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Doom's been ported to everything from toasters to refrigerators, seemingly pushing the boundaries of what's possible. However, a high school student has achieved the seemingly impossible: porting Doom to a PDF file playable within a browser.
While lacking sound and text (though, who needs those when procrastinating on taxes?), this version of E1M1 is surprisingly functional. Inspired by TetrisPDF, Github user ading2210 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 this ambitious project.
Using a six-color ASCII grid for visuals, ading2210 created a playable, albeit slow (80ms per frame), version of Doom. The result, despite its limitations, is remarkably legible.
Although it won't replace your PS5 anytime soon, the achievement of running Doom within a PDF is noteworthy. Even TetrisPDF creator Thomas Rinsma praised ading2210's "neater" implementation on Hacker News.
While not ideal for a first-time Doom experience, the ongoing trend of running Doom on unusual platforms, files, and even bacteria remains endlessly captivating.
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