# Programmable World Model

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.10540 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.10540/

## Key facts

- Cited by 10 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 16 of its 17 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 9 Sep 2026.

## Placed in

- World models / [Video-generation world models and simulators](https://mlsanity.com/wm/video-generation-world-models-and-simulators/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [Qwen3-VL Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.21631/) (2025)
- [Wan: Open and Advanced Large-Scale Video Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.20314/) (2025)
- [LTX-Video: Realtime Video Latent Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.00103/) (2024)
- [VBench-2.0: Advancing Video Generation Benchmark Suite for Intrinsic Faithfulness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.21755/) (2025)
- [ViPE: Video Pose Engine for 3D Geometric Perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.10934/) (2025)
- [WorldPlay: Towards Long-Term Geometric Consistency for Real-Time Interactive World Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.14614/) (2025)
- [Advancing Open-source World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.20540/) (2026)
- [Yume: An Interactive World Generation Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.17744/) (2025)
- [DiffusionRenderer: Neural Inverse and Forward Rendering with Video Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.18590/) (2025)
- [VLIPP: Towards Physically Plausible Video Generation with Vision and Language Informed Physical Prior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.23368/) (2025)
- [Infinite Worlds with Versatile Interactions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.07534/) (2026)
- [RenderFormer: Transformer-based Neural Rendering of Triangle Meshes with Global Illumination](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.21925/) (2025)
- [WildDet3D: Scaling Promptable 3D Detection in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.08626/) (2026)
- [AlayaWorld: Interactive Long-Horizon World Modeling -- Full Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.18367/) (2026)
- [Generative World Renderer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.02329/) (2026)
- [Coarse-to-Real: Generative Rendering for Populated Dynamic Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.22301/) (2026)

## Built on by (most cited first, 10 of 10)

- [AI for Games in the Foundation Model Era](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.16679/) (2026)
- [GameDirector: Decoupling Gameplay Logic from Rendering for Player-Configurable Game World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.25652/) (2026)
- [Oneira: From Open-Ended Generation to Open-World Interaction in Video World Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.01614/) (2026)
- [World Agent: Can Language Models Keep a World Running?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.32692/) (2026)
- [Proxy2World: Learning to Generate Worlds From Lightweight Proxies without Seeing Them](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.35023/) (2026)
- [ROWBench: Do Video Models Render What the Program Specifies?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.02205/) (2026)
- [AgentGarten: Code Worlds for Evolving Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.12374/) (2026)
- [Multics: Generative Multi-Player World Model with Hierarchical Communication](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.17201/) (2026)
- [Spectral World Renderer: Unified 3D Hyperspectral Unmixing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.19520/) (2026)
- [Generative World Simulation with DAO and JING](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.19726/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recent video world models generate increasingly realistic and interactive visual experiences, yet lack reliable mechanisms for maintaining persistent world state and enforcing programmable rules over extended interactions. We introduce Programmable World Model, a framework that decouples world-state evolution from visual observation generation. An agent translates natural-language instructions into executable programs that specify entity states and state-transition rules, enabling direct control over individual entities and their interactions. A lightweight engine executes these programs to update and maintain an explicit, persistent global world state, including off-screen entities and non-visual attributes. To connect world state with visual generation, we introduce state-augmented 3D oriented bounding boxes (OBBs) as an intermediate representation. This representation, together with the target camera trajectory, is deterministically compiled into pixel-aligned spatiotemporal conditioning signals for a pretrained video model serving as the generative renderer. This design allows users to create playable games with predefined mechanics, direct control over individual entities, and persistent world state throughout gameplay. We further introduce CombatStateBench, a benchmark for evaluating programmable world models. On CombatStateBench, our method achieves 94% Count Accuracy and 98% State Accuracy, substantially outperforming existing interactive video world models while supporting coherent long-horizon generation. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of separating explicit state evolution from generative rendering for building persistent, programmable worlds.