We have a long, rich history of reporting Doom Running On <Blank> stories here at Kotaku Australia. Today, a new one: Doom running the bog standard, plain text, default Windows app Notepad. Observe:
i got DOOM running inside Notepad at 60fps pic.twitter.com/EQFuRu4N0r
— Samperson (Crime Arc) (@SamNChiet) October 9, 2022
Pretty amazing, isn’t it? After all the things we’ve seen Doom running on over the years, I don’t know that an ASCII version, complete with sound, has ever crossed my radar. Further proof that John Carmack’s legendarily optimised code can be pressed into service on literally any device.
The Notepad version of Doom was created by Twitter user @SamNChiet. According to Chiet, everything you see in the video is fully playable and on the level. The footage hasn’t been sped up, and he didn’t have to modify the Notepad.exe code to get it to work.
If you’d like a higher res version, here it is again on YouTube:
Chiet is a game developer and self-described ‘experiment creator’ who enjoys digging into older systems and looking for ways to give them new leases on life. A recent video essay on Chiet’s YouTube channel details his work illegally resurrecting Xbox’s now-defunct Kinect technology.
Chiet says he plans to release the Notepad version of Doom online for others to play in the next few days.
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