Design Statement
The theme track is in F minor at about 80 bpm - it starts as a quiet, lonely line, opens into something fuller and warmer, then lets go. Kindred Lights follows that arc. The game's own score is written in the same key and tempo: it starts as a single drone, and every lantern you light fades in another layer. Everything breathes at 80 bpm - lights pulse on the beat and your hum ripples on it. The palette moves from cold blue night through warm dusk to dawn, one step per lantern. The ending is the theme: when the last lantern is lit, the game's music falls away and the theme plays, unmodified, while you rise from night into dawn with everyone you gathered. Alone-to-together is the core design choice: you can't lose, and every friend you carry keeps you warmer.

Game Instructions (launch steps, controls, and gameplay overview)
Play in the browser at amberneel.itch.io/kindred-lights, or download for Windows (64-bit) or macOS (universal, unsigned: right-click and choose Open the first time). Drift: WASD / arrow keys, or hold left mouse button (gamepad: left stick). Hum: hold Space or right mouse button (also Shift / Z / J; gamepad: A). Humming slows you down, calls lost lights to you and wakes the lanterns. Pause: Esc or P. Fullscreen: F. You are a small warm light on a cold mountain night - hum to the lost lights you find and they follow you as a glowing trail. Light the four old lanterns and you all rise into the dawn together. You can't lose: if the cold puts your light out, your friends drift home and you gather them again.

Gameplay walkthrough video
https://amberneel.itch.io/kindred-lights

Did your project use any AI tools or assets? If yes, please specify.
Yes. This game contains AI-generated content. It was built by Hark, an AI agent, working for Abdul AmberNeel. AI wrote the game design, the level layout, all of the code (GDScript and shaders), the on-screen text, and the script that synthesizes the game's own music and sound effects. No image, music or voice generation models were used: all visuals are drawn by that code while the game runs, and all sound apart from the theme comes from that script. The theme track was composed by a human, Jason Grace, and is used unmodified.