GoKawiilDeveloper renders Doom gameplay entirely through SQL database queries
Lukas Vogel built SQLDoom, a project that runs the classic shooter's game logic inside a CedarDB relational database, using about 1,300 lines of SQL across 89 common table expressions to generate 35 full-color 640x480 frames per second. A small Python client handles input, timing, and on-screen display, while the database manages game geometry and state. The project improves on Vogel's earlier DoomQL effort, which only produced grayscale ASCII raycasting graphics.
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The project illustrates how classic game data structures, like Doom's binary-space partition trees, can be translated into relational database operations such as ORDER BY sorting, showing SQL's flexibility beyond typical business applications. It serves as a technical demonstration rather than a practical gaming solution, likely aimed at showcasing database query techniques and performance tricks to other developers. The jump from ASCII to full-color rendering suggests meaningful progress in Vogel's approach to representing complex visual logic as structured queries.
- SQLDoom uses CedarDB tables and 1,300 lines of SQL across 89 common table expressions to run Doom's game logic.
- The system generates 35 full-color 640x480 frames per second, a major visual upgrade from Vogel's earlier ASCII-based DoomQL project.
- Doom's binary-space partition trees were converted into SQL using a pre-computed sort_key, letting an ORDER BY statement determine wall rendering each frame.
Source: arstechnica.com, 2026-10-02
Published there as: “Someone got Doom in an SQL database”
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