one dataset · paper, tables, graph, wiki
simgrammar the grammar of simulation

parts

15 mechanics, as Minecraft does them

core · 5

environment & ecology

Day-night cycle

A 20-minute real-time day; hostile mobs spawn in low light, so night and caves are dangerous, and beds skip the night.

resources & production

Hand crafting

A 2x2 inventory grid and a 3x3 crafting table turn blocks and items into tools, armor, and blocks from shaped recipes; furnaces, anvils, and enchanting tables extend the recipe set.

world generation

Procedural terrain

Worlds generate from a seed into biomes, caves, ravines, villages, and ore layers that vary by depth; terrain extends effectively without limit in horizontal directions.

resources & production

Resource extraction

Blocks are mined by hand or with tools whose tier (wood, stone, iron, diamond, netherite) sets mining speed and which ores drop items.

biology & health

Survival meters

Survival mode has health and hunger bars; food restores hunger, high hunger regenerates health, and starvation, falls, drowning, and mobs deal damage.

supporting · 10

biology & health

Animal husbandry

Passive mobs breed when fed their preferred food and yield food, wool, and leather.

space & construction

Building placement

Any block can be placed on the voxel grid, so building has no fixed footprint.

resources & production

Crop cultivation

Crops grow in stages on farmland, faster with water nearby and light.

environment & ecology

Fire spread

Fire spreads to nearby flammable blocks such as wood and wool and burns them away.

physics & materials

Fluid and gas simulation

Water and lava flow a limited number of blocks out from source blocks; where they meet they form cobblestone, stone, or obsidian.

risk & failure

Loss on death

On death in survival the player's inventory and some experience drop at the death site and despawn after a few minutes if not recovered.

multiplayer & persistence

Modding API

Java Edition mods (Forge, Fabric) and Bedrock add-ons, datapacks, and server plugins are widely used.

multiplayer & persistence

Persistent shared world

Public multiplayer servers and Realms host worlds that persist for many players.

control & automation

Signal circuits

Redstone dust carries power from levers, buttons, and sensors through repeaters and comparators to pistons, doors, and dispensers.

progression & goals

Tech tree

Material tiers gate progression: iron tools mine diamonds, diamond tools mine obsidian, and Nether materials gate brewing and the End.

core loop

explore a generated world -> mine blocks and gather resources -> craft tools, armor, and workstations -> build shelter before night mobs spawn -> farm, breed, and trade -> dig deeper or travel to the Nether and End for rarer materials

design notes

The world is an effectively infinite grid of one-meter blocks generated from a seed with biomes, caves, and ore distributions, and every block can be removed or placed, so terrain is both resource and building material. Survival pressure is light (hunger, health, light-level mob spawning on a 20-minute day cycle) and leaves room for self-set goals. Redstone gives the block world wires, power sources, repeaters, and pistons, which players use to build farms, logic gates, and working computers. The game began as a public alpha in May 2009 and reached 1.0 in November 2011.

appears in

the paper, 3 sections · 7 chapters · 1 episode
paper

3. The catalog

linked in this section of the paper

paper
paper

5. The structure of the design space

linked in this section of the paper

paper
paper

Appendix A. Game catalog

linked in this section of the paper

paper
catalog

The catalog

listed with its year, developer, subgenre, and number of mechanics

book
ch 1

Chapter 1. Same parts

linked from the text

book
ch 3

Chapter 3. Old parts

linked from the text

book
ch 4

Chapter 4. Families

linked from the text

book
ch 7

Chapter 7. What shipped

named in the text

book
ch 8

Chapter 8. Where AI lands

named in the text

book
ch 10

Chapter 10. Bets

linked from the text

book
ch 11

Chapter 11. What breaks

named in the text

book
ep 2

Where the parts came from

on screen at 0:39 a date is a lower bound, 6:09 parts that waited

episode

relations

1 stored edges
influenced by

sources

1
Wikipedia contributors (2026). Minecraft. Wikipedia

provenance

runs in log/runs
2026-10-24
created2026-10-24-catalog-ggcatalog