In a nutshell: Netherlands-based software engineer Wojciech Graj has created another unusual port of the iconic first-person shooter Doom, ingeniously embedding it within a Microsoft Word document. His project is a testament to the ongoing fascination with Doom and its adaptability to various platforms.
The standalone Word document, weighing in at 6.6MB, contains a source port of doomgeneric and is available for download via GitHub. To run this version of Doom, users need a modern version of Microsoft Office or Word on an x86 computer system. It's important to note that players must allow the VBA macro in the document to run, which may require bypassing security warnings.
Doom has been officially ported to game consoles, PC systems, different operating systems, mobile devices, and essentially every new computing platform developed since the 1990s. Graj's inspiration for this project came from efforts to port the game to more unconventional formats, such as DoomPDF and Pdftris. However, this Word-based version of Doom appears to offer a more authentic experience compared to its PDF counterparts. The graphics closely resemble the original FPS, and it runs at a respectable speed.
This isn't Graj's first foray into unconventional Doom ports. His portfolio includes projects like Doom-ascii, Doom in Stardew Valley, and Doom in Minecraft.
The WordDoom (or DoomWord, as the creator hasn't expressed a preference for either name) document contains the doomgeneric_docm.dll library and the doom1.wad game data, both encoded in base64. When the document is opened, a VBA macro extracts the encoded data and loads it, allowing the game to run within the Word environment.
Behind the scenes, Doom's mechanics are particularly impressive. For each game tick, the doomgeneric.dll creates a bitmap image containing the current frame and uses GetAsyncKeyState to read the keyboard state. This approach may explain why the game viewport is relatively small, possibly maintaining the original 320 x 200 resolution to ensure smooth performance.
Players can control the game using familiar keys: arrow keys for movement, Control for firing, Space for interaction, and number keys 1-7 for weapon selection. However, it's worth noting that this version does not include sound, focusing solely on the visual experience.
While this Word-based Doom port is an impressive technical achievement, it's important to note that some users may encounter compatibility issues. Running the game on older Word versions, such as Word 2007, may fail despite accepting macro security warnings.