It kinda looks like DOOM ported to the Atari Battlezone wireframe arcade games era.
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(Image credit: Michael Ayles) Developer Michael Ayles has unleashed a version of DOOM that runs within a PCB design application, of all places. KiDOOM is a portmanteau of KiCad, the free and open source electronic design automation (EDA) software suite, and DOOM, the influential first-person shooter (FPS) that pioneered and shaped the genre for eternity. In this release, the game world is rendered fast and fluid in KiCAD’s PCB editing viewport. However, the dev makes it clear KiDOOM isn’t DOOM running in KiCAD; the EDA app is actually the display renderer, the game engine is a separate process.
“1982 vector arcade game meets 1993 FPS meets 2025 PCB editor” (Image credit: Michael Ayles ) “1982 vector arcade game meets 1993 FPS meets 2025 PCB editor” (Image credit: Michael Ayles ) The seminal 1993 FPS has looked better, and also a lot worse, but this version, using the KiCad renderer, certainly has a retro style we appreciate. To our eyes, the visuals are reminiscent of the Atari Battlezone wireframe arcade games or the Vectrex era. They could have probably been more firmly cemented in this era, but for Ayles deciding to use preset 64-pin packages for demons, and humble 3-pin parts for ammo clips. But that’s fun too, especially for electronics enthusiasts.
In addition to marveling over this combination of EDA, CAD, and DOOM, our hearts are warmed by the dev’s assertion that “every frame creates a legitimate PCB design that could theoretically be fabricated.”
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/retro-gaming/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/retro-gaming/doom-gets-ported-to-board-design-app-transforming-walls-into-pcb-traces-iconic-demons-into-64-pin-packages-and-ammo-into-3-pin-parts-fully-playable-kicad-editor-port-runs-at-up-to-25-fps-on-modern-systems#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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