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Now you can play Doom over teletextYou can even play using a TV remote control
You can even play using a TV remote control
Image credit:lukneu
Image credit:lukneu
Add another one to the list of weird and delightful ways to play ye oldeDoom: teletext. A new mod converts Doom to a teletext signal, letting you play the seminal shooter rendered in blocky teletext art on a telly. You can even control it with your TV remote. Have a look in the video below! I really, really like the smiley face replacing Doomguy’s gurn.
DOOM in TeletextWatch on YouTube
DOOM in Teletext
You can download the teletext-doom modfrom GitHub. Right now, it only supports the original Doom. Obviously it takes a bit of work to get running even on computers, though you really can set it up to play on a real television if you want—and if your TV can handle it. The developer, Lukneu warns that “many modern TVs seem to struggle when updating teletext pages”, with their modern LG groaning along at 3fps while an old CRT happily plays at 30fps.
You might remember teletext art being prettier than this but Lukneu says it’s an intentional decision. While later revisions of teletext tech added support for more colours, higher-resolution graphics, and other handy bits, this uses the original Level 1 teletext standard “mainly because it just feels like ‘real’ teletext to me and I like the original blocky look.”
Potential future ideas for the project include support for other levels and various rendering modes that use colours, or use ASCII characters instead of mosaic tiles, or only draw edges.
The only new feature I want is level load screens presented as Teletext Holidays listings. Only £37 for an all-inclusive weekend at Phobos Lab! Ooh or £52 for a romantic couples getaway in the Slough of Despair. But ah, skip that week-long tour of the The Shores of Hell; it sounds scenic but my pal went last year and said it was just lads on the lash.
