genesis | Getting Started with Celestials

Getting Started with Celestials

Celestials are the stars, planets, moons, and other astronomical bodies in Genesis. They define positions, orbits, and physical properties of every object in your universe.

Core Concepts

What is a Celestial?

Each celestial has:

Type — What kind it is (genesis:star, genesis:body, genesis:blackhole, or custom)
Physical properties — Size, gravity, color, and type-specific properties
Transform — How it moves and rotates over time

The celestial’s ID is derived from its data file path: data/<namespace>/genesis/celestials/<name>.json → namespace:name. If a celestial has an associated dimension, use the same ID.

Celestial Types

Type	Light	Shadow	Visitable	Use for
`genesis:star`	yes	no	no	Suns
`genesis:body`	no	yes	yes	Planets, moons
`genesis:blackhole`	no	no	no	Black holes

Addon mods can register additional types — see Advanced Topics.

Transform Providers

Type	Use for
`genesis:static`	Fixed position (e.g. a central sun)
`genesis:orbiting`	Circular orbit around a parent celestial

Properties

Each celestial type uses type-specific properties:

genesis:star — Two-color gradient (r0/g0/b0, r1/g1/b1, values 0–255)
genesis:body — atmosphere object
genesis:blackhole — No properties needed (use {})

Quick Start

A minimal star at the origin (data/mymod/genesis/celestials/my_sun.json):

{
  "type": "genesis:star",
  "size": 1440,
  "gravity": 2.0,
  "transformProvider": {
    "type": "genesis:static",
    "x": 0.0,
    "y": 0.0,
    "z": 0.0
  },
  "properties": {
    "r0": 255, "g0": 220, "b0": 150,
    "r1": 255, "g1": 180, "b1": 80
  }
}

This creates celestial mymod:my_sun.

Prerequisites

A Minecraft instance with Genesis installed
Basic JSON knowledge
A text editor

For custom types, renderers, or transform providers: Java mod development environment with Genesis as a dependency.

Next Steps

Adding celestials? → Implementation Guide
Custom rendering or orbital mechanics? → Advanced Topics
Looking up a specific class or method? → API Reference