GoKawiilDeveloper ports Doom to run entirely inside CedarDB database using SQL
Lukas Vogel, creator of DoomQL, has built SQLDoom, a project that runs Doom's game logic inside the CedarDB database using 5,900 lines of SQL code. A Python frontend only handles graphics, sound and input, while all game calculations and state updates happen through SQL statements against database tables converted from Doom's original WAD files.
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The project shows that SQL's set-based operations, such as a single 'UPDATE...WHERE' statement, can replace loops used in traditional game code, sometimes with less code than the original C implementation, according to Vogel. This adds to a long tradition of hobbyist Doom ports that test unconventional platforms, and could offer database engineers a playful way to demonstrate relational query capabilities beyond typical data-processing use cases.
- SQLDoom runs Doom's full game logic as SQL queries inside CedarDB, a Postgres-compatible database.
- The SQL backend totals 5,900 lines, less than the original C source's roughly 9,000 lines.
- Doom's WAD data converted easily to relational tables since it was already structured hierarchically.
Source: tomshardware.com — Bruno Ferreira, 2026-10-04
Published there as: “Database expert runs Doom in SQL with just 5,900 lines of code”
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