Design Statement
I heard the theme as a slow heartbeat in the cold: quiet and alone at first, then warming and filling out until it swells. Thaw plays that arc. A child carries her village's last coal home through a frozen world seen through frosted glass.

There is one verb, pulse, timed to her heartbeat (a pulse in time with it goes further), and every pulse costs the warmth that keeps her alive, so every thaw is a choice: a tree, a lantern, or a frozen villager. Everyone she frees walks with her and makes her pulse stronger, so care makes the walk easier. The music grows fuller with each thaw, and the theme returns, unmodified, when the village hearth is lit.

Night turns slowly toward dawn across five stages, and at the end the frost clears to show the view was her own window all along. I chose no game over, a warning before every hazard, and endings that differ by who you brought home, never by failure.

Game Instructions (launch steps, controls, and gameplay overview)
LAUNCH
• In the browser: press Run game on this page. Full screen with the button in the corner or F. Best with sound on.
• The first key press or tap starts the sound. A one-minute prologue plays (Esc or a tap skips it), then a how-to-play page (read it, or skip it).

CONTROLS
• Walk: arrows or A / D (gamepad: left stick; touch: hold the left or right of the screen)
• Pulse: hold Space (gamepad: A; touch: hold the middle). Press it, or tap the middle, in time with her heartbeat for a stronger pulse.
• Low way at a cairn: down (touch: swipe down)
• Pause: Esc or P (touch: the button in the corner)
• How to play, any time: ? or the ? button
• Volume - and +, screen shake X, gentle or hard walk H, mute M, full screen F

GAMEPLAY
Walk her home through five stages, about 12 minutes. Pulse to thaw trees, lanterns and frozen villagers, but every pulse costs warmth. Rest by lit lanterns, warmed trees and fires. Everyone you free makes your pulse stronger, and who you bring home lights a window in the village at the end. Every hazard warns you first: wind, avalanches, falling ice, thin ice. If her light goes out she wakes nearby, but the last one to join her loses their fire. Your walk is saved; the title lets you continue or pick a stage.

Gameplay walkthrough video
https://youtu.be/D8a6aB1_y48

Did your project use any AI tools or assets? If yes, please specify.
Yes. Claude (Anthropic), through Claude Code, was used as follows:

• Code: all of the game's code was written by Claude from my design and direction, and tested and tuned by me. There are no image files: everything on screen (characters, landscapes, frost, effects) is drawn by that code, so the graphics are AI-written code.
• Documents: Claude helped draft the design document, the game page description and these form answers from my notes and decisions.
• Testing and media: Claude wrote automated test players to check balance; the screenshots, cover images and walkthrough video are captured from the game itself by scripts it wrote. No image or video was generated by AI.

Not AI: the idea, story, game design and level layout are mine (Ultraviolet). All music and sound are human-made: the jam theme by Jason Grace (unmodified) and CC0 recordings and music from OpenGameArt and Freesound, credited in audio/CREDITS.md. No audio, image or video was generated by AI.