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Rock Gardens 101
Updated 05/02/2021
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Acknowledgement
The information on this page is made possible from the datamining done by asteriation#6884 and rigorous tests done by Zertolurian#9617. More technical information regarding the rock spawn algorithm can be found on asteriation's site.
Rock Gardens?
A rock garden is a carefully planned layout of rock formations. You can manipulate where rocks can spawn by utilising blockers which will be discussed in detail in this guide. These are some things to know about rocks before you begin your rock gardening journey:
- Rocks cannot spawn adjacent to blockers (except single blockers).
- Only one rock spawns per day.
- Maximum of 6 rocks can spawn per island.
- One rock will be a designated “money rock” each day.
- Possible loot includes clay, rocks, iron nuggets, and gold nuggets. (Rock eggs are also a possible drop during the Egg Day events.)
- Each rock can yield a maximum of 8 drops each day.
Why would one want a rock garden? There are many reasons to start your own rock garden, whether it is so you can harvest the rocks daily with ease, or as an aesthetical addition to your island. Whatever the reason, this is the place where you can learn how to do so yourself.
Rock Spawn Conditions
- Rocks may only spawn on grass and any diggable paths such as the dirt path, dark dirt path, and sand path.
- Rocks cannot spawn on non-diggable paths, custom designs, the beach, and any other location with spawn condition not met.
- Rocks can be blocked from spawning if it is within a blocker’s range.
- A rock’s required spawn area, can overlap another rock’s required spawn area, as such, the minimum distance between rocks is 1 tile.
- Rocks can all spawn within an acre.
Blockers
In order to force a rock to spawn where we want, we employ the use of blockers to prevent them spawning in places that we don’t want them to.
There are three main classes of blockers, that is:
❶ Single blocker
❷ Perimeter blocker
❸ Obstruction blocker
Single Blockers
These will only block their own tile. These blockers are typically those without a hitbox.
Examples include:
- Dropped items
- Flowers and weeds
- Placed custom designs (on the ground)
- Placed non-diggable paths
- Dig spots
Perimeter Blockers
Natural blockers (beach, water, cliffs), furniture or placed items typically only block a perimeter of 1 tile around the tiles they occupy. Generally, anything with a hitbox will be perimeter blockers. “Tall” furniture will be discussed in their own dedicated section.
Examples include:
- Tiles adjacent to beach, water tiles, and cliff edges
- Fences and placed items
- Placed custom designs (mannequins & easels)
- Placed furniture (exceptions being “tall” furniture)
- Shrubs
- Bridges (special case!)
While perimeter blockers only block 1 tile around them, there is a way to extend this by placing them on half tiles. The following visual shows the range that this blocks.
The holes are there to give an indication of the tile boundaries. With the mannequin being in the half tile on 4 tiles, this essentially extends the blocker range to be 4x4, insetad of the usual 3x3. Take this into consideration when laying down blockers.
Obstruction Blockers
Obstruction blockers will block several tiles north of their occupying tiles. Buildings and cliffs will always block 4 tiles north, while furniture's blocking size is dependant on their height, as will be explored in the next section. It should be noted that these blockers can also block across multiple cliff levels. Do take this into consideration when placing furniture south of your desired rock spawn areas.
Examples include:
- Cliffs
- Buildings (such as houses, inclines and other facilities)
- Trees
- Placed “tall” furniture
Furniture with observable height are considered obstruction blockers.
Cliffs are regarded as obstruction blockers, and are the main cause of rocks not spawning on your island. Do make sure to flatten any cliffs immediately south of your rock gardens.
Tall Furniture
Furniture have height values and with this, it determines how far north a certain furniture will block rocks from spawning. A list of the furniture heights (original by Zertolurian#9617, maintained by cestislife#0473) can be found here. Generally:
| Height Value | Tiles Blocked |
|---|---|
| ≥ 20 | 4 |
| ≥ 16 | 3 |
| ≥ 12 | 2 |
| ≥ 8 | 1 |
Trees
Trees are also considered "tall furniture", but only block 3 tiles north of them. An exception to this is the cedar tree, where it blocks 4 tiles north instead.
Trees present another unique rule where they can also block an area of 3 tiles horizontally, 2 tiles north of their occupying tile. The illustration below compares the difference between cedar trees and other trees.
The red Xs represent the perimeter and vertical blocking. The blue Xs represent the horizontal blocking.
Rock Garden Tips
- Placed custom designs (mannequins and easels) are the easiest blockers to clean up.
- Using single tile cliffs is also a viable blocking technique, though it does require more work to clean up.
- Perimeter blockers can be placed on half tiles to extend their blocking range.
- Furniture/decorations can be placed after the rocks have spawned.
- For rocks that have not spawned where you wanted it to be, it could be that it has spawned elsewhere instead.
- Use a toilet as an entrance to your rock garden to prevent breaking any rocks in the area.
Credits
Datamine: asteriation#6884
Testing & information: nomiko#0644, Zertolurian#9617
Special thanks: @B19F00T, Waterjar#2219, Ketama#9570
Assets extracted by: Alexis#8717
Guide by: @cestislife