{"id":1096746,"date":"2026-01-26T05:07:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=509170"},"modified":"2026-01-26T05:07:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:07:45","slug":"rip-and-tear-through-doom-in-a-pdf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/rip-and-tear-through-doom-in-a-pdf\/","title":{"rendered":"Rip and tear through Doom in a PDF"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-caption=\"\" data-portal-copyright=\"\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/rip-and-tear-through-doom-in-a-pdf.jpg\" \/><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">The original <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/game\/doom\/35746\">Doom<\/a><\/em> is <a href=\"https:\/\/doompdf.pages.dev\/doom.pdf\">now playable in a custom PDF file<\/a>, further contributing to its legacy of being ported to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/2014\/7\/29\/5947925\/doom-atm-mod\">just about every platform<\/a> under the sun.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Developed by ading2210, a self-described \u201chigh school student with an interest in programming, web development, and cybersecurity,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/ading2210\/doompdf\"><em>Doom<\/em> PDF<\/a> project utilizes the file format\u2019s inherent Javascript support to recreate the iconic first-person shooter in text. It runs poorly and plays even worse, but it\u2019s a marvel to see in action.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Doom (1993) in a PDF file\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/g6ygXHmtHzs?rel=0\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" allowfullscreen allow=\"accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share;\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cPrevious interactive PDF projects I\u2019ve seen use individual text fields that are toggled on\/off to make individual pixels,\u201d ading2210 wrote on the game\u2019s GitHub page. \u201cHowever, <em>Doom<\/em>\u2019s resolution is 320&#215;200, which would mean thousands of text fields would have to be toggled every frame, which is infeasible. Instead, this port uses a separate text field for each row in the screen, then it sets their contents to various ASCII characters. I managed to get a 6 color monochrome output this way, which is enough for things to be legible in-game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\"><em>Doom<\/em> PDF only works in Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Opera, etc.) and supports custom WADs (modded Doom files like the recent\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/news\/504165\/free-doom-art-gallery-mod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gallery Experience<\/a>), though you&#8217;ll need the original Doom WAD to get them working. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/news\/509170\/doom-pdf-playable-port\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The original Doom is now playable in a custom PDF file, further contributing to its legacy of being ported to just about every platform under the sun. Developed by ading2210, a self-described \u201chigh school student with an interest in programming, web development, and cybersecurity,\u201d the Doom PDF project utilizes the file format\u2019s inherent Javascript support to recreate the iconic first-person shooter in text. It runs poorly and plays even worse, but it\u2019s a marvel to see in action. \u201cPrevious interactive PDF projects I\u2019ve seen use individual text fields that are toggled on\/off to make individual pixels,\u201d ading2210 wrote on the game\u2019s GitHub page. \u201cHowever, Doom\u2019s resolution is 320&#215;200, which would mean thousands of text fields would have to be toggled every frame, which is infeasible.&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/rip-and-tear-through-doom-in-a-pdf\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1096747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1096746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO 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