Doom Has Been Ported to a PDF File

Summary

• A high school student has successfully ported the classic game Doom (1993) to a PDF file, resulting in a playable, albeit slow, experience.
• Doom's compact size has consistently allowed for its execution on unconventional devices, including the Nintendo Alarmo and even within other games.
• The ongoing exploration of unique platforms to run Doom underscores its enduring legacy and continued relevance in the gaming world.

A high school student, showcasing impressive ingenuity, has ported the legendary Doom (1993) to a PDF file. This remarkable achievement adds another chapter to the long and quirky history of Doom's execution on unexpected platforms.

Id Software's Doom is widely recognized as a groundbreaking title, profoundly impacting the first-person shooter (FPS) genre. In fact, its influence is so significant that it essentially coined the term "FPS," with many early games in the genre often referred to as "Doom clones." Recently, a trend has emerged among programmers and gaming enthusiasts: running Doom on the most unusual devices imaginable. From refrigerators and alarm clocks to car stereos, almost any device with a hint of processing power has become a potential Doom machine. This humorous yet impressive trend has now reached a new peak.

High school student and GitHub user ading2210 has achieved the seemingly impossible—porting Doom to a PDF file. Leveraging the fact that PDFs support JavaScript, functionalities such as 3D rendering, HTTP requests, and monitor detection became possible. However, typical interactive PDFs use small text boxes as pixels. Doom's 320x200 resolution necessitates thousands of these boxes per frame—an impractical approach. Adding2210 cleverly circumvented this by using one text box per screen row, resulting in a playable, albeit slow, game. As demonstrated in a video, the PDF version lacks color, sound, and text, and boasts an 80ms per-frame response time.

High School Student Ports Doom (1993) to a PDF

Doom's compact size (2.39 megabytes) is a key factor enabling such feats. Just last November, a programmer successfully made Doom playable on the Nintendo Alarmo, utilizing its dials for movement and side buttons for menu navigation. The creativity doesn't stop at dedicated devices; another player ingeniously ran Doom within the game Balandro, albeit with performance limitations mirroring the PDF version.

These projects aren't solely about achieving flawless performance on unconventional platforms. Instead, they highlight the boundless creativity of players and the enduring appeal of Doom. The fact that, over 30 years later, Doom remains relevant and playable on such diverse platforms is a testament to its lasting legacy. As players continue their inventive explorations, we can expect even more unusual Doom ports to emerge in the future.