Tiny Glade Walkthrough and Guide

Tiny Glade brings out your inner creative doodler with a simple, yet clever toolset and procedurally generated terrain. Turning lovely meadows and lush green landscapes into beautiful dioramas can be extremely satisfying, truly justifying the terms “cozy” and “relaxing”.

You can build an old-world village, a castle, a homely hideaway, or ancient ruins. The most interesting part of this game is that building elements interact, adding a new design and a unique touch to your creation. Try drawing a path through a wall, and an arch magically appears. Experiment with various building elements, and you will be surprised at their potential to transform even the simplest structures into intricate works of art. My only complaint is that it doesn’t let me design the interiors and I hope this will be addressed in the next update. Let’s dive into the magical world of Tiny Glade, but first, you should know that this guide will be suitable for those who have just begun their doodling journey. I also have quite a few building tips I am so excited to share them with you!

Let’s start with the controls. Press and hold the middle mouse button (MMB). Move the mouse to move the camera up, down, left, or right. You can also do this using the WASD keys on your keyboard. Press and hold the right mouse button (RMB) and move the mouse left or right to rotate the camera. Do the same and move the mouse backward to get a top-down view of your creation. Move it forward to get a ground-level view. Using the mouse wheel scroll forward to zoom in and back to zoom out. To get a bird’s eye view, press and hold the right mouse button move the mouse backwards, and then scroll back to zoom out.

Before we begin, here’s a fun tip – Press “ESC” and click on “New”. A list of seasons will be displayed on the menu. Choose a season and you will open a new glade with a random structure. Every time you choose a new season, a new structure and a completely different environment will be generated. The ‘Daily Theme’ brings a whole lot of fun. I look forward to new themes every day. Each day you will get a new theme and a starting glade. Click on the daily theme and start doodling!

Here are the various random glades I came across after selecting a theme/season:

The Toolset

The toolset rests at the bottom of the screen. At first, you may find it pretty basic, but once you start building, every tool will benefit your creations. I had a great time with it, but I am sure developers will be adding new structures and tools in the next update to make doodling even more enjoyable. Let’s start with the first building tool:

1. Houses

The first building tool will let you build four houses. Move the mouse cursor over it and four icons will appear above the building tool:

Watchtower

A tall cylindrical structure. Can be used as a quaint lookout or basic fortification for your castle. Click on it and then Place it on the area within the glade to place it. When you place the mouse cursor on the structure, you will see various adjustment controls in the form of arrows. You can adjust and modify the structure using these controls. Here’s a list of onscreen adjustment controls:

Move the mouse cursor to the bottom of the conical roof. A circle and two vertical arrow prompts will be shown on the bottom part. Hold the Left mouse button (LMB) and move it up to increase the height. Moving it down makes the base shorter.

On the watchtower shaft (Body), a new control will be shown when you place the mouse cursor on it. Hold LMB, and drag the mouse inwards to make the shaft a bit plumper. Continue dragging down and a door will magically appear at the base of the tower shaft. New furniture items will also appear – a wooden chair/barrel and a shovel. Also, beautiful vines will start growing around the walls of the tower. See the screenshot below.

Dragging upwards will make the tower narrow and the door will disappear.

Place the mouse cursor in the middle of the roof. When the cursor turns into a crosshair, press and hold the LMB to change the shape of the conical roof and do these:

Holding the LMB, drag the mouse to the right horizontally to make it dome-shaped (Make sure the roof is on the shorter side to make a perfect dome:

Dragging on the left side horizontally will make the roof thinner and give it a temple-style architecture:

Dragging up will make the roof taller and downwards will make it shorter.

Continue dragging the mouse down until the roof disappears and the watchtower will now have a fortified terrace.

To bring back the roof, move the mouse cursor to the middle of the terrace until it changes into two vertical arrows pointing in opposite directions – the space between them will be a bit more. Hold the LMB and move upwards to get the conical roof back.

Cozy Cottage

Nice addition to the quiet countryside. The controls to adjust and reshape the cottage are the same as the watchtower, except for a few new controls:

– Move the cursor to one of the four corners of the cottage until it changes to a curved arrow. Hold LMB and drag the mouse to rotate the structure. The topmost part of the roof can also be rotated. When you see two curved arrows, click the LMB to rotate the roof.

– A roof can also be made narrow and pointed. Look out for two arrows on either side of the roof and you can adjust the size horizontally.

How to Copy-Paste Buildings

A fun little trick I learned while constructing cottages and towers in Tiny Glade. To copy-paste a building, construct a cottage, or a tower. Now place the mouse cursor on a building and press CTRL + 1 to copy it.

A replica of the building will appear next to the OG one. You can then place it anywhere you want or repeat the same steps to create another copy.

Wall

You won’t believe how creative can people be with this structure. A Reddit user, Celjiii, created a dinosaur fossil with walls and a few buildings. How imaginative!

Choose the wall tool from the bottom menu, select a space, and hold the LMB. Now drag to build a wall. Easy-peasy! Move the cursor to the top part until you see the arrow modifiers and drag upwards to increase its height. Do the same and drag downwards to decrease the wall’s height:

There’s so much you can do with the wall tool. Hint: How about replicating the Great Wall of China?

If you build a wall in a zigzag or circular pattern, an arch will be created. Vines will grow automatically the longer you stretch a wall. You can also create an arch by drawing the path tool through the wall.

Now the editing part. After building a wall, you can snip out a part of it. To do this, right-click on the wall. Now place the cursor on it and you will see a scissor appear over it. Click to cut a wall part, isolating it from the rest.

Right-clicking on the wall also reveals a crosshair that allows you to move it from one area to another.

Fence

The fence can be built in the same way as the wall. Encircling it around a cottage automatically creates a gate in front of the main door.

The fence can also be divided into multiple parts in the same way as the wall. Right-click on it to see the scissors on top of the fence. Click to snip it.

You can also create a gateway on the fence. Just draw a path through a closed fence to create an entrance:

2. Path

The path has multiple uses. Not only can it be used to pave rugged trails in the lush green landscape but also be used to build a door on a cottage or tower, create stairs, arches on walls, stepping stones on a pond, and rocky steps on a mountain. Select the path tool and draw a path on the land.

You can also change the width of the path – hover the mouse cursor over the path drawing tool and a slider will appear above it. Move the slider to the right to increase its breadth:

Click on the undo icon on the top of press CTRL +Z if you want to remove the existing path.

To build a door on a watchtower or cottage, just drag the path straight to the building’s wall.

You can also create an arch on a wall. Build a wall first and drag the path directly onto it. If you have created a pond, then draw a pathway over the pond to create stepping stones. The same can be done on a mountain. More on stairs later.

3. Windows and Chimney Tool

The next set of tools will let you create windows, lamps, flagpoles, and chimneys.

There are three types of windows in Tiny Glade:

Standard Window

Build a cottage or watchtower first. Now choose the window tool and then choose the standard window. Click on the wall of a building to build one. To create a double window, click right next to the single window.

In a cottage, after building a single window, click next to the same window to create a double window with open panes.

Do the same to create triple windows – without choosing another window from the menu, just move the mouse cursor right next to the double window and click again.

Here are some more tricks to do with a single window:

Clothesline: Choose a single window and place it on the cottage wall. Click on the same window again to create a clothesline. Click near the same window to create a double-window clothesline. Now choose another standard window from the bottom menu and place it a bit far away from the double window. You know have two windows and a long clothesline between them.

Flowerbox: Choose a single window and place it on a wall. Now click on the same window two times to create a flowerbox underneath it. Move the cursor away from the same window and click next to it to create a double window with two flower boxes. Click next to it to create a triple flowerbox window with the roof.

To create a window with a roof, first build a double window with a clothesline, as explained above. Now build a single window right next to them to make a triple window with a small roof above them.

If you place a single window on one of the corners of a cottage or close to the vines, a haystack, cart barrel, bench, or rake will automatically appear on the base of the cottage.

Tips: Create a window on a cottage roof and you will get this:

Palladian Window

Palladian windows have an old-world charm and look so beautiful on a tower. Choose this window type from the same menu and place it on the building wall. Click on the space next to it to create a beautiful double Palladian window. Make a gorgeous triple Palladian window by clicking next to the double.

Decorative Square Windows

While these small square windows can be used for decoration, there are other uses as well. You can even stretch a square window vertically. Choose this window type, place it on a wall, and then move the cursor upwards to stretch it up.

You can see the light from the windows at night. Looks so cool! And so does the lamp.

Lamp

Choose this tool and place a wall lamp on the building wall. You can also build a street lamp by placing it on the ground. All lamps lit up at night.

Flag/Banner

Place it on top of a tower to create a flag. To create a medieval-style banner, place the same flag on the ground or the walls of a tower.

Chimney

Place it on top of a house. You can increase its height. Hold the LMB over the chimney and move up to increase its height.

4. Color Palette

Choose this tool and then click on the part of a structure to open the palette. Now choose a color of your choice to paint that part.

The color palette can be used to add different color shades to structures. The palette changes based on the structure chosen. So if you are coloring the walls of a cottage or watchtower, you will find more shades of color than the roof part. The best part of the palette is the wide variety of patterns it provides, especially if you want to paint a cottage.

5. Elevation

One of my favorites in the build toolset. It adds depth and contour to the otherwise flat terrain. Click on the terrain elevation tool (sixth tool from the right) and then place it on flat terrain to create a mound. Hold the LMB on the mound and drag upwards to create a hillock. Placing the cursor on it, you can adjust its steepness. Click and drag towards the left to increase steepness.

You can also create a ridge. Select the hill tool and click on a flat terrain. Now drag it around.

If a random glade already has an elevated terrain, select the same tool. Now, when you place the cursor on the elevated terrain, it will turn into a crosshair. Hold the LMB and drag it downwards to flatten the terrain.

Tip: You can create stone steps on a hill using the path tool. Build one and then select the path tool. Drag the path tool directly over the hill to create terraced steps.

Here’s another one: Select the wall tool and draw a circular wall on top of a hill. An arch will also be created.

6. Foliage

The foliage tool, shown as a rose on the toolset, is used to add greenery to the terrain. You can create natural elements, such as flowers, bushes, and small plants around flat and elevated terrain. One interesting aspect of foliage is that the flowers and bushes depend on the season chosen. I love how the pebbles surround the flowers and bushes. Looks so beautiful!

You can increase and decrease the density of the foliage tool. Click on the rose icon and then drag the slider left or right to adjust the greenery and flower content.

7. Tree

Lets you create beautiful trees on flat terrain or hills. Like foliage, the tree type depends on the seasons you have chosen. If it’s winter, expect a few withered ones.

8. Water Body

Another favorite tool of mine. It has a water droplet icon and can create ponds and streams on flat terrain. Select this tool, click, and drag over the terrain to create beautiful water bodies. I can’t stop watching cute ducks land gracefully on my small, beautiful pond, and the fish look adorable.

Here are some build combos you can try with the water tool:

1. Create a water body. Now use the path tool to draw over the pond to create stepping stones.

You can also place a tree directly on a pond and small lotus leaves will appear under it, floating on water.

2. Create a hill using the elevation tool and then use the water tool to make a water body across it, either horizontally or vertically.

3. Draw foliage on top of a water body to create beautiful lotuses and lilies.

4. Use the elevation tool to raise the ground around a water body. You can then build a bridge that can connect between two raised terrain.

9. Eraser Tool

An all-important toolset that can help you correct your doodling mistakes. They can be quite useful for removing building elements from randomly generated glades that appear after selecting a new season. The eraser tool can be found next to the palette tool. Move your cursor over this tool to view six more tools:

Foliage removal: This tool removes everything created using the foliage tool. Select it and drag over the plants and flowers to remove them.

Tree: Erases trees. While editing a glade, if you want to remove all trees, the first thing you should do is search for the white boundary. Trees up to the white boundary can be removed using this eraser.

Water removal: This tool replaces water bodies with terrain. Here’s a fun observation: When you use this tool, ducks gracefully fly away from the water body.

Wall Eraser: Can be used to erase not only solitary walls but also walls from cottages and watchtowers.

Path removal. Wherever a path tool is used, either to create stairs or add doors to a building, this tool can help you remove it completely from a glade.

Hammer: Best used to remove all building elements. You can use the hammer tool to remove houses, windows, chimneys, fences, walls, etc. Click to select the hammer tool.

Pay attention to the hammer cursor. If it glows, and the building color changes then that element can be removed. If the cursor appears faded, it means that a particular element can be erased.

10. Photo Mode (Camera Icon)

Tiny Glade’s dedicated photo mode is packed with several camera settings that will assist you in preserving your cherished creations. Click on the camera icon to open photo mode. A new set of tools will appear at the bottom of the screen:

Folder

Used to view all your saved screenshots/photos. Whenever you take a snapshot of a glade, it automatically saves it in a separate folder in your system.

Retro Camera

This tool has four more photo modes:

Diorama Mode: Choose this photo mode to capture your glade as a diorama. I know you will love that miniature-like effect. Looks so stunning! After selecting the diorama mode, click on the camera icon to take a photo of your glade. The photo will then be saved on your PC. View it by clicking on the folder icon at the bottom of the screen.

Flying Camera: I believe I can fly! At least with this photo mode turned on! Right-click and use the WASD keys together to fly freely around the glade.

First, adjust the camera angle – pan using WASD. You can also click and hold the right mouse button, and rotate to get a 360-degree view of your glade. Zoom in and zoom out using the scroll wheel. When ready, press and hold the right mouse button and use the WASD keys together to fly freely around the surroundings. Once you get a unique perspective of your glade, adjust the square focus and then click on the camera icon to capture the image.

Walking Camera: Gives a unique first-person perspective of your glade. You can get a clear view of the stars in the background, and the fireflies, in case it’s nighttime viewing, and get an up close and personal view of butterflies, birds, and animals. When you get a nice view, click the camera icon to capture a picture.

Aerial Perspective (Map): Choose this mode to get a complete bird’s eye view of your glade. Zoom out a bit more and your glade will now look like a map, but more lively and beautiful. Don’t forget to capture the pic!

FoV or Zoom

Place the mouse cursor on this tool. Drag the slider left or right to zoom in or zoom out. The second tool is the fisheye tool which makes the edges of a picture appear wrapped in a sphere. It has a mesh icon and is available only when you choose the walking camera or flying camera mode. It has a nice cinematic effect. Use it with the vignette tool for better pictures.

Aperture/Vignette Effect

The vignette effect gives a slightly darker effect on the edges or corners of the picture, making the photo feel more cozy or dramatic. It helps a user focus on the center of the image.

With aperture, you can create a bokeh effect of sorts by making the background blurry. The foreground can also be blurred using this setting. This effect largely depends on the placement of the square focus. Move the square focus to any part of the picture, and then use the aperture. Everything will be blurred except that part. Move the slider to increase the blurriness.

Check the position of the square focus in both screenshots below:

Square Focus

Use the slider to increase the size of the square focus. Can be used in combination with aperture, especially if you want a large part of a picture unblurred.

Camera Icon

Lets you capture a pic after adjusting the settings and adding effects.

Color, Brightness and Contrast

The RGB/saturation setting can be used to create monochrome pictures. You can then adjust the brightness and contrast with the next two settings.

Filters

Creates 10 unique filers of your glade. Choose a filter and then take a picture.

Picture Effects

There are three types of picture effects. The first one will give a nice little oil painting effect.

The second mode makes everything look white as if they have turned into white marble statues.

The third effect only works on trees, making them invisible and letting you see through them.

Day/Night Cycle and Sun’s Direction

This final setting is available both in normal and photo mode. Click on it and two more settings will appear on the right side of the screen. The first one lets you change day/night. Just drag the dialer to make this happen. The upper part of the circle is daytime and the lower part is nighttime.

The lock/unlock icon beside it is the “passage of time”. If unlocked, time will progress, but if you lock it you can freeze time. Use the lock if you want only daytime or nighttime viewing for your glade.

The compass icon below the day/night cycle lets you change the direction of the sun.

Animals and Birds

There’s a limited number of animal and bird species in Tiny Glade. I am hopeful that new creatures will be added in the next update. Until then you can see and interact with sheep, ducks, butterflies, and birds. Here are a few fun things to do with them:

1. Sheep: Click on them and they will bleat. A heart will also appear above them. Their hearts B(l)eat for you. Hehe!

Sometimes, birds sit on top of sheep. How cute!

When you draw water over sheep, they float in the air using their striped umbrellas. Looks so adorable!

2. Ducks: Click on a duck to make it quack. Draw a path around the duck on water and watch them fly. You can use the water eraser tool to remove water bodies and they will fly away.

3. Butterflies: They appear more in the summer season. Move your cursor over them to see them flutter.

4. Fish: They look so beautiful in a pond. Move the cursor over them and see them glide effortlessly through the water.