What More Could You Want? Doom in a PDF!

Created by a high school enthusiast who goes by the name ading2210, this project showcases a fascinating intersection of programming, web development, and cybersecurity. The so-called Doom PDF project ingeniously leverages the built-in Javascript support of PDF files to recreate the legendary first-person shooter in a purely text-based format. Although it might not run smoothly or provide the best gameplay experience, witnessing it in action is truly astonishing.

On the project’s GitHub page, ading2210 explains, “Interactive PDF projects I’ve come across usually involve toggling individual text fields to create pixels. But given Doom’s resolution of 320×200, this would require managing thousands of fields per frame, which is just impractical. So, I opted for a different method—using a distinct text field for each screen row and filling them with varied ASCII characters. This approach allowed me to generate a 6-color monochrome output, making the game somewhat readable.”

Currently, Doom PDF operates solely on Chromium-based browsers like Chrome, Edge, and Opera. It supports custom WADs, such as the recently popular Gallery Experience, though to run them, you’ll still need the original Doom WAD files.