literally everything you have is in your tool bar on the bottom (or top if your a psychopath) of your screen. im not going to cover the absolute basics of how each tool works because im sure you figured that out within the first minute of opening the game, but i will cover more niche scenarios and how to use them. if i have to in future sections, then i will cover more basic methods of using the tool used.
I also cover more specific/unobvious things like how to make bridges or doors in ways you might not have known

i am still making this guide, i have literally no idea what im doing, so bear with me

Fences and walls are probably the most basic tools in the game. however, the way they interact with things can be confusing.

placing fences is simple, press and hold where you want the fence to start, then while still holding drag your mouse along the path of where you want your fence to go. the same applys to walls. if you press and hold at the end of a fence while a little cube is visible, then it will continue building upon that fence. if you finish building one at the end of another fence or wall of the same type (that being a fence going in to a fence and a wall going in to a wall) then it will connect them together the best it can. holding left control on your keyboard will prevent them from connecting to eachopther while your placing them, this can be used in some niche situations where them being connected is actually worse. if you dont like how a specific part of a fence looks, then you can use the wall rubber tool to remove that part of the fence and then rebuild it how you want, using the tips already provided. if you have no tool selected, then you can increase or decrease the height of your wall or fence. placing paths through a wall will create an arch, it does the same for fences but i personally wouldnt call the wooden frame it creates an arch. they can also connect to the edges of building or other, pre-made fences or walls, building them in to the edge of one will show you how it will connect and you can choose where it will go. using the paint tool, you can customise the fences by colour, and the walls by colour and build style (that being nothing, stone, or wood) and if you use the wooden styled framing for the walls then you can customise the colour of that like the fences.
the screenshot shows how i used them to connect a wall and a fence to a small house.
i also used the fence to create arches that look like its holding up the stone arches of the house. i did this by placing fences, because the path was already there to create the arches of the house, the fences automatically made them self in to arches. once i placed them, i adjusted them and increased their height to hide the top beam of the fence.
i also use walls and fences for some basic decoration when the proceduraly generated decorations arn't enough or simply arn't appearing. an example of this is in the second screenshot.

for those who dont know, flora is basically just a fancy word for plants, but im using it anyway.

there are three types of flora, trees, flowers and the vines that are made by procedural generation.
the vines on building, you have little control over, but adding things like windows or arches etc will change the appearance of the vines.
trees are pretty simple, you can place them one at a time and are randomly chosen from a few variants depending on the map type your on, if you want a specific tree from whatever map you are on, then simply just remove and replace the tree until you get the desired look. you can also move trees around if it isn't placed exactly right. just press and hold on the little cube that appears when you hover over the base of the tree and then you can move it around, you cannot rotate them though, at least to my knowledge.
flowers are a tiny bit more complex, you can draw with the flower tool and it will place flowers wherever your mouse goes while drawing. you can also adjust the size of the tool to get more precision. drawing over the same flower patch will add more flowers to that specific spot. you can do this up to three times, but the third time wont add much. you can also add flowers to water which will add lily pads.

people have asked, so ill repeat it here so you don't have to go comment digging.
if you want a dead/leafless tree in one of the seasons where they arn't an option, then what you can do is change that saves season by going on the pause menu, clicking on load, then clicking on the little leaf icon of whatever scene you want to change the season of. once youve done this (idealy to either winter or olden so you can actually place the dead trees) place down a dead tree and then change the season back using the method i mentioned, now you have a dead tree in whatever seaon you desire. this also changes the colour of the little mushroom things that grow on the sides of it which i think is cool
i also discovered that this works with natural 'clutter' since a new update. what i did here was change the season to olden, copy one of the clutter stumps and then switch to the flowery season, and now i have a stump that i can decorate with in any season.

paths are quite simple for their typical intended purpose, however you can use them in some interesting ways


in this screenshot, i have used a mixture of paths, flowers, lack of the paths and flowers and the terrain tool (more on that later) to create what looks like an empty field or some kind of unkept garden. i filled the area with paths, making sure to get close to the walls without actually touching them as i didnt want any arches, i then used the path rubber and removed paths in a random fasion before placing flowers in the same way, making sure to keep them small as to not overpower anything. obvously this is not the only other use for them however.

i previously mentioned how paths can be used to create arches in walls, fences and building, but if you use a much smaller path in to a building, then it creates a door instead. you can make this door bigger with more path, but too big and itll turn in to an arch. you can adjust the height of the door when not holding any tools

placing paths in water will create lots of little rocks that dont obstruct the water too much while still adding what look to be stepping stones as well as lily pads
adding paths to buildings that are in water will create grates (metal bars) in place of the typical arch that would appear.

adding paths through flowers will also remove the flowers for ease of use.
you can also use paths to make bridges (i talk about those in the buildings section)

adding paths to the sides of rocks created from the terrain tool (ill get to it) will make stairs. this is obvously meant so that the path has a little staircase meaning that the path can continue, but i also use this for some extra detailing on the cliff sides or rocky terrain.

ive covered most of what water does in the paths section, as it is mostly the same thing in concept, but there are some things that water does that require its own section

when placing water, it will always be at the same level, regardless of how high you build terrain, meaning you cannot make waterfalls (hopefully they will add that at some point) but you can make alot of other things with water, provided help from other tools to.
using paths, you can place little rocks in the water, or grates in building (all explained in the paths section) or bridges, though that is more of a buildings section thing. water is the most basic tool, but used right it can make scenes look infinity better

(sorry for lack of stuff here, water is too basic. im sure ill edit this in the future when more content gets added)

yet another fancy word, this one just means the floor and how it flows from different heights as well as the different materials involved.

the terrain tool is a little confusing, and it annoys me that i cant add terrain to pre-existing terrain without complications, but the standards of it are relatively simple.
you can draw in terrain using the terrain tool, similar to the water and flower tools, it will generate a slightly emphasised level of land wherever you draw. once you've finished drawing, you can then edit that terrain further. pressing and holding on the terrain with the tool still in hand, you can adjust its hight and how it blends with the rest of the terrain. moving up and down will alter its height, while going left and right will change how much it blends in to the surrounding terrain. the more it blends, the more grass there will be, and the less it blends, the more sheer the edges will be, as well as a lot more rock. both types can be used well for simply texturing the ground more, as well as adding more depth to your flat landscape.

whenever i have a sheer edge with a lot of rock, i like to use the path tool a tiny bit to add some more texture to the rock face

Update: i just watched some videos of a guy making cool stuff, and apparently holding left control allows you to defy almost all of the basic rules i thought there were.
holding control allows you to paint new terrain on top of pre-existing terrain, giving you more freedom of choice when making your landscape
still a confusing tool though.

buildings are the second most complicated thing (the first spot is reserved for the cosmetic tool) but it can be explained with some ease.

you have two types of buildings, the cilindar shaped one, used mostly for towers or implied external staircases. and the boxed shaped one, this one is used for more typical houses.
you can edit parts of the houses by hovering over specific parts of the building. hovering by the sides will allow you to adjust width or length, hovering over the corners can allow you to rotate the building. at the bottom you can adjust how elevated off of the ground it is. and at the top just bellow the roof, you can adjust how high the buildings body goes
with the roof, you can adjust its height, how much it slopes in, how pointy it is, the direction of the top (this is only it the roof ends in a pointed line, since if it ended at a single point rotating it would do nothing) as well as the height of the roof itself, which is not affected by the actual buildings height.

you can merger buildings together to create more complex shapes.

in the screenshot, i have build a thin box building inside of the tower to create a more complex roof, you can do this by placing the box building and then right clicking on it for some basic editing. move it to inside of the tower by using the cross arrows at the bottom of the edit popup after right clicking, then you can edit its height, width, roof shape etc.

you also create other constructions using the buildings.

i made this bridge by placing a box building and then flattening it as much as i could, then elevated the bottom of it until it was only just above the water, then making it as long as it would go and making it my desired width. i then rotated it in to the correct position and brought paths up to it which removes the fences from the sides wanted. if you use the paint tool, you can change the framework of the buildings. nothing, stone and wood. for the bridge i used wood as it connects to my fences well, but you use walls instead if that fits what you've done better.

Update: was looking through posts from the tiny glad community and saw a post with an incredible bridge. Took me a sec to figure out how they did it but now I’m gonna share it so you can do it to.
Place a box building wherever you want the bridge to be and adjust the size to your desired shape, also make sure your roof is flat so it is actually a bridge, and then adjust the height of the body of the building so that it is level with where you want it to go. Then use the path tool to create arches at the base of the building. Deselect the path tool and then adjust the height of the arches so that they go as high as you want them to go.
This only really looks good if you want to have a bridge that is high up, but I’m sure it can be used for lower bridges to.

using the path tool, you can create doors and/or arches at the base of the buildings, if this is in water it will create a grate.
you can also use the walls rubber to remove little bits of the walls (this will remove the whole roof) which can be used for walls if you want them to be more precise, or it could be used to create what look like ruins

here, i did what i previously mentioned, and then adding regular walls to the broken areas to create differant levels (make sure to do this with left control held, otherwise the walls will connect).
when placing windows, they will have a broken appearance (since the building is now in ruins? im assuming this is why, not really sure but it makes sense in my head)
you can also make window doors if you have a flat roofed building connected to the side of another building (this does also now work if the building is just placed on the ground, same concept though)

this section is for the little cosmetic tool
in it is the square window, the pointed window, the window hole, the lantern, the flag and the chimney.

the square window and the pointed window are functionally the same so ill bundle them together in explanation (just use whatever one looks right in your builds when you feel its right)
the windows can be placed on walls to create a small opening, these rae mostly used to fill empty spots on walls, but if you place a window next to another window of the same type, then they will merge together to create a double window, you can do this again to make a triple window, it does not go further. if you dont have a tool in your hand then you can move the windows around to a more precise location of your choosing. you can also place windows on the corners of box buildings (this works for all 3 stages of window.
clicking on a window will cycle through all of its different appearances, if you don't like the first one it gave you. if you have two windows with a little bit of distance between them, then they can connect to have a clothes line hanging from them, if you don't get it then click on it to cycle through the styles until you do (as far as my patience would allow me to test, im pretty sure this only works with single windows. but im welcome to being proved wrong)

the window hole is used in more niche situations, but ive found uses for it.
if you click with the window hole tool just above an already placed window hole, then it will grow it into a window slit, doing this again will give it a slightly more complex shape. the rules given about the other windows apply when i say you can move it around to a more desired location, however it doesn't really have any different looks when clicking on it.
i've used this for tower windows, as from memory, that's where they typically seem to be

lanterns are very basic, so ill briefly explain them and then give some example on how i've used them.
lanterns can be placed on walls, buildings or the ground, depending on where you want them. when placed on buildings, you can also place them on corners if wanted. when no tool is selected, you can move the lanterns around like you would with the other cosmetics.
when you place a lantern on the floor it is gives a small wooden frame to hang from, this can be rotated and moved around when no tool is selected.
when ive used the lantern, i typically place them next to windows or on paths to light them up.
if i have a fence and want a lantern on it, i place the lantern, rotate it to where i want it and then slowly move it until the wooden beam holding it up merges with one of the fence beams, making it look like its connected to the fence.

if you have a flat roof like shown in the second screenshot, then you can also place lanterns on the ground like i did here.

flags are basically the same as lanterns, except they do not produce light at night.
you can place them in all the same locations as lanterns with some exceptions. you can also place them on roofs, and if the rood ends in a point, then you can place it right at the top. depending if anything might be in the way, the flag may be shorter than you intended.
if flags are placed with a small amount of distance between them, then bunting will generate between them. if you colour the flags different colours, then the bunting will alternate between those colours.

chimneys are probably the simplest of all the cosmetic decorations.
you can place them on roofs, even it is it completely flat, and it will produce some smoke.
after you place it, without a tool selected you can adjust the height and position of the chimney
you can also place chimneys on walls of buildings, and if there is something like a window or a lantern in the way of it, then it'll be replaced by a small metal pipe for the smoke to escape through.

i mostly just use it where it feels right, as well as to fill any empty roof space.

Update: reading through comments, someone mentioned how basically all decorations can be placed on the corners of buildings to (if they are box shaped ones, cylinders done have corners), these being lanterns, flags, square and pointed windows (all stages of window size work on corners) and chimneys can be placed on the edges of roofs which will create a long stone tube for the smoke to go through for the 'fireplace inside the house'

due to a recent update, you can now place window doors without having a level bellow them, as long as it is at the base of the building it will place a door. if the base of the building is elevated, then it will have a mini balcony.

i also discovered this by accident. but if you have something blocking the chimney stone pillar if it is placed at the edge of a roof, then the pillar will disappear and a small metal exit point will take its place.

with a recent update, you can now detach 'clutter' from windows, doors etc and use them elsewhere. by right clicking on some 'clutter' that has already been separated from whatever it was previously linked with, you can move it around using the 4way arrow under it. you can also rotate it to your desired direction using the indicator floating above it. and, clicking on the little plus icon beside the 'clutter', you can duplicate it and use it as many times as you want.

im not really sure what to put here as i think its self explanatory, but ill put something for consistency.

when you click on the sun dial tool, two twist dials will pop up. (just assume im correct with the naming here) the top one is for time and the bottom one is for sun/moon light direction.
you can adjust the time for different lighting effects, changing the time will also change the sun/moon light direction, but using the other dial you can change it back.
next to the time dial, there is a little padlock. clicking this will stop time from passing passively, but you can still change it manually without having to unlock time.

also quite self explanatory, but ill try and explain it so literally anyone can understand.

when you hover over the rubber tool, a small menu will appear. you can choose the size of the rubber, as well as specify what you want to remove, this is useful for when you want to remove for example, flowers around a wall but want the wall to stay. just select the flower icon on the rubber menu, adjust the size to what you want and you can remove all of the flowers while leaving everything else intact.

this is very useful for when you want a specific style of theme of your builds.

with this tool you can change the colour and build style (only for specific things like buildings and walls) or almost anything.
you can change the colour of fences, the colour and framework of walls, the colour and framework of buildings, the colour emitted from lanterns, the colour of flags and the colour of windows and doors (both window doors and path doors)
there isn't much more to say than that.
if you choose to have the wooden framework of buildings, then another small window will pop up when you go to edit the same building, using this, you can then change the wood type to match your fences if you wanted, or keep it the same if that's what you want.

(colours used are just for demonstration of what you can do. i didn't chose this for the finished product)

im not going to explain this in too much detail, at least not yet, because i don't fully understand how it works and i just move things around until it looks right mostly. ill try my best and update it after a better understanding lol

the first button is just to access your screenshots folder for tiny glade specifically

the second button changes the camera type

the third button adjusts your view (depending on your camera mode, you will have two sliders, the new one adjusts a small fish-eyed effect)

the forth button adjusts aperture and corner darkness
aperture is just how focused things in the centre of your screen are

the fith button allows you to more control what the focus is on and by how much
the bigger the focus point is (adjusted by the slider) the more everything around it will be in focus
you can also move this focus point around by clicking where you want it

the sixth button is the actual picture taking button

the seventh button adjusts a few things
brightness - this adjusts brightness (shocker)
exposure - this affects how much rendered light gets in to the 'camera lens'. basically a realistic version of brightness
grey scale - the effects the actual lighting, so if you wanted your scene to look like it was part of a 1960's movie, then you have the tool

the eighth button gives you different themes
either that or its more specific timestamps, so you don't have to scroll through to try and create the lighting yourself

the ninth button has a few sub-buttons so ill explain them
the first one makes it look like a painting (this tool isnt great yet as its procedural generation on the colour pallet and all that good stuff. im assuming with future updates this tool will get better)
the second button removes all colour and some of the lighting effects, but not all of them. im not sure why this is in the game, probably for game devs/artists like me to more closely see how everything is made.
the third one is a toggle for making trees transparent when you get too close. in most situations i turn this off as i want the trees, but there are some situations where i want the trees where they are, but they are in the way for the screenshot i want.

the tenth button is exactly the same as the time dial, so i wont explain it for a second time.

the eleventh button is to exit the screenshot mode.

obviously, the mouse is a big part in it, almost everything is done on just the mouse, but there are a few things that the keyboard can do to
(all of this is in the settings menu, but how many people go to the settings for that)

this game is basically a glorified 3D modelling system, similar to blender or maya, or more like unreal engine. any case, you can use wasd to move around, as well as e and q to go up and down

T - opens the time dial

P - puts you in screenshot mode

Z - undo

X - redo

1 - house/building tool

2 - path tool

3 - cosmetic/decoration tool

4 - paint tool

5 - rubber tool

6 - terrain tool

7 - flower tool

8 - tree tool

9 - water tool

F6 - feedback menu (all of the other F- buttons do what they do in every other steam game)

there might be some button combinations (like alt F4, but ones that done force close your game) that i haven't found yet

Update to the sentence above: I’m still not sure on all key binds since I can’t be bothered to look through settings, and some buttons actually don’t appear in the controls menu, however

Left control - holding this button down while doing a lot of different things basically disables one of its core functions while held
Examples: holding it down while drawing terrain allows you to draw new terrain on top of pre-existing terrain.
Holding left control while building fences and walls disables the ‘connect’ feature, this is good for when you want to have more precision.
Holding it down while placing almost any cosmetic item or things that typically can snap to other previously built stuff will allow you to place them without snapping, if you want to have more precise placements

what ive done here is make a very flat building and then used walls to create walls underneath. this creates what looks like some kind of over covered seating area. (its infront of a pond and the little chair made of walls is facing it, its just out of frame)

personally, i think its important to add character to your scenes, even if it isnt really visible in most screenshots or when you just looking around. its gives all the little areas a bit more personality as wells as giving you a little more to do to keep the game fun
here, i made a small pathway roofed by trees and lit up with lanterns. from almost any angle it isnt visible, but if you look for stuff like this you can find them

when making roofs, unless the intended style is to be more simplistic, try to add more detail to them. here i used the slit windows to give the smaller roof section a little more for it, as well as adding the small roof section in the first place to give the main roof a bit more detail

when you have large expanses of water, try to use things like flowers and paths to add some more to the otherwise flat water. plus, what I've been doing is removing a very small amount of water, then using the terrain tool to elevate it, because the piece of land made is so small it is entirely rock, and it looks like a large rock sticking out of the water. it serves literally no purpose other than to break up the otherwise overpowering flatness of the water

try to stay consistent to your own rules you set with each scene. as you can see here, every piece of wood is a dark green, every house is bricks with white paint, every walking platform is bricks with white/green paint, every roof is dark brown. little things like that, can go unnoticed, but will help tie everything together better. it can also help if you want two clear seperate areas, by giving them subtle different rules with colour pallets/decoration style/etc. (i don't have an screenshot example of this but you get the point)

not every little space has to be full and interesting. whenever i cant think of something to place in an area, i choose to intentionally not have anything there. you can see a few areas on this map where i just filled it with flowers and trees, and maybe a path to get from one area to another. it works as a great space filler and can add to the forest village vibe if thats what your going for

as said, this is my first guide, but i wanted to more easily give others a help on how things work.
almost everything here i learnt purely through playing the game and experimenting, while a couple things like the bridge, i saw someone else do and did trial and error until i got it.

i will update this whenever i remember it exists and please do tell me if there is anything specific i should add if i missed anything or just didn't explain well enough, or if you want me to remove anything because its just wrong

here are some scenes i've made, feel free to copy anything about them you like