Moûsa · Comparison
For an audience that loves Fleetwood Mac, Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom
With Qloo and Without Qloo: the same brief, the same frozen prediction and the same stages. Only the source of the taste differs.
0.57
heuristic distance between the two designs, from 0 (alike) to 1
0.24 Palette0.93 Part ids0.76 Words
9 of 9With Qloo: design devices rest on what the model did not predict
10Without Qloo: design devices rest on the model's own prediction, with no Qloo data
Samefrozen prediction in both arms
Side by side
The last reviewed captures of each arm, paired by what they show.
frame
frame · walk
frame · title
frame · radio
frame · rehearsal
frame · stage
frame · town
frame · shutter
frame · tambourine
frame · ending
frame · playtest
Before any data: the model's own prediction
Frozen before Qloo was asked, so what Qloo adds can be told apart from what the model already assumed. An entry a measured name matches is marked; the match is liberal, so it only lowers what counts as new.
The design the model would make from it alone
A symmetrical pastel pixel-art seaside town (Saltmarsh) seen like a diorama, split into chapter title cards, where the player walks a small grid, talks to deadpan eccentrics, collects lost items for them and finds the pieces of a song on a record player, ending in a bittersweet sunset farewell.
#f2c6c2#f6e3b4#9ec1b8#c9584a#3e3a5cType: Jost and Courier Prime
#title-card#town-map#dialogue-box#inventory#chapter-card#ending-card- symmetrical centered framing
- chapter title cards
- pastel seaside diorama
- vinyl record and song fragments
- 1970s film grain
The audience it expected
Adults who love Wes Anderson's symmetrical, pastel, deadpan films and Fleetwood Mac's warm, melancholy 1970s soft rock. They like nostalgic, handmade, bittersweet stories about found family and gentle eccentrics, and they care about craft and curated detail.
Pacing
symmetrical framingdeadpan whimsyslow lingering takeschapter title cardsnostalgic 1970s grain
Surfaces
pastelvintagehandmaderetro 70sdollhouse dioramafilm grain
Tone
bittersweetmelancholic measuredwhimsicalnostalgicwistful
Shared qualities
quirky measuredcoming of agefound family matched Familyeccentric charactersnostalgiaromantic
Art styles
pixel arthand-drawnflat pastel illustrationstop-motiondiorama
The works it expected them to love
Games
Stardew ValleyNight in the Woods measuredFirewatch measuredGrisMonument ValleyA Short Hike
Films
Lost in Translation measuredLittle Miss SunshineAlmost Famous measuredAmélieLady BirdPaddington 2
TV
Twin PeaksFleabagGilmore GirlsArrested DevelopmentRussian Doll
Music
Stevie NicksThe KinksSimon & GarfunkelBig ThiefThe Velvet Underground measuredJoni Mitchell
Books
The Secret HistoryNorwegian WoodThe Royal Tenenbaums screenplay matched The Royal Tenenbaums (film)Franny and ZooeyThe Catcher in the Rye measured
Sealed at the freeze: SHA-256 aeaf7d0b808bdcd0a22c7cc263abbbd67b305dca0d289a83c3aedafcb3dc1643. The prediction shown here still matches it.
What Qloo measured
What this audience loves, the qualities those works share and the tags ranked for it. New means the prediction did not contain it.
Look qualities
- artistic newin The Velvet Underground, Talking Heads and The Unfinished Swan · ×4 as often as across audiences
- Intimate newin Empire Falls, Run and Bob Dylan · ×1.7 as often as across audiences
- Theatrical newin Talking Heads, David Bowie and Rushmore · ×3.14 as often as across audiences
- Raw newin Run, Neil Young and Bob Dylan · ×2.25 as often as across audiences
- Moody newin Quirke, National Treasure and Stay · ×2.06 as often as across audiences
Mood qualities
- melancholic predictedin Run, Firewatch and Night in the Woods · ×3.5 as often as across audiences
- thought-provoking newin Her, RiME and The Witness · ×3.81 as often as across audiences
- tense newin Firewatch, INSIDE and Oxenfree · ×2.53 as often as across audiences
- innovative newin Talking Heads, Neil Young and Jeff Buckley · ×1.93 as often as across audiences
- Reflective newin Boyhood, Lost in Translation and Frances Ha · ×1.44 as often as across audiences
Meaning qualities
- Drama loving newin Sweetbitter, Submarine and Frances Ha · ×2.63 as often as across audiences
- Loyal newin The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake · ×1.57 as often as across audiences
- Family predictedin Keeping Faith, The Darjeeling Limited and Familiar Grounds · ×2.09 as often as across audiences
- Addiction newin National Treasure and Lou Reed · ×2.5 as often as across audiences
- Love newin Neil Young, Her and Tom Waits · ×1.51 as often as across audiences
Games
- Firewatch predicted3D · Stylized · Low-poly
- INSIDE new2.5D · realistic · minimalistic
- Night in the Woods predicted2D hand-drawn · Stylized/Illustrative · melancholic
- The Unfinished Swan new3D · artistic · minimalist
Films
- Her newThought provoking · Technology ethics · Love
- Boyhood newUnvarnished domesticity · Reflective · Memory
- Lost in Translation predictedReflective · Age disparate romance · Postmodern
- Rushmore newTheatrical · Resourceful · Charming
Films, lesser known
- City of God newAtmospheric · Kinetic · Collage like
- Familiar Grounds newQuiet minimalism · Atmospheric · Psychological
Layer by layer
Each arm's devices for the same layer of the design.
palette
With Qloo
Low-poly dusk over a dark tidal marsh, oxblood curtains at the edge
#16383a#2b6b62#e8722a#f5c542#6e1423#7d8a3aWithout Qloo
Sugar-almond seaside on faded seventies stock
#ee9f95#a9d6cb#e2b13c#7f8f4e#4b2e3e#b9cfe8typography
With Qloo
Playbill fat face over a typewritten script
Playbill fat face over a typewritten script
Rozha One
Playbill fat face over a typewritten script
Cutive Mono
Without Qloo
Centred geometric title cards, typewritten dialogue
Centred geometric title cards, typewritten dialogue
Jost
Centred geometric title cards, typewritten dialogue
Courier Prime
imagery
With Qloo
Faceted marsh set pieces and a tailored stage manager
Without Qloo
Flat pastel diorama under film grain
#grain-overlaymotion
With Qloo
Hard curtain sweep between scenes, beat-locked lights
Without Qloo
Lingering holds and an iris close
voice
With Qloo
Deadpan lines, a pause, then the true thing
The tide is coming in. The band is not.
I kept the setlist. I don't know why. Yes, I do.
Nobody tunes out a person. You just lose the frequency.
Without Qloo
Deadpan neighbours, wistful asides
I have hung these keys since 1974. They have never once hung themselves.
The tide does not wait. Neither, I am told, do ferries.
layout
With Qloo
Dress the stage in mirror symmetry
#stage-gridWithout Qloo
Mirror-symmetric town on one pier axis
#pier-axis#hotel-cutawaystructure
With Qloo
Get the band back before high tide
#tide-clock#final-showWithout Qloo
One last summer day: four favours, four songs, one tide clock
Four neighbours. One day. Then the ferry.
#tide-clock#favour-ledgerThe held goodbye at the ferry
Whatever she says is lost under the ferry horn.
Saltmarsh grows smaller, and then it is a postcard.
#ferry-goodbyeinteraction
With Qloo
Radio dial tuned through static
#radio-dialBoathouse rehearsal in three falling lanes
#rhythm-laneWithout Qloo
The level shutter: a portrait only takes when the frame is dead centre
Hold still. Symmetry is a kind of kindness.
#shutter-frameTambourine for a retired singer: play back a half-remembered song
#tambourine-laneEach arm's own review
The agent of each arm judged its own captures against its own plan.
With Qloo
Round 2: 6 met, 0 partly, 0 missed.
All six criteria are met after the repairs: the sun and cast card on the marsh, the rehearsal key strip, the faceted windows and the ticket-stub keys. The play-test, run again after the repairs, still passes all 43 checks across both endings. The in-canvas hint bar is still a plain dark strip, and the sound is simple synthesis.
Check: 1.00, 9 of 9 devices in the files.
Without Qloo
Round 2: 5 met, 0 partly, 0 missed.
All five criteria are met in round 2, and the scripted play-test capture (r2-frame-playtest) passed every check from the title through all four favours, both endings and play again. One generic choice remains in the town view, the candy-striped bandstand roof, which I replace in the build after this last round, so no capture shows the fix.
Check: 1.00, 10 of 10 devices in the files.
Limits
- One pair is one sample. Model variance alone makes two designs differ, so one distance does not isolate what Qloo changed; repeat the pair before calling a difference the data's effect.
- The distance is a heuristic over the palettes, part ids and words of the files the two arms changed differently. It does not measure quality or what people prefer.
- The headline counts devices anchored to what the prediction did not contain. It shows that the data changed the specification, not that the result is better.