Move Over Toasters: Doom Is Now Playable Inside a PDF

Doom's remarkable portability has reached new heights—a high school student has ported the game to a PDF file, playable within a browser. While features like text and sound are absent, the achievement of running E1M1 within a PDF is undeniably impressive.

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 sufficient functionality remained to port Doom.

Using a six-color ASCII grid for visuals, ading2210 created a surprisingly readable Doom experience, despite a frame rate of approximately 80ms. Although not a replacement for modern gaming hardware, the accomplishment of running Doom within a PDF file is noteworthy.

TetrisPDF's creator, Thomas Rinsma, acknowledged ading2210's cleaner implementation on Hacker News. While not ideal for a first-time Doom experience, the continued trend of running Doom on unconventional platforms, including files and even bacteria, remains a source of amusement.