This document outlines how rendering works.
Bitmap graphics are our best destination; one pixel mapping to one block is going to be a good fit because:
- In Minecraft, the smallest unit of building is a block
- Biomes, heightmaps, and lighting are all computed per-block
The general model of a bitmap fits very well to Minecraft. A bitmap is a 2-dimensional plane comprised of x,y coordinates in which the origin 0,0 is the top-left, positive-X is moving right, and positive-Y is moving down. In a similar correlation, Minecraft is positive-X moving east and positive-Z moving south. So, we render our map components such that (X,Z)=>(x,y).