Doom Playable in PDF: Cutting-edge Tech for Gamers

Doom's been ported to everything from toasters to refrigerators, seemingly leaving little room for innovation. However, a high school student has achieved the seemingly impossible: running Doom within a PDF file viewable in a browser.

While lacking sound and text (minor details, right?), this version lets you play E1M1 while procrastinating on, say, your taxes.

Github user ading2210, inspired by the TetrisPDF project, leveraged Javascript within a browser's PDF reader to accomplish this feat. Browser security limitations restrict the full potential of PDF scripting, but it proved sufficient for a Doom port.

Using a six-color ASCII grid for visuals, ading2210 created a surprisingly playable, albeit slow (80ms per frame), version of Doom. The result, while not PS5 quality, is remarkably legible.

Thomas Rinsma, creator of TetrisPDF, commented on Hacker News, praising ading2210's "neater" implementation of a similar project.

While not ideal for a first-time Doom experience, the continued porting of Doom to unusual platforms – from devices to files and even bacteria – remains endlessly captivating.