Doom Now Accessible in PDF Format

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Doom Now Accessible in PDF Format

Feb 21,25

Doom's been ported to everything from toasters to refrigerators, making truly novel ports increasingly rare. 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 conquer 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 was sufficient for a Doom port.

Doom in a PDF? Why not? Image credit: YouTube / vk6.

Using a six-color ASCII grid for visuals, ading2210 created a surprisingly playable, albeit slow (80ms per frame), version of Doom. It's not a PS5 replacement, but the accomplishment of running Doom inside a PDF is undeniably impressive.

TetrisPDF's creator, Thomas Rinsma, acknowledged ading2210's "neater" version on Hacker News. While not ideal for a first Doom experience, the continued stream of bizarre Doom ports – from devices to files and even bacteria – remains endlessly entertaining.

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