After last year's DOOMQL, which used raycasting and looked more like a retro maze than the real thing, Lukas Vogel has returned with SQLDoom. This time the game's original BSP-tree rendering and game logic are implemented as SQL queries running in the CedarDB database. Python is relegated to handling timing, keyboard input, and bitmap display; everything else is done by the database.
Vogel told The Register that a Hacker News commenter complained the first version wasn't authentic enough, so he set out to make a port that looks like actual Doom. The result is playable on his Ryzen 7 7840U laptop, and he even got deathmatch working over EU and US servers. The Register found server performance a bit sluggish, though that may be the servers rather than the port.
The project is also a demonstration of CedarDB, a compiling database system that turns complex queries into machine code. Vogel says he started playing it for fun, which he found strange for something intended as a tech demo. The source notes that SQLDoom shares no code with existing Doom ports, making it a purely SQL-based recreation.