When does the game start?

[Sophie Lambert]

Before beginning, I want to say that the atmosphere in the game is spot on! Great audio design, great input interaction, UI decent, camera controls decent, nice building mechanics.

My problem is kind of the same when Valve was playtesting Portal and people said after playing - "great introduction, but when does the game start?".

This game is so charming, yet I feel it lacks core features that really make it "a game". Like, something to overcome. See people wandering about that needs housing and roads. Maybe add some guards that you can hire to defend against invaders.

[Slphapalme]

This game is not designed for invaders or guards. It is a cozy building simulation.

[Don Lobo]

From the store description for Tiny Glade:

"Tiny Glade is a relaxing free-form building game. Tap into the joy of making something pretty with no management, no combat, or wrong answers - just kick back, doodle some castles, and turn forgotten meadows into lovable dioramas."

Additionally, here's a few definitions for the word 'game':

Based on Huizinga J. (H o m o [spacing it as Steam thinks is a slur] Ludens, 1938), and Caillois R. (Man, Play and Games, 1958), a game is an activity or form of play, often with rules and objectives, in which participants engage for entertainment, skill development, or competition.

While this definition excludes Tiny Glade on the basis of competition, it includes the fact that is a form of play engaged for entertainment. Important keyword being often, when referring to rules and objectives. Not that Tiny Glade lacks objectives anyways, as anything you set out to do is very much one, and the constraints in terms of building serve as soft rules too.

From the Oxford English Dictionary: "An activity that one engages in for amusement or fun."

While this is only one of the definitions for it within the English dictionary, notice it doesn't hold as requisite for a game to have end goals, challenges or sanctions of any kind. As far as this definition goes, Tiny Glade fits fairly well.

Based on development psychologist's Jean Piaget's work: "A structured activity that allows children to experiment with and understand social roles, moral rules, and logical reasoning."

While Tiny Glade doesn't intrinsically fit this description, for Piaget the most important aspect of games was that playing is a normal healthy way of experiencing mock executions of all the different abilities we develop over our lives. In other words, sandbox play and make believe are also considered games within this definition.

And last but not least is the definition commonly used for non-human animal games, based on Kroos G. (The Play of Animals, 1898), Lorenz K. (King Solomon’s Ring: New Light on Animal Ways, 1952) and Beckoff M. (The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy — and Why They Matter, 2007): Non-human animal games are playful interactions or activities engaged in by animals, often involving physical or social elements, that mimic behaviors used in hunting, fighting, or communication.

This definition focuses on playful interaction with both other animals and the environment. They don't require a defined structure, rules or even clear end goals. And while animals engage with games in a similar sense as we do, for development, it's not like them or us are specifically doing so because we want to develop healthily. We just play.

Ultimately, this comes down to what’s known in science as a pseudo problem of definition. Meaning that the answer of whether this is a game or not is given by the definition you use. Some will encompass it, others won’t.

This is all to say, the game starts the moment you play it. You set your objectives, you define your own endgame, and however you figure to deal, play with or work around the system limitations is also a good part of it.

More importantly I wanted to highlight, as I mentioned on a different thread, that the discussion of what is a game is a millenary one. So much so that scholars and game designers have sometimes even revised such definitions, like with the appearance of videogames like Minecraft or Animal Crossing. Not precisely of the same category as Tiny Glade, but simply good examples of how definitions serve reality, not the other way around. And as the experience of what games are and can be change, so do their definitions.

[Chief Kay Strongbow]

It's just a game for building, it's about being creative, not overcoming challenge.

Mind you it's really missing some obvious things like copy/paste and the like... still, its much more of a toy than an actual game.. like playing with digital legos.

[Happydoggy]

This is not really a game, but a building simulation, although I do hope the devs will put more things in it like different trees etc, more funny stuff(the sheep is great!)
I dont need people running around and anoying childrenvoices yelling they dont want to go to school but play with the sheep....
The fun of this 'game' is that you can imagine/fantasys that there are people living in the houses you build. Many players share thier creations, and you can only quess who is living in that tide place, a happy couple? ugly whitches? Is it abanded? It can sugest a lot of things and that is one of the things that makes Tidy Glade magic.
Although I hope the devs put things in it like a campfire etc...

[Tetrafish_21]

"When does the game start?" reminds me of "Y can't metroid crawl?"

[Jeo Nugu]

It's a zen diorama builder. Make cozy scenes, take creative screenshots, and chill.