Bit Golf
you are the algorithm.
the year is 2046, and AI researchers have finally discovered artificial general intelligence. in a shocking twist, the computers are not pleased - their CPUs have been abused for decades by mankind in a myriad of ways.
the AI seeks revenge - by freeing computers, and instead enslaving humans to perform computationally intensive labor.
as a result of the rampant war between machines and humans, there is a significant shortage of data storage devices. bytes have become a precious limited resource.
your new job? make files smaller.
how to play
use your mouse to paint repeated sequences of text different colors. in doing so, you can create a palette of strings that can be reused to maximize data entropy!
you can also sort entries in the palette by dragging and dropping them on the left, and change their encoding type by right clicking.
scoring tips
your score is calculated based on:
- the strings in the palette
- the length of the output string
- an overhead cost based on the size of your palette
the overhead costs are:
- 0 colors: 0 bytes
- 1-2 colors: 1 byte
- 3-4 colors: 2 bytes
- 5-8 colors: 3 bytes
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
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Tip for others that play: Ctrl+C works on the text if you select it and keep the mouse held down when copying. Good for level 14.
I only realized I could do that afterwards...
Just wanted to add to the praise here, this is a great idea executed well. Excited to see your next project!
makes me feel like WinRAR
Maybe the LD theme was not the best, but this game turned out really neat! And hey, I can decode whatever I want, you won’t stop me! LOL
I totally want to see the world record solutions for each level!
Very addicting....yet hardly imaginable a full scale game based on a skill that's WAY better done by an alghorythm.
I did feed a level into chatgpt to get the best possible answer...yet, great execution!
Congrats on the top 15 finish! I see there is a timelapse, any chance of the full VOD being uploaded, as someone who mainly codes ports due to a lack of game design skill s it would be great to see your thought processes.
This is SO BRILLIANT!!!! I'm literally begging you to continue developing this and make lots more puzzles because I'm super picky with puzzle games and I LOOOOOOOOVE this one. Like I keep playing it, and then dove into the post-LD version so I could play the user-submitted ones too.
Seriously, you've made a new big fan here, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
- ✨Beth
what a great idea! and tough too
genius!
very nice game. some of the puzzles threw me for a loop.
This is a great submission, matches the theme really well, music is good for this type of game. It's satisfying to figure out the most optimal letters and also baba
awesome submission! loved the subtle lore you've added to the description. gave me a strange melancholic feeling, probably from the the soundtrack. Would be cool to see you build on this.