Tiny Glade Preview: Big Ambitions!

Developed and Published by Pounce Light, Tiny Glade is an indie sandbox construction game where you build castles, homes, ruins, and almost any structure you want using a collection of easy-to-use parts and pieces. Even with the preview build I played the title is remarkably flexible. With it being decidedly easy to create the kinds of structure you want with little skill being required to get your desired end result.

Tiny Glade is one of those titles that you hear being uttered and chattered about in the background. Always hearing about it and seeing the odd screenshot here and there. And I’m happy that I have been able to get to try it. The version I played was released as part of the Steam Next Fest. And I have to say that it has been great fun. Providing a relaxing and creatively stimulating experience that I look forwards to seeing more of.

Tiny Glade is set to release in the third quarter of 2024 on Steam, where it can be currently wishlisted and a demo downloaded.

Story – Just Do It

Being what essentially feels like a sandbox art tool Tiny Glade doesn’t have a story and unlikely will have one in any final builds. I’m sorry if that sounds harsh. But quite frankly Tiny Glade isn’t a story with some grand narrative or story. Your goal is to create some beautiful castles and mansions purely for the fun of it. Something I will talk about in greater detail later in this preview. So seeing as there isn’t a story it is time to look at the tutorial and UI text. And as far as tutorial text goes, well, there isn’t any.

Whilst Tiny Glade’s welcome is appreciated this is as close to a tutorial as you get.

In the preview build of Tiny Glade that I played there wasn’t a tutorial. With the general thrust being to experiment and learn by doing. There isn’t anything wrong with that. This is a smooth, relaxing, calming experience. With it easy to undo mistakes (or even integrate them into the final designs). Without getting into the gameplay prematurely the controls are intuitive enough that it is easy to understand how make the kind of environments you want. And the UI text is well presented and easy to read. And I can’t say that I had any issues with it during my time playing.

Gameplay – No Hassle Castle

So with now turn to the meat of this preview on Tiny Glade by talking about the gameplay. Like I (somewhat flippantly) said previously this title feels more like an art tool moreso than a game. And I don’t mean that as damning with faint praise. Your goal is to create whatever you want using the tools at your disposal to do that. Want to create a grand castle? You can do that. Want to create an abbey hidden in the woods? Got it! Want to create a ruined keep? Done! The only limits are your imagination and the tools that you have at your disposal. With this being a preview build the tools you get are limited but you can still make some great stuff.

Even using the initially generated items the end results can be great.

To create most things it is a case of clicking and dragging your chosen item into shape. You can draw walls onto the map then alter their height by dragging them. You paint on paths and flowers onto the landscape to add colour. And you can place windows and lights on the exterior to add more life to the building. All the while you can make alterations to pretty much anything to get the look you want. With additional details like vines clutter being generated in certain conditions.

Build a Better Barracks

All of this helps to create buildings that look lived-in. With the occupants either still being around or long since left for one reason or another. I’ll grant you that some of these clutter items can repeat themselves a little too much. With some generating in odd places. Like a shovel resting against a wall on a second-floor watch tower. However there is nothing that feels too out of place. And you can always just move whatever is causing it to spawn a pixel or two one way or another and it will despawn.

Tiny Glade’s clutter generation can help create some lived-in-looking scenes.

As I mentioned previously the controls are incredibly intuitive. With it being easy to create whatever you want within reason. The only real limitation is your own skill to realise your designs and whatever tools you have on hand. There is no resource management. You aren’t making anything to a set specification. And there is no mission system. Whilst this may not be the case in the final build I honestly I can’t see that happening. The preview build (as well as everything I have seen of it before this) makes this clear that Tiny Glade is a calm sandbox game, and it is all the better for it.

Brick by Brick!

Once you get to grips with some of the finer details on castle construction it is astoundingly easy to create some satisfying buildings. With the clutter generation really adding something to make the whole process all the more enjoyable. It is kind of amazing that you can get results as good look as this with just a little clicking and dragging here and there. You can also change the colour of the walls, roofs, and other details. And you can even turn the buildings you make into ruins with a couple of well-placed clicks of the sledgehammer tool.

Oh how mysterious and moody it looks!

The preview build of Tiny Glade is a remarkably relaxing and empowering little experience. You really don’t need any experience in 3D art or level generation to create some really cute or cool buildings. And I’m interested to get my hands on some of the other tools and objects that were teased in the demo build that are locked out.

Graphics & Audio – If Looks Could Chill

As you can tell by the screenshots the design and aesthetics of Tiny Glade have a soft, almost watercolour-like design to them. It is all rather charming. And with how the mechanics of the game work it means that pretty much any design you come up with will look fantastic. With plenty of details to add character to them being generated as you go. Plus most design elements can be given new colours to help refine your final vision.

The soundtrack is suitably relaxing and soothing. Playing well in the background and further underlining the chilled-out nature of the core gameplay. This coupled with the soft soundscape of wildlife in the background as other environmental sounds helps to further this laid-back feel. Everything looks and feels exactly as it should for a game like this to work. And regrettably this leads me to one of those situations where I can’t help but find myself saying “It just works”. As quite frankly the developers have really nailed the production and presentation of this title.

Tiny Glade was previewed on PC using the recent Steam Next Fest build.