🎯 Before You Draw Anything
How Brushland Actually Works
Nothing in Brushland is placed by hand. You do not select a cottage and drop it on a tile. You paint terrain, and the world decides what belongs there. A cottage appears on flat plains, a water mill where a river runs, a watchtower on high ground.
This is the single most important thing to understand before you start, because it means your brush strokes are not decoration. They are the building order.
- Paint the shape of the land first, then let the buildings find their own places
- Every building has terrain requirements. Check them before repainting a region
- Growth takes a moment, so wait for structures to settle before judging a result
- There is no failure state, so experiment freely and keep the versions you like
Pick a Theme
Decide the mood before the first stroke. A quiet fishing hamlet, a busy river market, or a mountain watchtower village each need a different land shape. Write the theme down.
Start Small
Your first map should be small enough to hold in your head. Build a working village first, then scale the recipe up.
Learn the Brush
Get comfortable with brush size, pressure and undo before you design anything serious. Every stroke is harder to undo once buildings have grown on it.
1️⃣ Stage 1: The First Settlement
The Starting Build
| Step | Paint This | Expected Result | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A broad plain area | Cottages and the first small farm | Plains support housing and food, so start there |
| 2 | A short river with a gentle slope | A water mill appears beside the flow | Water drives mills and links the map visually |
| 3 | Low hills along one edge | Orchards and a windmill | Hills add vertical variety to a flat plain |
| 4 | A small forest patch | A sawmill at the forest edge | Forest supplies lumber for later construction |
| 5 | Flat ground beside the river | Farm fields and a road network | Farms need flat plains and water |
Checkpoint: your first village
You have a working settlement when you have cottages for the population, at least one farm producing food, and a mill or sawmill. Do not add more terrain yet. Zoom out and decide whether the composition works before you commit.
2️⃣ Stage 2: Water and the Fishery
Build a Lake
A lake needs real width to support a fishery. Draw one with a broad brush and give it time to settle into a rounded shape rather than forcing it.
- Wide lake, not a narrow puddle
- Flat plains or meadow right at the shore
- A fishery appears once the water body is large enough
- A lighthouse needs a shoreline rather than open water
Connect the Water
Rivers and lakes should belong to the same system. Extend your existing river down to the lake so the map reads as one landscape.
- Draw the slope first, then extend the channel
- Two or three tributaries beat four separate rivers
- Put a bridge where a road crosses the flow
- Add a bathhouse near water but away from the farms
3️⃣ Stage 3: Districts and Amenities
Organising the Kingdom
Once the basics work, stop painting and start arranging. How you group amenities decides whether the kingdom looks deliberate.
- • Residential quarter: cottages and manor houses on flat plains, ideally near the farm fields and the mill.
- • Village centre: a village hall, market and fountain clustered where paths converge. This becomes your focal point.
- • Elevated quarter: a church and a watchtower on the hills, giving the kingdom a landmark above the rooftops.
- • Working edge: quarries in the mountains and sawmills at the forest border, placed where they need their raw material.
Checkpoint: a lived-in kingdom
Your kingdom is functionally complete when it has housing, food, lumber, stone and at least a few amenities. Everything after this point is design refinement rather than survival.
4️⃣ Stage 4: Growing the Map
Extend, Do Not Scatter
When you grow beyond your first village, extend from an existing district rather than starting somewhere new. A river that continues off the edge of your map keeps the composition coherent.
Frame the Map
Add a mountain range along one edge and dense forest along another. These read as natural boundaries and make the kingdom feel contained, which is what a finished painting needs.
Add Landmarks
A statue in a small square, a fountain beside the main path, a lighthouse on the far shore. One landmark per region is enough. More than that and the map starts to look decorated rather than designed.
5️⃣ Stage 5: The Final Polish
Pre-Screenshot Checklist
| Check | What Good Looks Like | Fix If Not |
|---|---|---|
| Focal point | One clear centre the eye lands on first | Add a village hall, fountain or statue at the hub |
| Flow | A visible route through the kingdom | Extend the river or a road toward the centre |
| Transitions | Soft borders between terrain types | Overlap strokes and blend the edges |
| Balance | Dense areas counterbalanced by open space | Leave a meadow gap between two clusters |
| Resource coverage | Farm, mill, sawmill and quarry all present | Expand the matching terrain |
| Frame | Two map edges closed off naturally | Add mountains or dense forest along the open edges |
Enjoy the Process
There is no fail state in Brushland and no enemy to defeat. If a map does not look right, undo it and try a different arrangement. The best kingdoms took the most second attempts.