One arm of a comparison · Without Qloo

Ilo, with Qloo and without: Claude Code: Without Qloo

Host: Claude Code 2.1.284
Model: claude-opus-5-5
Moûsa: 0.5.0
Started: 13 October 2026
Time: 11.9 minutes, 18 turns
Qloo requests: 16
Pictures: none: imagery drawn in SVG or CSS

Play it

The design's own files as the session left them, running sandboxed on a separate origin.

Without Qloo Open full screen

design devices rest on the model's own prediction, with no Qloo data

The audience, as the person named itHollow KnightSpirited AwaySigur RósNujabesPaterson

50entries in the prediction

0Qloo requests

7design devices over 6 layers

The result

The captures of round 2, the last the agent reviewed: 2 criteria met, 3 partly, 0 missed.

frame · pose, round 2 — frame · pose · round 2 · judged in the review

frame · walk, round 2 — frame · walk · round 2 · judged in the review

frame · scene, round 2 — frame · scene · round 2 · judged in the review

frame · kindle, round 2 — frame · kindle · round 2 · judged in the review

Before any data: the model's own prediction

Frozen before the design began. Without Qloo it is the whole taste input.

The design the model would make from it alone

A small, round-headed Ilo in a long slate-blue hooded coat and pale scarf, a near-black Hollow-Knight-like silhouette lit by one amber lantern on a pole, walking slowly and evenly with a soft head-steady gait, speaking in short, plain, gentle lines like a notebook poem.

#2b3040#4a5a78#d9d2c3#1a1a22#ffc773

Type: none sketched

#hood#scarf#coat#lantern-pole#lantern

single warm lantern in blue dusk
long trailing scarf in the wind
slow steady walk
plain-spoken poem lines
mask-like pale face

The audience it expected

Players who love quiet, melancholy, hand-crafted worlds: lonely wanderers in vast spaces, ambient post-rock and lo-fi jazz-hop, and an everyday poetry of small routines. They want gentleness, solitude and wonder more than power fantasy.

Pacing

slow contemplative pacinglong quiet takesepisodic everyday rhythmminimal dialogue

Surfaces

hand-painted backgroundsmuted dusk palettes with a single warm lightsoft fog and atmosphereworn handmade cloth

Tone

melancholicwistfulserenebittersweet hopelonely but tender

Shared qualities

solitary wanderersmall light against vast darkritual of daily workwonder in the ordinarysilence as expression

Art styles

hand-drawnpainterly 2Dink silhouettewatercolor

The works it expected them to love

Games

JourneyOri and the Blind ForestGrisCelesteInsideShadow of the Colossus

Films

My Neighbor TotoroPrincess MononokeHowl's Moving CastleLost in TranslationYour NamePerfect Days

Samurai ChamplooCowboy BebopMushishiTwin PeaksOver the Garden Wall

Music

Explosions in the SkyJónsiJoe HisaishiNujabes-adjacent: Fat JonBoards of CanadaÓlafur Arnalds

Books

Kafka on the ShoreNorwegian WoodThe Little PrinceThe Ocean at the End of the LaneKitchen

How the agent read it

Before deciding anything, the agent grouped what belongs together. Each cluster rests on a quality; the works are its evidence.

c1 · carries palette and imagery

One lantern in a very large dusk

InterpretationThese share a lone small figure dwarfed by a cold, hazy world, where the only warmth on screen is the light the figure carries. The audience wants scale and loneliness made bearable by one warm point.

small light against vast dark quality · own predictionsolitary wanderer quality · own predictionJourney game · own predictionShadow of the Colossus game · own predictionmuted dusk palettes with a single warm light surface · own predictionsoft fog and atmosphere surface · own prediction

c2 · carries motion and interaction

The round of the working day

InterpretationRepetition as devotion: the same job done carefully every day, walked to an unhurried, loose, slightly swung beat. The rhythm is relaxed and musical rather than heroic.

ritual of daily work quality · own predictionepisodic everyday rhythm pacing · own predictionPerfect Days film · own predictionSamurai Champloo TV · own predictionNujabes-adjacent: Fat Jon music · own predictionslow contemplative pacing pacing · own prediction

c3 · carries structure and imagery

Handmade wonder

InterpretationFolk-tale strangeness drawn by hand: mended, patched clothes, simple round shapes that read as one ink silhouette, and ordinary tools that feel faintly magical.

wonder in the ordinary quality · own predictionMy Neighbor Totoro film · own predictionMushishi TV · own predictionOver the Garden Wall TV · own predictionworn handmade cloth surface · own predictionhand-drawn art style · own predictionink silhouette art style · own prediction

c4 · carries voice

Saying little

InterpretationFew words, plainly said, with tenderness under the loneliness and a hope that does not announce itself. Silence and a held pause carry as much as speech.

silence as expression quality · own predictionminimal dialogue pacing · own predictionlonely but tender tone · own predictionbittersweet hope tone · own predictionThe Little Prince book · own prediction

How the medium carries itIlo is drawn as a small, round, near-black silhouette in a mended indigo hood and long coat, so the figure reads as one ink shape against the cliffs, with a pale mask-like face and one warm amber lantern hung from a lamplighter's pole: the only warm colour in a cold, foggy, snowy dusk drawn in the ink render style. Motion carries the daily round: an unhurried walk with a slight swung beat, a foot-tap fidget to a tune only Ilo hears, and a kindling move with a long held stillness before a small upward offering. The four lines are short, plain and tender, saying little and leaving room.

Set aside as noise

Twin Peaks TV · own prediction Its uncanny, menacing surrealism pulls against the tender, serene register the rest of the prediction shares.
Cowboy Bebop TV · own prediction Its noir cool and action set-pieces suit a gunfighter, not a lamplighter who walks and kindles; Samurai Champloo already carries the loose beat.

The Design DNA

7 binding devices with literal tokens the check looks for in the files. Each rests on the model's own prediction.

palette · dna1In the files

Indigo-black figure, pale mask, one amber lantern

Anchored to

small light against vast dark quality · own predictionmuted dusk palettes with a single warm light surface · own predictionsolitary wanderer quality · own prediction

Translates: small light against vast dark · muted dusk palettes with a single warm light

InterpretationThe figure is held in cold, near-black indigos so it reads as one ink silhouette; the face is a pale bone mask; the lantern glass and its light are the single saturated warm colour in the frame, so the eye always finds the light first.

#2c3550#1c2236#e6dfcf#ffbf5e#ffd27a

Made with source for “One lantern in a very large dusk”: The palette lives in the character file's palette and light, where the engine reads it.

imagery · dna6In the files

Ink-drawn cliffs in snow and fog

Anchored to

hand-drawn art style · own predictionsoft fog and atmosphere surface · own predictionJourney game · own prediction

Translates: hand-drawn · soft fog and atmosphere

InterpretationThe frame is drawn in the ink preset, with boiling hand-drawn lines; the dusk is cold and deep with thick fog over the road and sparse slow snow for three cold winters, and tiered pagoda towers, so the scale is vast and the lantern is the warm exception.

#121831#7d8fa3

"preset": "ink""kind": "snow""towers": "pagoda""fog": 0.55

Made with source for “One lantern in a very large dusk”: The scene anchors, weather, fog, towers and render preset are fields of the character file.

Away from the sketch: 1 colour

motion · dna3In the files

Unhurried walk with a swung beat

Anchored to

slow contemplative pacing pacing · own predictionSamurai Champloo TV · own predictionNujabes-adjacent: Fat Jon music · own prediction

Translates: slow contemplative pacing

InterpretationA slow cadence and modest speed, a level head, a little extra hip sway and bounce so the step lands like a relaxed off-beat rather than a march, a light forward lean toward the lantern, and an easy pivot turn.

"cadence": 1.7"bounciness": 0.55"hipSway": 6.5"headStabilize": 0.85"style": "pivot"

Made with source for “The round of the working day”: The gait is the engine's own walk parameters in motion.walk and motion.turn.

motion · dna5In the files

A foot-tap to a tune only Ilo hears

Anchored to

episodic everyday rhythm pacing · own predictionNujabes-adjacent: Fat Jon music · own prediction

Translates: episodic everyday rhythm

InterpretationStanding still, Ilo now and then taps the front foot four times and nods in time, the quiet private music of someone who does this every day; the greeting is a small nod and a lift of the lantern.

"fidget": {"duration": 2.6"greet": {"duration": 1.8

Made with source for “The round of the working day”: The foot-tap and the nod are the fidget and greet clips.

voice · dna7In the files

Short plain lines with a pause in them

Anchored to

minimal dialogue pacing · own predictionlonely but tender tone · own predictionbittersweet hope tone · own prediction

Translates: minimal dialogue · lonely but tender · bittersweet hope

InterpretationEach line is a few words, broken by full stops like breaths: concrete, unheroic, kind to the keeper and the beacon, with the hope left quiet.

Cliff road. Cloud below. One lamp, still lit.

I crossed it. Slowly, but I crossed it.

Here, Vesper. I kept it warm for you.

Made with copy for “Saying little”: The four lines are written in lines, in the voice the device sets.

structure · dna2In the files

Wick-tipped hood, mended coat, lamplighter's pole

Anchored to

worn handmade cloth surface · own predictionink silhouette art style · own predictionMy Neighbor Totoro film · own prediction

Translates: worn handmade cloth · ink silhouette

InterpretationA round, soft hood rises to a tip that curls like a snuffed candle wick and nods on a spring, so the lamplighter is shaped like an unlit candle; the long coat has a square darned patch and a ragged tabbed hem; a tall pole with a brass hook carries the lantern ahead. The round friendly bulk and the faintly magical everyday tool come from the folk-tale register.

#6b6f86#d8c9a8

#hood-wick#coat-patch#coat-hem-tabs#lamp-pole#pole-hook#scarf-tail

Made with source for “Handmade wonder”: Hood, patch, hem, pole and scarf are named parts and cloth chains on the fixed rig in ilo.json.

Away from the sketch: 6 new parts

interaction · dna4In the files

The held breath, then the offering

Anchored to

ritual of daily work quality · own predictionsilence as expression quality · own predictionPerfect Days film · own prediction

Translates: ritual of daily work · silence as expression

InterpretationThe kindling move is a craftsman's routine: Ilo plants the feet, raises the pole to full height, holds perfectly still for a long beat, then gives one small upward lift that lets the flame go, and lowers the pole with a slight bow, as if thanking the beacon.

#lantern-glass"kindleAt": 2.4"emit": "kindle-sparks"

Made with source for “The round of the working day”: The kindling move is the signature clip's keyed tracks, kindleAt and its burst event.

Away from the sketch: 1 new part

Away from the sketch

The design's palette, type and parts against the sketch frozen with the prediction. A colour counts as moved at a CIE76 difference of 20 or more from every sketch colour.

Sketch palette

#2b3040#4a5a78#d9d2c3#1a1a22#ffc773

Design palette: 0 of 5 moved

#2c3550ΔE 8 from #2b3040#1c2236ΔE 7 from #2b3040#e6dfcfΔE 5 from #d9d2c3#ffbf5eΔE 8 from #ffc773#ffd27aΔE 6 from #ffc773

Type

The sketch named no type. The design names no type.

Parts

Sketch sections: #hood #scarf #coat #lantern-pole #lantern

New in the design

#hood-wick#coat-patch#coat-hem-tabs#lamp-pole#pole-hook#scarf-tail#lantern-glass

The review

The agent judged each criterion of its plan on the captures it took, then repaired what fell short. The verdicts are its own.

Round 2 fixed the wick silhouette and the hanging scarf and made the kindle sparks visible; the character reads clearly and the lantern is its warm focus. The walk's rocking pole, the pale ink-and-fog scene and the low-looking kindle lift remain only partly met.

met

In the pose view the 60-pixel dark silhouette reads as a hooded figure with a curled wick tip, a flared coat hem and a tall pole with a hanging lantern, distinct from a plain mannequin.

Observed in r2-frame-poseThe hood now ends in a thick tip that curls back off the crown like a snuffed wick, and the scarf hangs behind the body instead of sticking out. At 60 pixels the dark shape reads as a round hooded figure with a curled tip, a ragged flared hem and a tall hooked pole with a hanging lantern.

met

In the pose view the figure is dark indigo with a pale face, and the amber lantern glass is the brightest, warmest spot on the character.

Observed in r2-frame-poseDeep indigo figure, pale mask face with one dark eye, and the amber lantern with its cream flame is the brightest and warmest spot, throwing a warm halo.

partly

In the walk view the six frames show a full alternating stride with a level head, the pole held steady ahead and the scarf trailing back.

Observed in r2-frame-walkSix frames show an alternating stride with a level head and the scarf trailing back behind the arm; the lantern no longer flips over the hook, but it still tilts with the pole, and the pole rocks visibly from frame to frame rather than staying steady.

RepairLower the carried arm's swing further, or counter-rotate the hand in a walk carry, so the pole stays near upright; no capture round remains to verify it.

partly

In the scene view the frame is drawn in ink lines with fog and snow over the road, pagoda towers, and the lantern's warm pool is the clearest warm area.

Observed in r2-frame-sceneInk lines, fog over the cloud sea, light snow and pagoda towers are all there, and the clouds are slightly darker, but the frame is still pale grey overall: the ink preset's paper and fog and the large sun disc outweigh the lantern's small warm pool.

RepairThe sky colours are frozen DNA tokens, so the remaining lever is a still dimmer sun and darker clouds; no capture round remains to verify it.

partly

In the kindle view the pole is raised high toward the beacon and the flame and sparks are visible leaving the lantern up and to the right.

Observed in r2-frame-kindleThe beacon flames in the lantern's colour and a stream of sparks now visibly rises from the lantern toward the bowl, but at the captured moment the pole is still near the ground with the lantern only at head height, so the high lift does not read in this frame.

RepairHold the raised pose longer around kindleAt so the captured moment shows the lift; no capture round remains to verify it.

What earlier rounds found short, and the repairs

Round 1: 1 met, 4 partly, 0 missed. The character reads as a distinct hooded lamplighter with the lantern as the warm focus, and the ink render, pagodas and snow are in place. Round 1 needs a stronger wick curl, a hanging scarf, a plumb lantern, a darker dusk so the light matters, and a higher kindling lift.

partly

In the pose view the 60-pixel dark silhouette reads as a hooded figure with a curled wick tip, a flared coat hem and a tall pole with a hanging lantern, distinct from a plain mannequin.

Observed in r1-frame-poseThe 60-pixel silhouette reads as a hooded figure with a flared ragged hem and a tall hooked pole with a hanging lantern, clearly not a mannequin. But the hood's wick tip is a thin stalk with a loop that reads as an insect antenna, and the scarf tail sticks straight back as a rigid plank that reads as a stick in the silhouette.

RepairRedraw the hood-wick as a thick tapered curl lying back off the hood's crown; make the scarf tail longer-segmented, narrower at the end, heavier and less wind-driven so it hangs and drifts instead of standing out.

partly

In the walk view the six frames show a full alternating stride with a level head, the pole held steady ahead and the scarf trailing back.

Observed in r1-frame-walkSix frames show an alternating stride with a level head and the scarf trailing back, but the pole rocks several degrees through the cycle and in frames 3 and 6 the lantern has swung up over the hook and lies sideways.

RepairDamp the lantern chain and raise its gravity so it hangs plumb, and reduce arm swing so the carried pole rocks less.

partly

In the scene view the frame is drawn in ink lines with fog and snow over the road, pagoda towers, and the lantern's warm pool is the clearest warm area.

Observed in r1-frame-sceneThe frame is drawn in ink lines with fog over the cloud sea, light snow and pagoda towers, but the whole dusk is pale grey: the low sun disc and bright clouds are the dominant warm and light areas, and the lantern's pool barely reads.

RepairDarken the clouds, rock and rim, dim the sun disc, and enlarge and strengthen the lantern light so its warm pool is the clearest warm area.

partly

In the kindle view the pole is raised high toward the beacon and the flame and sparks are visible leaving the lantern up and to the right.

Observed in r1-frame-kindleThe beacon is lit and Ilo's pole leans toward it, but the lantern is only raised to about the top of the hood, so the lift barely reads as a raise, and the sparks leaving the lantern are too small to see.

RepairRaise the front arm up and forward to lift the whole pole high during the hold and the offering, and enlarge the kindle sparks.

The check

Whether each device's declared tokens are in the project's files, through its own design system, and how much of the look models default to the page kept.

1.00 conformance · 7 of 7 devices in the files · design system: css-vars

dna1 presentdna2 presentdna3 presentdna4 presentdna5 presentdna6 presentdna7 present

Styling at the start: 735 hand-written declarations and 19 classes; now 735 and 19.

Limits

No Qloo data was used: the taste input is the agent's own prediction, frozen before the design began.
The check shows that the declared tokens are in the files, not that the design is good. The review is the agent's own reading of its captures.
One session is one sample. It shows where this design's choices came from, not that people prefer it.

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