Doom Has Been Ported to a PDF File

Summary

• A high school student has successfully ported the 1993 classic, Doom, to a PDF file, resulting in a playable, albeit slow, experience.
• Doom's compact size has consistently fueled its portability, enabling gameplay on unconventional devices such as the Nintendo Alarmo and even within other games.
• The ongoing exploration of novel ways to run Doom underscores its enduring legacy and remarkable relevance in the gaming world.

One dedicated high school student has achieved the remarkable feat of porting the influential 1993 game, Doom, to a PDF file. This surprising accomplishment adds to the long list of unexpected platforms on which Doom has been successfully played.

Developed by id Software, Doom is widely recognized as a landmark title, profoundly impacting the first-person shooter (FPS) genre. Its influence is so significant that it essentially coined the term "FPS," with many early games in the genre often labeled as "Doom clones." Recently, a trend has emerged showcasing the ingenuity of programmers and gaming enthusiasts who strive to run Doom on the most unusual devices imaginable. From refrigerators and alarm clocks to car stereos, almost any device with a hint of technology has been pressed into service. This humorous yet impressive trend has now reached a new peak.

High school student and GitHub user ading2210 has ported the classic Doom game into a PDF file. Leveraging the fact that PDFs support JavaScript, enabling functionalities like 3D rendering, HTTP requests, and monitor detection, ading2210 overcame a significant challenge. While most interactive PDFs use small text boxes as pixels, Doom's 320x200 resolution necessitates thousands of boxes per frame—an impractical approach. Instead, ading2210 cleverly uses one text box per screen row, resulting in a slower but still playable game. As demonstrated in a video, the PDF version lacks color, sound, and text, with 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, using its dials for movement and side buttons for menu navigation. But the ingenuity doesn't stop at devices; another player creatively ran Doom within the game Balandro, albeit with performance limitations similar to the PDF version. Gameplay involves navigating Doom across Balandro's card spread.

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