Doom, the iconic first-person shooter, has been adapted to run on everything from toasters to fridges, pushing the boundaries of what devices can handle this classic game. However, the latest innovation comes from a high school student who has ingeniously ported Doom into a PDF file that you can run directly in your browser. While this version lacks elements like text and sound, the ability to play the first level, E1M1, can make even the most mundane tasks, like doing your taxes, a bit more exciting.
The mastermind behind this project, GitHub user ading2210, drew inspiration from the TetrisPDF project and decided to bring one of the world's most beloved shooters to a Chromium-based browser through a PDF. The student cleverly utilized the JavaScript capabilities within the browser's PDF reader to execute this ambitious port. Although the official PDF specifications support advanced scripting, browser security limits these features. Nevertheless, it was sufficient for ading2210 to achieve the remarkable feat of running Doom within a PDF.
Leveraging JavaScript's computational power, ading2210 created a six-color ASCII grid to represent the game's sprites and graphics. The result, while not as smooth as modern gaming consoles with an 80ms delay per frame, is impressively legible. While this version of Doom might not replace your PS5, the sheer ingenuity of running it inside a PDF file is a testament to the creativity and technical prowess of this high school student.
Thomas Rinsma, the creator of TetrisPDF, acknowledged ading2210's work on Hacker News, noting that the student's version of PDF Doom was "neater in many ways." Although this rendition of Doom may not be ideal for newcomers to the game, the novelty of seeing it run on unconventional platforms, files, or even living gut bacteria, continues to captivate and entertain fans around the world.
