Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer

 (どうぶつの森 ハッピーホームデザイナー, Dōbutsu no Mori: Happī Hōmu Dezainā, lit. "Animal Forest: Happy Home Designer") is a home-design simulation game developed and published by Nintendo exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS. The game was announced during a Nintendo Direct presentation on April 1, 2015, and debuted in Japan on July 30, 2015 with a forthcoming release in North America and Europe set for September 25, 2015 and October 2, 2015, respectively. The game is described as a spinoff title separate from the core and features a more relaxed play style that allows for enhanced creativity. is also the first title to make use of amiibo cards, Nintendo's latest addition to its line-up of proprietary toys-to-life collectables featuring NFC technology.

Similar to previous entries in the, the game takes place in an animal village and features a small commercial area similar to the city in. The player assumes the role of an employee working for Nook's Homes as an interior designer, taking on thematic design requests from the villagers that walk by in the game's main plaza. To aid in the design process provides an enhanced user interface and item categorization system that allows for the quick lookup and precise placement of items in both interior and exterior spaces. The game draws upon the extensive item catalog established in previous iterations to furnish the homes and introduces new item categories such as carpets with customizable sizes and ceiling decor.

Gameplay
The game involves decorating homes without having to do chores in order to earn Bells. Villagers will request that the player design homes for them that fits their tastes.

amiibo card functionality
Along with the announcement of the game, physical Animal Crossing-themed cards featuring various characters from New Leaf were revealed. The cards are a more portable form of amiibo that can be used with the game to design a room for the character on the card. In addition, the cards can also be used to invite characters to visit the players' homes, where the player can watch and take pictures of the villagers interacting with one another. The cards can be scanned directly using the New Nintendo 3DS's built-in NFC reader. For owners of the regular 3DS and 2DS, a separate NFC reader will be released alongside the game and cards to ensure compatibility.

Development
was produced by Aya Kyogoku and Hisashi Nogami, with direction credits by Isao Moro, and is the first title to have a female producer, the second title being, also produced by Kyogoku. It is also the first time that Katsuya Eguchi, producer of, , and , and director on all other previous titles, has not played a lead role in development. Co-producer Hisashi Nogami, who has served as director for nearly every title to date, makes his return to the series after his absence during 's development period (during which time he was producing Splatoon).

A hint as to 's development came in March 2014 when when producer Katsuya Eguchi stressed that the next game in the, if developed for a new console, would need to fully integrate its unique features into its design to "create a new way of playing Animal Crossing". While was ultimately released on the 3DS as a spinoff title and not as a continuation of the core, its focus on amiibo cards and the NFC capabilities of the New Nintendo 3DS is no accident. In an interview with USgamer, producer Aya Kyogoku stated that Nintendo's amiibo line played a primary role in the title's development, even going so far as to say that the title was created for the sole purpose of generating a set of  amiibo in the process. "Honestly, we just wanted Animal Crossing amiibo. We wanted the company to make Animal Crossing amiibo, so that's why we made a game that works with them."

According to Kyogoku, the inspiration for the interior design gameplay element came from the development team's experience designing villager homes in previous games, imagining how these villagers live out their lives, and thinking about how fun it would be to share that experience with the player. The team also focused on allowing the player to bring their own unique vision into each design, and while a budget limit had been taken into consideration at some point in the development cycle, it was decided that it would be best not to impose any external limitations on the player's design choices.

Announcement
Further details and gameplay were shown during Nintendo's Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015 presentation on June 16, 2015.

Release
was released in Japan on June 30, 2015 and is set to release on September 25, 2015 in North America and October 2, 2015 in Europe and Australia.

Promotion
Nintendo has partnered with Japanese 7-Eleven stores to release exclusive villagers and themed furniture compatible with.