Clever database, but can it run Doom?
A developer has ported the classic video game Doom entirely to SQL, demonstrating the surprising capabilities of modern database systems. Lukas Vogel created SQLDoom after criticism of his previous DOOMQL project, which used raycasting instead of Doom's original BSP-tree rendering technique. This achievement shows that sophisticated applications once thought impossible to implement in SQL can now work in practice.
Vogel ported both the game logic and renderer to SQL using CedarDB, with Python handling only timing, input, and display. The resulting game is fully playable on consumer hardware—Vogel uses a Ryzen 7 7840U laptop—and supports online multiplayer matches. Notably, performance was better than expected, exceeding the results of his previous, more basic attempt at implementing Doom in a database.
- Doom successfully ported to SQL and running in a database system
- Full game logic and rendering implemented using only database queries
- Playable on consumer laptops with online multiplayer support
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Doom is a video game released in 1993 that became one of the most influential games ever made. It is famous for being adapted to run on almost every type of technology imaginable—from calculators to smart devices—often as a playful test of what modern hardware can do.
SQL is database software designed to store and organize information. Running an interactive game like Doom within it is remarkable and unexpected, since databases were created for record-keeping, not graphics or games, yet it suggests these tools might have greater capabilities than commonly assumed.
When developers succeed in building complex applications with tools not designed for such tasks, it reveals whether assumptions about those tools' limitations are correct. Such experiments demonstrate that software may have more potential than we typically think.