Animal Crossing: New Horizons playing pharmacist designs realistic pharmacy in the game
Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-03-05 19:17 JST)
Animal Crossing: New Horizons creators have been as active as ever in 2022. Especially since last year’s DLC, Happy Home Paradise, let players leave their islands for the resort life where they can design all sorts of vacation homes. Players listen to residents’ requests and build vacation homes that meet their needs, greatly expanding the design possibilities the game has to offer.
Some players are even using their own jobs as inspiration for their designs. One of those players is Twitter user @yukaricacid, a pharmacist in Japan who was able to design the perfect place for June, a bear cub that admires pharmacists and what they do for the community. A realistic pharmacy designed by a real pharmacist.
“I’m going to show you… the true power of a specialist!”
First is the level of detail, starting with the binder on the check-in counter. This is the medical questionnaire for first time visitors. Next is the computer, used to handle the billing system and printing receipts.
In order to learn more about the small details of their design, we conducted an interview with @yukaricacid. The spark of inspiration that made @yukaricacid want to design a pharmacy was June’s request. It sounds like they were excited to see pharmacists being a theme for a design and decided to go all out when putting it together. Pharmacists work in a lot of different places, but @yukaricacid went with the motif of a typical pharmacy for their design.
They also taught us some of the finer details about how they chose just the right furniture. One important detail is the pharmacy license visible in the lobby. This was done using the “Formal Paper” wall-mounted item. Another is the “Water Cooler” item just sitting casually in the lobby. A pharmacy must have accommodations to provide water in case a patient needs to immediately take the medication they’ve received.
And when you take a look at the ceiling, you’ll notice an ample amount of fluorescent lighting. In Japan, there are regulations in place regarding how bright a pharmacy must be, and all these lights allow the pharmacy to maintain the proper level. The books on June’s desk represent the books and publications pharmacists like to keep around.
Next, we asked what sorts of items they would like to see in the game to make their design even more accurate. Considering the times, @yukaricacid mentioned partitions and air purifiers. But if Animal Crossing takes place in a world without COVID-19, it’s a very convincing setup. They also mentioned an automated dispensing system for medicine which is a device used for packaging pills or powders. @yukaricacid says these can be found in most pharmacies, so it would be great to have in the game.
“There’s a breakroom on the second floor. Take note of the stack of boxes.”
When we asked about what is in the boxes stacked in the breakroom, @yukaricacid explained that they are full of prescriptions and other documents. In Japan, when a prescription is dispensed, it must be saved for 3 years. It ends up becoming a lot of documents so many pharmacies store what can’t fit in the office in the breakroom. These are precisely the details an actual pharmacist would be able to incorporate in their pharmacy design.
@yukaricacid also does research into the Heian period of Japan as a hobby and has posted a number of beautiful pictures showing off the attire of that time. If you’re interested in seeing them, please check out @yukaricacid on Twitter.
“Please look at how gorgeous these clothes from the Heian period are!”
