mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Model as a Game: On Numerical and Spatial Consistency for Generative Games

arXiv 2503.21172 ↗First posted 27 Mar 2025cs.CVcited by 5

On the map: World models → Video-generation world models and simulators

Abstract (arXiv)

Recent advances in generative models have significantly impacted game generation. However, despite producing high-quality graphics and adequately receiving player input, existing models often fail to maintain fundamental game properties such as numerical and spatial consistency. Numerical consistency ensures gameplay mechanics correctly reflect score changes and other quantitative elements, while spatial consistency prevents jarring scene transitions, providing seamless player experiences. In this paper, we revisit the paradigm of generative games to explore what truly constitutes a Model as a Game (MaaG) with a well-developed mechanism. We begin with an empirical study on ``Traveler'', a 2D game created by an LLM featuring minimalist rules yet challenging generative models in maintaining consistency. Based on the DiT architecture, we design two specialized modules: (1) a numerical module that integrates a LogicNet to determine event triggers, with calculations processed externally as conditions for image generation; and (2) a spatial module that maintains a map of explored areas, retrieving location-specific information during generation and linking new observations to ensure continuity. Experiments across three games demonstrate that our integrated modules significantly enhance performance on consistency metrics compared to baselines, while incurring minimal time overhead during inference.

Key facts. Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Video-generation world models and simulators, one of 11 directions in World models. Builds on 37 of its 46 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 27 Mar 2025.

Builds on

37 of 46 references.

Closest ancestors · 7

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025GameFactory: Creating New Games with Generative Interactive Videos14 Jan
  2. 2024GameGen-X: Interactive Open-world Game Video Generation1 Nov
  3. 2024Unbounded: A Generative Infinite Game of Character Life Simulation24 Oct
  4. 2024Diffusion Models Are Real-Time Game Engines27 Aug
  5. 2024Genie: Generative Interactive Environments23 Feb
  6. 2022Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformers19 Dec
  7. 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models19 Jun

Other references · 30

  1. 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Modelscited by 18,863
  2. 2018The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Deep Features as a Perceptual Metriccited by 11,177
  3. 2023Adding Conditional Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Modelscited by 5,503
  4. 2024Scaling Rectified Flow Transformers for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 4,181
  5. 2023T2I-Adapter: Learning Adapters to Dig out More Controllable Ability for Text-to-Image Diffusion Modelscited by 1,351
  6. 2018Towards Accurate Generative Models of Video: A New Metric & Challengescited by 1,234
  7. 2024Diffusion Forcing: Next-token Prediction Meets Full-Sequence Diffusioncited by 681
  8. 2023VideoPoet: A Large Language Model for Zero-Shot Video Generationcited by 492
  9. 2024CameraCtrl: Enabling Camera Control for Text-to-Video Generationcited by 460
  10. 2023Uni-ControlNet: All-in-One Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Modelscited by 359
  11. 2023ControlVideo: Training-free Controllable Text-to-Video Generationcited by 327
  12. 2023Composer: Creative and Controllable Image Synthesis with Composable Conditionscited by 304
18 more
  1. 2021TrOCR: Transformer-based Optical Character Recognition with Pre-trained Modelscited by 279
  2. 2023TextDiffuser: Diffusion Models as Text Painterscited by 229
  3. 2024Direct-a-Video: Customized Video Generation with User-Directed Camera Movement and Object Motioncited by 167
  4. 2024ControlNeXt: Powerful and Efficient Control for Image and Video Generationcited by 159
  5. 2024ControlNet++: Improving Conditional Controls with Efficient Consistency Feedbackcited by 154
  6. 2023TextDiffuser-2: Unleashing the Power of Language Models for Text Renderingcited by 140
  7. 2023CoDeF: Content Deformation Fields for Temporally Consistent Video Processingcited by 108
  8. 2020Learning to Simulate Dynamic Environments with GameGANcited by 86
  9. 2023VideoControlNet: A Motion-Guided Video-to-Video Translation Framework by Using Diffusion Model with ControlNetcited by 83
  10. 2024The Matrix: Infinite-Horizon World Generation with Real-Time Moving Controlcited by 80
  11. 2024World-consistent Video Diffusion with Explicit 3D Modelingcited by 65
  12. 2021Playable Video Generationcited by 64
  13. 2023MarioGPT: Open-Ended Text2Level Generation through Large Language Modelscited by 64
  14. 2024TrackGo: A Flexible and Efficient Method for Controllable Video Generationcited by 39
  15. 2024LLMs Meet Multimodal Generation and Editing: A Surveycited by 35
  16. 2024Playable Game Generationcited by 26
  17. 2023Promptable Game Models: Text-Guided Game Simulation via Masked Diffusion Modelscited by 22
  18. 2024InteractiveVideo: User-Centric Controllable Video Generation with Synergistic Multimodal Instructionscited by 3

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 3; 2026: 2.

5 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026From Pixels to States: Rethinking Interactive World Models as Game Engines
  2. 2026StatePlay: State-Aware Game World Models for Mechanics-Consistent Generation
  3. 2026Code2Games: Enabling Coding Agents for Gaming World Generation
  4. 2026GameDirector: Decoupling Gameplay Logic from Rendering for Player-Configurable Game World Models
  5. 2026MAGIC: Transition-Aware Generation of Navigable Multi-Scene Game Worlds with Large Language Models
  6. 2026GameCraft-Bench: Can Agents Build Playable Games End-to-End in a Real Game Engine?
  7. 2026All in One: Generative Modeling as Mean-Field Game Design
  8. 2025Toward Stable World Models: Measuring and Addressing World Instability in Generative Environments