Ikuta '73
Mow lawns in the hills west of Tokyo in the summer of 1973, in a quiet job sim where the sun drains you and the shade recharges you.
Official site plinthcybernetics.itch.io, verified Nov 3, 2026. The developer's own itch.io page (plinth), listed on the developer's itch.io profile and linked from the official AI Browser Game Jam 4 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.ioEarly access · Listed as “In development” on itch.io; version 0.3Free
Plays in the browser on itch.io. No download.
Browser (no download) · Desktop · Mobile · Official link verified Nov 3, 2026.
About Ikuta '73
A quiet first-person job sim set in the summer of 1973. You play a college student mowing lawns for your uncle's company in the hills west of Tokyo; the developer calls it a game about doing a job well, even when you don't have to. It draws on Haruki Murakami's short story The Last Lawn of the Afternoon and on games such as the Boku no Natsuyasumi series and Katamari Damacy. For the jam theme, Charge, the sun drains your stamina and the shade restores it, and if you work well someone may offer you a cold drink. Stuart Weiss (Plinth Cybernetics) made it in Godot for AI Browser Game Jam 4, where it shared 12th place overall out of 123 entries. The credits name Claude Code (Opus 5) for the code, sound effects, modelling and level QA, and Grok Build for the title screen and lens-flare code; the developer says all of the story text is their own. It is free to play in the browser, on phones and tablets with touch controls, or as a Windows or Linux download; itch.io lists it as in development.
How it was built
VerifiedThe credits on the developer's itch.io page name Claude Code (Opus 5) for the code, sound effects, modelling and level QA. Grok Build (Grok 4.5), a tool we do not track, is credited with the title screen and lens-flare code. In a comment on the page the developer says all of the game's text is their own and that the placeholder text Claude wrote was thrown out. How much of the code, if any, was written by hand is not stated.
- DeveloperJam submission, AI Tools Used: Claude Code (Opus 5) for code, level QA, basic 3D models and sound effects; Grok Build (Grok 4.5) for some additional code (title screen and lens flare). — itch.io
- OfficialJam rules: development must be heavily AI-assisted, with the majority of the game AI-generated; AI may be used for anything. — itch.io (hosted by Focaccai)
Made in Godot 4.5.2 (Compatibility renderer) for AI Browser Game Jam 4. Claude Code wrote the code, made the sound effects and basic 3D models and checked the levels; Grok Build added the title screen and lens flare. The story text is the developer's own. Third-party assets are credited: the Zen Project fonts, a low-poly Japanese house pack and a cicada recording, from which the morning and late-afternoon sounds were synthesized. After the jam the developer added a day cycle with a moving sun and a revised stamina system (version 0.3).
- Engine / framework
- Godot 4.5.2
- Languages
- Not disclosed
- Team size
- 1 (solo)Developer Reporteditch.io
- Development time
- Not disclosed
- Development cost
- Not disclosed
- AI-written code
- Not disclosed
“A game about doing a job well, even when you don't have to.”Verification notes: Tools from two developer sources: the credits on the itch.io page and the AI Tools Used answer on the official AI Browser Game Jam 4 submission page. The jam allows AI for anything and requires the majority of each game to be AI-generated. Placement from the official results page: 12th overall (shared with one other entry), score 3.667 from 15 ratings, out of 123 entries; rating ran from 18 Aug to 1 Sep 2026. Developer name from the credits (“Design & Development: Stuart Weiss, Plinth Cybernetics”); team size is recorded as one because the credits list only that person; location is not stated. The itch.io AI disclosure ticks Text as well as Code, Graphics and Sounds, but the developer says in a comment that all text is their own (see conflicts). Release date from the developer's change log (version 0.1, 17 Aug 2026); the jam page says it was submitted about eight hours before the 18 Aug deadline. The web build was checked for calls to AI services and none were found. itch.io shows no public rating and no download counts. The developer's other itch.io games (Bokken: Ghost Fire, Bokken: Carve Your Own Legend, TRANSFER WINDOW) are separate titles.
Development history
Version 0.1, the first release, is submitted to AI Browser Game Jam 4 about eight hours before the deadline.
Version 0.2 adds the first stamina system: it drains faster in the sun and recharges in the shade, and hospitality gives bonus stamina.
Developeritch.ioJam rating closes; the game shares 12th place overall out of 123 entries (score 3.667 from 15 ratings).
Officialitch.io (hosted by Focaccai)Version 0.3 adds a day cycle with a moving sun and a revised stamina system in which maximum stamina falls slowly and hospitality restores it.
Developeritch.io
Game performance
Each figure measures something different — concurrent players, owners, downloads and sales are never interchangeable and are never added together. Labels show where each number comes from.
itch.io
Free; plays in the browser (including touch controls on phones and tablets), with Windows and Linux downloads.
Not publicly available: itch.io rating, Gross revenue.
Reviews & rankings
A part-time-job sim about mowing lawns on the outskirts of Tokyo in 1973: sunlight drains stamina and shade restores it, an unusual subject. One player praised the atmosphere set by the opening text, another called it a decent job sim; the developer admits the link to the jam theme is weak. Amount of content unknown.
Editorial team · Nov 3, 2026 · How we score
Sources
| Source | Type | Published | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ikuta '73 by plinth itch.io | Store page | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Ikuta '73 — AI Browser Game Jam 4 submission itch.io | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| AI Browser Game Jam 4 — results itch.io (hosted by Focaccai) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| AI Browser Game Jam 4 — rules itch.io (hosted by Focaccai) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| plinth — itch.io profile itch.io | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Official game page (language check) Stuart Weiss (plinth) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
- AI use for text
- The itch.io AI disclosure ticks Text among the AI-assisted areas, but in a comment on the same page the developer says they wrote all of the text without AI and threw out the placeholder text Claude had written. (itch.io)
