I thought my first build in Tiny Glade was impressive, but then I started looking at what other people were doing and now I'm not convinced I'm doing it right

A house in autumn in Tiny Glade — (Image credit: Pounce Light)

When I completed my first build in Tiny Glade, I felt an immense sense of satisfaction. The lack of rules and restrictions let my creativity flow and I found a new confidence in my architectural ability, throwing windows onto walls and pulling trees from the ground in ways that always looked striking. I'm so used to building in The Sims or Minecraft and feeling the restrictions of resources or money, so Tiny Glade felt like a necessary change of pace. After kicking my feet up once my building was complete, I wanted to see what other players had managed to do. The result? Me humbling myself to a point where I booted up the game and cleared my glade to start again.

With a basic set of tools and an open stretch of land, people have been creating structures beyond my comprehension since its launch. Even though I've been pleased with whatever towers and turrets I've connected to resemble something vaguely building-like, it pales in comparison to what I've seen players sharing. From theme park castles to gothic cathedrals, it's impossible not to be inspired by what people are essentially conjuring out of thin air. I've been patrolling the "Show me your first build!" thread on the Tiny Glade discussions page like a sentry dog, and I can't stop fawning over what people have been building.

A tudor-esque house built in Tiny Glade from Chiki on Steam — (Image credit: Pounce Light / Chiki)

One of the most impressive structures I've come across so far is a towering Tudor-style building, which Steam user Chiki said was inspired by contemporary surrealist Daniel Merriam. For a moment I stared at the picture and wondered if we were playing the same game, since nothing I'd made in the few hours I put into Tiny Glade looked even close. It's a perfect example of just how limitless the sandbox building of Tiny Glade is, and how much you can achieve with such a small set of tools and a creative brain.

It's got everything from gothic brickwork arches under a bridge connecting two buildings, to a grand entryway welcoming you into what could easily be a vampiric castle in a cartoon. A lot of the things featured in this build exploit the tools in ways I haven't even come across yet. But it's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one feeling this, with comments like 'didn't know something like this was possible.'

A house by a river in Tiny Glade built by theartist1001 on Steam — (Image credit: Pounce Light / theartist1001)

Even a little riverside cottage with a neat picket fence and a bellowing chimney, like this example from user Theartist1001, manages to impress. It uses the tools more simply, but it's extremely effective. Placing these two buildings side by side shows the dramatic range of possibilities in Tiny Glade.

Scrolling through this thread has reminded me that I've always had a sense of building envy in any games that require an ounce of creativity. I've just never got the knack of making things consistently look good. Even though Tiny Glade ensures whatever you do looks like something out of a Studio Ghibli film, I can't ignore the tiny voice in the back of my head reminding me of my jealousy. But it's hard to stay jealous when everyone commenting on screenshots is so willing to share tips to help people like me create something similar.

If anything, witnessing how far players can push themselves and the game to create something improbable is motivational.. I desperately want to be part of the wholesome community that Tiny Glade is starting to cultivate, even if that means spending hours upon hours doing daily challenges and practising my building technique. This is just stemming from seeing the first builds people are coming up with, too, so I look forward to seeing how others progress the more time they spend in the game.

Kara is an evergreen writer. Having spent four years as a games journalist guiding, reviewing, or generally waffling about the weird and wonderful, she’s more than happy to tell you all about which obscure indie games she’s managed to sink hours into this week. When she’s not raising a dodo army in Ark: Survival Evolved or taking huge losses in Tekken, you’ll find her helplessly trawling the internet for the next best birdwatching game because who wants to step outside and experience the real thing when you can so easily do it from the comfort of your living room. Right?