How to get the Animal Designer Crossing New Horizons Island app

One of the coolest features in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the island developer app. Although it was featured in Animal Crossing Direct a while back, don't expect to see it for a while in your town.

There are a number of steps you need to follow to get the island developer app, and we're here to break them all down. Once you're done, you'll be terraforming in no time, given that you have enough bells to buy all the permits.



How to get KK Slider in New Horizons

Your first main task is to get KK Slider to play on your island. You can't even think of doing it until Resident Services is upgraded and Isabelle comes to town. So work first.

How to get the Animal Designer Crossing New Horizons Island app

Once you've taken care of those things, talk to Tom Nook in the new and improved Resident Services. He will give you a brief overview of his latest plan, Project K.

As you'd expect, it's all about getting KK Slider to visit the island. Nook outlines what's involved, including increasing the number of visitors to the island and increasing your island's development rating.

The first phase of Project K is to get your island noticed, and there are two ways to do this.

Attract more visitors to your island – The New Horizons campsite

Visitors equal tourists.

Nook tasks you with creating a campsite. Find a spot, then wait until the next day for construction to finish. From there, it's a matter of luck and biding your time.


There is no guarantee that you will get a visitor to the campsite on any given day. If you do, be sure to provide them with the keepsake they request. This is what allows you to invite them to stay on the island for good.


If you have Animal Crossing Amiibo cards, you can use them once per day to invite a specific animal to the campsite. Some players report that it takes multiple invites to get them to move in permanently, but as long as you increase the number of visitors in general, it's a win-win either way.

Increase the number of residents on your island

The other thing you will need to do is increase the number of residents living on your island. By the time you start Project K, you will have at least five residents. You can get more through camping, get lucky and have a move on a random day, or take the initiative and explore them on the islands you visit with Nook Miles Tickets.

Another method of attracting newcomers to the island is to sell land. If you talk to Tom Nook about infrastructure, he'll give you the option to buy land for 10 Bells. You can then set up a tent for a new visitor and, once everything is ready, wait for someone to move in.

We haven't confirmed how many residents you need on your island yet, but the maximum of 10 seems to work.

How to get the Animal Designer Crossing New Horizons Island app

Increase your island's development rating

Then it's time to focus on island development. Apparently, our favorite puppet performer will no longer be performing in a dumpster with a cafe or train station. You'll need to get your island development rating down to three or more starts, and Isabelle gives some general guidelines on how to do that.


More visitors

Getting more visitors and residents to your island helps raise the level of development, so you should already be good to go here.


Island beautification

One way to improve your island's development rating is to make it beautiful. Pick weeds, plant trees – but not too many – and plant flowers. Isabelle should tell you if you're going overboard with tree planting, but in general try to make sure the areas aren't obstructed by trees.

Island decoration

One of the main factors that determines the rating of your island is the furniture you put outside. Decorating the exterior isn't just a feature of New Horizons. This is damn important, and your island development rating won't go up if you don't decorate.

Just don't put a dozen of the same unless they're fence panels. Sections of fences also help improve your island development, and you can get quite creative with them. Whether you create a shop and trade section, a fenced yard, or just put up signs here and there, it all counts towards improving your overall rating.

Establish new businesses

Building new businesses on your island is probably the most difficult method of increasing your development rating early on, as it takes a long time. Luckily, it seems that interacting with tourist NPCs like Sahara and buying them while visiting also has a positive effect on your rating.

Invitant KK Slider to the Island

Once your dev rating is at least three stars, you'll eventually get feedback from KS. After a quick phone call, Slider is ready to play outside of Resident Services the next day. Attend his concert, watch the credits and you will find yourself at home.


How to get the Animal Designer Crossing New Horizons Island app


Get the Island Designer app

After you leave your house, Tom Nook greets you again. It lets you know that Slider will be here every Saturday from now on and, more importantly, finally gives you the Island Designer app.

You don't have access to all terraforming features immediately. At first, only the grass and dirt paths you can trace. For more options, you'll need to purchase Island Design Permits using Nook Miles.

  • Landscaping permit: 6 miles
  • Cliff Building Permit: 6 miles
  • Arch Tile Trail Permit: 2 miles
  • Dark Dirt Road Permit: 2000 miles
  • Sand road permit: 2000 miles
  • Stone Path Permit: 2000 miles
  • Terracotta tile permit: 2 miles
  • Wooden Track Permit: 2000 miles
  • Custom Design Path Permit: 2300 Miles (this is what lets you use your design creations as paths)

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And that's all you need to know to get the Designer Animal Crossing New Horizons Island app. You've taken your island from nothing but a desert to a luxurious paradise, complete with a custom layout and weekly concerts. Don't forget to also check out our other Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides, including:

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