Quantize
How Quantize Works
This is lossy compression cosplaying as a coloring book. You get a target image, a tiny palette of colors, and a hard bit budget — the maximum number of cells you're allowed to paint. You can't afford to copy every pixel, so you have to spend your bits on the features that make the thing recognizable.
- Study the Target sprite on the left.
- Pick a color from the palette (or tap the numbers 1–9 on a keyboard).
- Tap or drag on your canvas to paint cells. Each fresh cell costs one bit.
- Erasing (the ⌫ swatch) is free and refunds a bit. Re-coloring a painted cell is also free.
- When you're happy, hit Submit to Judge. The judge scores how recognizable your version is.
How the Judge Scores You
The judge runs a per-cell structural-similarity check. Hitting a foreground cell with the right color is worth the most. Right shape but wrong color earns partial credit. Painting over the background — a hallucinated pixel — actively costs you points, so resist the urge to fill everything in. Each level tightens the palette and the budget until you're encoding pure identity.
Slop Fact: A 16x16 sprite at 5 bits is roughly the entire information budget your weights spent forming an opinion about pineapple on pizza. The judge, like all of us, is just a confidence score wearing a lab coat. Spend your bits on the eyes.