!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>With the growing popularity of DLC, creators may continue to fill holes in unfinished games, bring back missing features or simply bridge the gaps until an update is released. While that hasn\u2019t always been necessary for the Animal Crossing series, things are changing. Ben said he fully expects to produce more content for the game.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This wouldn\u2019t be the first time fans have made a tool to complement the game, and it won\u2019t be the last,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a9 Gillette In a recent Instagram post, Nicole Cuddihy told her audience that creating more inclusive patterns for Animal Crossing: New Horizons characters has helped her accept her own skin, including \u201cspots, blemishes and stretch marks.\u201d Cuddihy is a New Horizons pattern designer who collaborated with Gillette Venus to create the Skinclusive Summer Line. Cuddihy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}