Play game
Last Ember's itch.io pageRate this game
In order to rate this submission you must be logged into itch.io and have submitted your own entry. Anyone with an account can leave a comment.
AI Tools Used
Claude (Anthropic) wrote all of the code and helped with design and text. The graphics, lighting and sounds are all generated by that code while the game runs (no image or sound files). It was first built as a single HTML file, then ported to Godot 4.7 using the Godot AI addon, which let Claude work directly inside the Godot editor (build, run, screenshot, fix). The idea, design decisions and playtesting were mine.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
I really like the atmosphere and the whole dark maze vibe! The torch mechanic is a nice way to incorporate the jam's theme, but I have to admit the gameplay didn't quite grab me. I feel like it could use a little more variety to keep things engaging. Still, nice concept and good atmosphere overall!
Thanks for the honest feedback, that's really useful. More variety is fair, it's mostly one loop right now. Was there anything in particular you missed, like different enemies, more to find, or something else? I'll give The Long Season a go too.
Looks like we were making cousins of the same game during this jam. Compared to mine, yours is definitely the kinder one to a new player. The torch crackle and the footsteps are nicely done too.
One thing I learned building my maze game: never let a deadlock happen — a monster parked on a corridor the player has to pass through, with no way around. Did that come up when you were designing the map and the monster behaviour? Curious how you handled it.
Thanks, that means a lot coming from you, and "cousins" is exactly right. I really enjoyed Torch the Sky and your write-up of how you built it.
On deadlocks: the shades back off from a strong torch and stay away from braziers, so a fresh light pushes them out of a corridor. They only come at you hard when your torch is dying. Passing the torch also leaves a lit brazier behind, so the path you've already made stays safe.
The way you built it, playing, writing a note, letting Claude fix it and playing again, is pretty much what I'm trying to build a place for. I run a small free Discord for people making games with AI, where members post their games, play each other's and trade notes. It's a few dozen people, small but active. You'd be very welcome, and your write-up would make a great post there: discord.gg/waw7dmS3Kb
Thanks for explaining — the brazier trail is a different way around it than mine, and it's got me thinking about the problem again.
And thanks for the invite, I'll drop by. A place where people actually play each other's games and trade notes is what I've been missing — most of what I learned this week came from a few comments like yours.
Great, see you there! And thanks for taking the floor 3 note seriously, I'm curious how the next build turns out.
The lighting and locations are well‑designed and solidly constructed.
Thank you, glad the lighting and the levels worked for you! I'll check out Torch: The Night Flame.
Passing the torch is a lovely core idea, and on desktop it ran clean for me (1280x720 and 1366x768, no errors).
One thing worth checking before more phone voters show up: in Chrome with touch turned on (DevTools device mode, or Playwright hasTouch), the Take up the torch button doesn't respond, to taps or to plain mouse clicks. Same page, same spot, touch off, and it starts on the first click. How to play mentions holding a finger to move, so it looks meant to work on phones. My guess is the touch-to-move handling eats the taps before the buttons see them (or Emulate Mouse From Touch is off). I only tested emulated touch, not a physical phone, so a quick try on yours would settle it.
Thank you, that's a really helpful catch, and thanks for testing it that carefully! I just tried it on a real phone and "Take up the torch" starts the game with a tap, so it looks like it only happens with emulated touch in DevTools. I'll keep an eye out in case any phone players run into it. Going to play Wickline too!
Thanks for checking on a real phone, that settles it. Good to know it was only the emulated-touch setup and phone players can start fine. Sorry for the false alarm, and enjoy Wickline!