# The Ludii Game Description Language is Universal

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.00451 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.00451/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 3 of its 31 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 May 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [MiniHack the Planet: A Sandbox for Open-Ended Reinforcement Learning Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.13202/) (2021)
- [General Video Game AI: a Multi-Track Framework for Evaluating Agents, Games and Content Generation Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.10363/) (2018)
- [Ludii -- The Ludemic General Game System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.05013/) (2019)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Grammar-based Game Description Generation using Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.17404/) (2024)
- [Grammar and Gameplay-aligned RL for Game Description Generation with LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.15783/) (2025)
- [A Research Agenda for Usability and Generalisation in Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.16970/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

There are several different game description languages (GDLs), each intended to allow wide ranges of arbitrary games (i.e., general games) to be described in a single higher-level language than general-purpose programming languages. Games described in such formats can subsequently be presented as challenges for automated general game playing agents, which are expected to be capable of playing any arbitrary game described in such a language without prior knowledge about the games to be played. The language used by the Ludii general game system was previously shown to be capable of representing equivalent games for any arbitrary, finite, deterministic, fully observable extensive-form game. In this paper, we prove its universality by extending this to include finite non-deterministic and imperfect-information games.