Grab Your Torches!
A stop-motion-style torch-mob adventure in the browser: four nights, thirteen neighbours and one choice at the top of the tower.
Official site erathul.itch.io, verified Nov 3, 2026. The developer's own itch.io page (Erathul), linked from its official AI Browser Game Jam 5 submission page.
Where to play
Every platform this game is on. Links are checked against official sources; we never host or mirror games.
- Play free — itch.ioitch.ioReleasedFree
Plays in the browser on itch.io. No download.
Browser (no download) · Official link verified Nov 3, 2026.
About Grab Your Torches!
Grab Your Torches! is a torch-mob action adventure in the browser, drawn to look like stop-motion puppets of felt and clay. Something crept down from the castle and stole every light in the village of Blackthorn except the fire in Bertha the baker's oven, and Bertha leads the mob. Every torch is a neighbour's light: throw one and that neighbour stands in the dark until the mob passes the flame back, and Bertha needs at least three burning neighbours around her to stay safe. Each neighbour you wake brings a trick, three of which go on the number keys, and each bonfire offers a new trick or an upgrade; from the second night you choose up to eight neighbours to march. Over four nights (the village on All Hallows' Eve, the Whispering Woods, the Crooked Pass and Castle Blackspire) each night adds new enemies and a new rule about light, and a finale at the top of the tower has two endings. A run from the first knock to dawn takes about 20 minutes, with a run clock, 21 medals, a harder Blood Moon mode and the option to carry on after losing twice at the same bonfire. Thirteen neighbours are fully voiced. It plays with keyboard and mouse. The page says nearly everything was generated with AI and assembled by Claude (Anthropic) as the developer: the code was written by Claude in Claude Code on PixiJS 8 and Vite, the art made with GPT Image 2.5 on Scenario and the voices, music and sound with ElevenLabs, while Sven directed and playtested and his daughter designed one of the neighbours. Built in a week for AI Browser Game Jam 5 (theme: Torch) and free to play in the browser on itch.io.
How it was built
Partially verifiedThe itch.io page credits “Code: Claude (Claude Code), with PixiJS 8 and Vite” and says nearly everything was generated with AI and assembled by Claude “as the developer”. The developer's devlog (26 Oct 2026) puts the code at about 17,300 lines of code and tooling written by Claude in Claude Code, and lists a 2.5D diorama stage with parallax, a lightmap shader so the torches light the world, particle fire, a mob that walks in formation and wolves that circle at the edge of the light, plus test bots that play every build. Separate Claude agents also played builds as mock jam jurors and scored them; the devlog says Sven's own playtests decided. Which model was used is not stated. The art (about 500 images) was made with GPT Image 2.5 on Scenario, and the voices, music and sound effects with ElevenLabs.
- DeveloperJam submission, AI Tools Used: “Code: Claude (Claude Code). Art: Scenario (GPT Image 2.5). Voices, music, SFX: ElevenLabs.” — itch.io (AI Browser Game Jam 5, hosted by Focaccai)
- DeveloperDevlog: “About 17,300 lines of code and tooling, written by Claude in Claude Code on PixiJS 8.” and “One human, Sven, directed and playtested.” — Erathul (itch.io devlog)
Claude in Claude Code wrote the game in plain JavaScript on PixiJS 8, bundled with Vite, together with scripts for the asset pipeline. Per the devlog, about 500 images were generated with GPT Image 2.5 on Scenario: each puppet is one reference render plus walking poses made as image edits of it, lined up by a script and played at 12 frames per second like stop-motion, and the story stills were made with GPT Image 2.5 in ElevenLabs flows. ElevenLabs produced 208 voiced lines in 273 takes from 17 voices, 90 sound effects and 16 music tracks, normalised for loudness by a script. Builds were balanced with test bots and a simulation of 4,300 bot runs, described in a second devlog. Sven directed and playtested; Molly the Charwoman was designed from his five-year-old daughter's drawing.
- Engine / framework
- PixiJS
- Languages
- JavaScript
- Team size
- Not disclosed
- Development time
- 1 weeksDeveloper ReportedErathul (itch.io devlog)
- Development cost
- Not disclosed
- AI-written code
- Not disclosed
“Nearly everything you see and hear was generated with AI and assembled by Claude (Anthropic) as the developer.”- AI Browser Game Jam 5 submission (AI tools used)
- How AI made Grab Your Torches! (and where it didn't work)
Verification notes: Gameplay, controls and AI use from the developer's itch.io page (published 26 Oct 2026, 12:44 UTC; status Released; HTML5; genre Action), the AI Tools Used answer on the official AI Browser Game Jam 5 submission page and the devlog “How AI made Grab Your Torches! (and where it didn't work)” (26 Oct 2026), all re-read on 4 Nov 2026. The one-week development time is from the devlog (“built in one week”). Team size is not recorded as a number: the devlog says one human, Sven, directed and playtested, and his daughter designed one character. The pronoun for Sven follows the page (“his daughter”). The devlog names Laika-style stop-motion as the art direction, and some image prompts name ParaNorman and Coraline as style references; no characters or assets from those films are used, so no IP notice is recorded. The PixiJS engine was also observed in the web build, which was checked for calls to AI services and none were found. The sources credit the code to Claude Code but give no share, so no AI code share is recorded. Submissions closed on 31 Oct 2026 and voting was still in progress on 4 Nov 2026, so no placement is recorded. On 4 Nov the submission page showed 6 jam ratings (observed; jam votes, not players or reviews, so not recorded as a metric). itch.io shows no public rating and no download count. The game was not played.
Development history
Published on itch.io (12:44 UTC) and submitted to AI Browser Game Jam 5 (theme: Torch), 4 days and 14 hours before the deadline; the making-of devlog follows at 12:52 UTC and a devlog on balancing with 4,300 bot runs at 19:21 UTC.
AI Browser Game Jam 5 submissions close; voting was still in progress on 4 Nov 2026.
Officialitch.io (Focaccai)
Game performance
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itch.io
Free in the browser (HTML5), with keyboard and mouse; best in fullscreen with sound on, per the page.
Not publicly available: itch.io rating, Gross revenue.
Reviews & rankings
Not yet reviewed by our editors.
Not currently ranked.
Sources
| Source | Type | Published | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grab Your Torches! by Erathul itch.io | Store page | Oct 26, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Rate Grab Your Torches! for AI Browser Game Jam 5 itch.io (AI Browser Game Jam 5, hosted by Focaccai) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| AI Browser Game Jam 5 itch.io (Focaccai) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| How AI made Grab Your Torches! (and where it didn't work) Erathul (itch.io devlog) | Devlog | Oct 26, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Official game page (language check) Erathul | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
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