An enthusiast ported Doom directly to a Word document – the game works well, but there is no sound

Software engineer Wojciech Graj from the Netherlands has accomplished the seemingly impossible by porting the legendary shooter Doom into a standalone Microsoft Word document. To run the game, you will need a modern version of Microsoft Office on x86 architecture, 6.6 MB of free space, and permission to run VBA macros despite security warnings.

Image source: Microsoft

Doom for Word is far from the first unusual game adaptation that Gray has worked on. His other projects include Doom-ascii (Doom in text format), Doom in Stardew Valley, and even Doom in Minecraft. However, it is the Word version that stands out for its technical complexity. As the developer explains, the document, which is available for download on GitHub, contains the doomgeneric_docm.dll library and doom1.wad game data encoded in base64. After unpacking the zip, to run the game you will need a folder called vba containing three scripts.

Image source: Wojciech Graj

The game works as follows. Each game tick, the doomgeneric.dll library creates a BMP image of the current frame, and the GetAsyncKeyState function is used to process keystrokes. Presumably this is why the gaming screen is limited to around 320×200 pixels in order to maintain performance. The controls are standard – arrows to move, Ctrl to shoot, space to interact and numbers 1–7 to select weapons. While the game runs surprisingly well, there is one major limitation: WordDoom doesn’t yet have sound.