mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Word2World: Generating Stories and Worlds through Large Language Models

arXiv 2405.06686 ↗First posted 6 May 2024cs.CL cs.AIcited by 18

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Abstract (arXiv)

Large Language Models (LLMs) have proven their worth across a diverse spectrum of disciplines. LLMs have shown great potential in Procedural Content Generation (PCG) as well, but directly generating a level through a pre-trained LLM is still challenging. This work introduces Word2World, a system that enables LLMs to procedurally design playable games through stories, without any task-specific fine-tuning. Word2World leverages the abilities of LLMs to create diverse content and extract information. Combining these abilities, LLMs can create a story for the game, design narrative, and place tiles in appropriate places to create coherent worlds and playable games. We test Word2World with different LLMs and perform a thorough ablation study to validate each step. We open-source the code at https://github.com/umair-nasir14/Word2World.

Key facts. Cited by 18 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 20 of its 42 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 6 May 2024.

Builds on

20 of 42 references.

References · 20

  1. 2017Attention Is All You Needcited by 60,361
  2. 2019DistilBERT, a distilled version of BERT: smaller, faster, cheaper and lightercited by 4,307
  3. 2024Genie: Generative Interactive Environmentscited by 747
  4. 2019Paired Open-Ended Trailblazer (POET): Endlessly Generating Increasingly Complex and Diverse Learning Environments and Their Solutionscited by 192
  5. 2017Procedural Content Generation via Machine Learning (PCGML)cited by 137
  6. 2019Learning to Speak and Act in a Fantasy Text Adventure Gamecited by 122
  7. 2021Replay-Guided Adversarial Environment Designcited by 111
  8. 2024Large Language Models and Games: A Survey and Roadmapcited by 93
  9. 2023LLMatic: Neural Architecture Search via Large Language Models and Quality Diversity Optimizationcited by 87
  10. 2020Deep Learning for Procedural Content Generationcited by 73
  11. 2016Super Mario as a String: Platformer Level Generation Via LSTMscited by 40
  12. 2020The Chess Transformer: Mastering Play using Generative Language Modelscited by 37
8 more
  1. 2019Bootstrapping Conditional GANs for Video Game Level Generationcited by 35
  2. 2022Dungeons and Dragons as a Dialog Challenge for Artificial Intelligencecited by 35
  3. 2024Game Generation via Large Language Modelscited by 25
  4. 2019Generating Interactive Worlds with Textcited by 13
  5. 2020The Go Transformer: Natural Language Modeling for Game Playcited by 12
  6. 2024The Ink Splotch Effect: A Case Study on ChatGPT as a Co-Creative Game Designercited by 12
  7. 2023Hierarchically Composing Level Generators for the Creation of Complex Structurescited by 4
  8. 2022Augmentative Topology Agents For Open-Ended Learningcited by 3

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Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 3; 2025: 9; 2026: 6.

18 papers.

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  1. 2025Darwin Godel Machine: Open-Ended Evolution of Self-Improving Agentscited by 356
  2. 2026AI Gamestore: Scalable, Open-Ended Evaluation of Machine General Intelligence with Human Gamescited by 12
  3. 2024DreamGarden: A Designer Assistant for Growing Games from a Single Promptcited by 10
  4. 2024GameTraversalBenchmark: Evaluating Planning Abilities Of Large Language Models Through Traversing 2D Game Mapscited by 8
  5. 2025WhatELSE: Shaping Narrative Spaces at Configurable Level of Abstraction for AI-bridged Interactive Storytellingcited by 8
  6. 2024Grammar-based Game Description Generation using Large Language Modelscited by 7
  7. 2025STORY2GAME: Generating (Almost) Everything in an Interactive Fiction Gamecited by 4
  8. 2025Vox Deorum: A Hybrid LLM Architecture for 4X / Grand Strategy Game AI -- Lessons from Civilization Vcited by 4
  9. 2025PCGRLLM: Large Language Model-Driven Reward Design for Procedural Content Generation Reinforcement Learningcited by 3
  10. 2025Word2Minecraft: Generating 3D Game Levels through Large Language Modelscited by 3
  11. 2025GameTileNet: A Semantic Dataset for Low-Resolution Game Art in Procedural Content Generationcited by 3
  12. 2025Narrative-to-Scene Generation: An LLM-Driven Pipeline for 2D Game Environmentscited by 2
6 more
  1. 2025Mortar: Evolving Mechanics for Automatic Game Designcited by 1
  2. 2026From World-Gen to Quest-Line: A Dependency-Driven Prompt Pipeline for Coherent RPG Generationcited by 1
  3. 2026Breaking the Assistant Mold: Modeling Behavioral Variation in LLM Based Procedural Character Generationcited by 0
  4. 2026From LLM-Driven Trading Card Generation to Procedural Relatedness: A Pok'emon Case Studycited by 0
  5. 2026Procedural Content Metageneration via Program Search and Continual Abstraction Discoverycited by 0
  6. 2026Programmable Cellular Automatacited by 0