Doom's Unlikely PDF Port: A Testament to the Game's Enduring Legacy
A high school student has achieved the seemingly impossible: porting the iconic 1993 first-person shooter, Doom, to a PDF file. While the resulting experience is slow, it's surprisingly playable, adding another bizarre entry to Doom's long list of unconventional platforms.
Doom's relatively small file size (a mere 2.39 megabytes) has always been a factor in its portability. This compact nature has fueled a long-running trend of enthusiasts running the game on everything from refrigerators and alarm clocks (like the Nintendo Alarmo, successfully ported in November) to within other games (such as Balandro). This latest PDF port, however, takes the cake.
GitHub user ading2210 cleverly leveraged PDF's JavaScript capabilities – including 3D rendering, HTTP requests, and monitor detection – to make this happen. However, the limitations of the PDF format are apparent. The game's 320x200 resolution necessitates a massive number of text boxes for each frame, making a pixel-by-pixel approach impractical. ading2210's solution utilizes one text box per screen row, resulting in a significantly slowed-down, albeit functional, game. The video showcasing the port reveals a monochrome, soundless, text-free experience with an 80ms frame rate.
This feat, however, isn't about optimal gameplay. It's a testament to Doom's enduring influence and the boundless creativity of its fanbase. The fact that, over three decades later, programmers and gamers continue to find novel ways to run Doom underscores its lasting legacy and its ongoing relevance in the gaming world. The future undoubtedly holds even more unexpected platforms for this legendary game.
