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