Microsoft Executive Runs DOOM Inside Paint
People have spent years proving that DOOM, the famous 1993 shooter from Id Software, can run on almost any device.
Over time, players have managed to get the game working on everything from unusual gadgets and robot lawn mowers to satellites, and even Twitter/X tabs.
Now, a Microsoft executive has taken the idea even further.
DOOM Runs Inside Microsoft Paint
Mark Russinovich, Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft Azure, has shown that the game can run inside Microsoft Paint, using the simple Windows program as the display for the game.
The project is called DoomPaint and is available on GitHub. Instead of rebuilding the game, it adapts DOOM’s original graphics engine and draws each frame directly onto a blank Paint canvas.
The game runs using the free shareware version of DOOM. Every frame is copied to the Windows clipboard and then pasted into Microsoft Paint, allowing the game to appear inside the application without Paint actually processing the game itself.
DoomPaint runs at 35 Hz with a resolution of 320×200. This version also includes a few special features that are not found in the PC, console, or mobile releases. For example, pressing Ctrl + Z lets players rewind after taking damage or dying. Players can also save their progress at any time by creating a PNG screenshot using Windows tools.
“Paint renders the game but does not compute it. Paint computes nothing. Paint has never computed anything. That’s the joke,” said Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich.
Running DOOM inside Microsoft Paint is another example of how Id Software’s classic continues to prove it can run anywhere.
