HEIR GUITAR
An idle game about a family of air guitarists handing down an air guitar nobody has ever seen.
Official site zucchinibasketgames.itch.io, verified Nov 3, 2026. The developer's own itch.io page (Zucchini Basket Games), linked from its official AI Browser Game Jam 5 submission page.
Where to play
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- Play free — itch.ioitch.ioEarly access · In developmentFree
Plays in the browser on itch.io. No download.
Browser (no download) · Official link verified Nov 3, 2026.
About HEIR GUITAR
A short idle and incremental comedy game about a family of air guitarists. You have just inherited, or soon will, your grandfather's air guitar, The Firebird: it has been in the family for 400 years and nobody has ever seen it. Every rocker starts as an apprentice learning from their Torchbearer; when the Torchbearer retires, the guitar is yours and you have to out-rock their best before your own wrists give out, then pick an apprentice whose wall to climb is your best. The aim is to keep the lineage going until somebody out-rocks the First Air Guitarist, who toured Pangea. Each rocker's portrait is a cross-stitch drawn by code: an 80s school photo whose hair grows with every venue, stitched on a 36×36 grid in an embroidery hoop. A full run takes about 30 to 60 minutes, per the page. Zucchini Basket Games says almost everything was made by AI, directed and edited by two people: Justin did the design and direction and Rachael the concept collaboration and copy editing, while all of the game code is plain JavaScript written by Claude in conversation with Justin; the music was made with Gemini. Free in the browser on itch.io, which lists the game as in development; it was entered in AI Browser Game Jam 5.
How it was built
Partially verifiedThe “How it was made” section of the itch.io page credits code, words and cross-stitch to Claude (Anthropic), working with Justin: all of the game code is plain JavaScript written by Claude in conversation with Justin, in separate threads for the game, the copy desk, the music player and the title. Claude also wrote the in-game text (names, retirement lines, venue moves and trunk items), with Rachael on the copy desk, and wrote the procedural generator that draws every portrait, so the portraits are code rather than image generation. Justin is credited with the concept, every design call and playtesting, and Rachael with concept collaboration and copy editing. The page credits the music to Gemini (Google); the jam submission's AI Tools Used answer names “Claude Code, Gemini Argon for music”.
- Developeritch.io page: “All of the game code is plain JavaScript written by Claude in conversation with Justin, with separate threads for the game, the copy desk, the music player and the title.” — itch.io
- DeveloperAI Browser Game Jam 5 submission, AI Tools Used: “Claude Code, Gemini Argon for music”. — itch.io (AI Browser Game Jam 5, hosted by Focaccai)
Made for AI Browser Game Jam 5 (theme: Torch) by two people directing AI. Claude wrote all of the game code in plain JavaScript, in conversation with Justin, with separate threads for the game, the copy desk, the music player and the title; it also wrote the in-game text and the procedural generator behind the cross-stitch portraits. The three music tracks were made with Gemini, and the fonts (Shrikhand, Caveat and Share Tech Mono) are from Google Fonts under the SIL Open Font License. The page lists ideas that were cut along the way: a straight-faced cultivation game about masters and disciples, a black-and-chrome metal look, CryptoPunk-style portraits and pop-up life event cards.
- Engine / framework
- None (plain JavaScript)
- Languages
- JavaScript
- Team size
- 2 peopleDeveloper Reporteditch.io
- Initial build time
- Not disclosed
- Development time
- Not disclosed
- Development cost
- Not disclosed
- AI-written code
- Not disclosed
“Almost everything in Heir Guitar was made by AI, directed and edited by two actual humans.”Verification notes: AI use from the “How it was made” section and credits on the itch.io page and the AI Tools Used answer on the official AI Browser Game Jam 5 submission page, both re-read on 5 Nov 2026. The page says all of the game code was written by Claude; no percentage is given, so no AI code share is recorded. The page names Claude (Anthropic) and describes conversation threads, while the jam answer names Claude Code; the tool is recorded as the page's Claude, and the difference is listed as a conflict. Team size 2 from the page (“directed and edited by two actual humans”, Justin and Rachael); the studio's developer entry is the one already recorded for its earlier game FLUTE - Charge your glasses. The itch.io status is “In development”; the browser build is publicly playable. Published 30 Oct 2026 (00:23 UTC). In a jam comment the developer says clearer instructions will be added after the contest. The music was made before release; the game's code was checked for calls to AI services and none were found. Jam voting was still open on 5 Nov 2026 (it closes on 7 Nov), so no placement is recorded; the submission page showed 2 jam ratings (jam votes, not recorded as a metric). itch.io shows no public rating. The game was not played.
Development history
Published on itch.io (00:23 UTC) and submitted to AI Browser Game Jam 5 (theme: Torch), 1 day and 2 hours before the deadline.
AI Browser Game Jam 5 submissions close; voting was still in progress on 5 Nov 2026.
Officialitch.io (Focaccai)
Game performance
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itch.io
Free in the browser (HTML5).
Not publicly available: itch.io rating, Gross revenue.
Reviews & rankings
Not yet reviewed by our editors.
Not currently ranked.
Sources
| Source | Type | Published | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| HEIR GUITAR by Zucchini Basket Games itch.io | Store page | Oct 30, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Rate HEIR GUITAR 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 |
| Official game page (language check) Zucchini Basket Games | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
- AI tool
- The itch.io page credits the code to “Claude (Anthropic)”, written in conversation threads with Justin; the jam submission's AI Tools Used answer names “Claude Code”. (itch.io, itch.io (AI Browser Game Jam 5, hosted by Focaccai))
