Doom's been ported to everything from toasters to refrigerators, seemingly exhausting the possibilities. However, a high school student has achieved the seemingly impossible: a playable Doom port within a PDF file, runnable in a browser.
While lacking sound and text (minor details, right?), it allows you to play E1M1 while procrastinating on, say, your taxes.
Github user ading2210, inspired by the TetrisPDF project, leveraged Javascript within a browser's PDF reader. Though browser security limitations restrict the full potential of PDF scripting, it proved sufficient.
Using a six-color ASCII grid for visuals, ading2210 created a surprisingly readable Doom experience, albeit with an 80ms per-frame rendering delay. It's not a PS5 replacement, but the feat is undeniably impressive.
TetrisPDF's creator, Thomas Rinsma, acknowledged ading2210's "neater" implementation on Hacker News.
While not ideal for a first-time Doom playthrough, this port continues the tradition of running Doom on wildly unconventional platforms – from devices to files and even gut bacteria – providing endless amusement.
