WebBoom is a WebAssembly port of Doom based on PrBoom+.

Play it now

Goals

• Remain compatible with upstream by changing as little as possible in the codebase/build scripts, which enables WebBoom to:
  • be compiled for desktop and WebAssembly targets
  • incorporate changes made to the original PrBoom+ after this fork was created
• Retain all singleplayer core features, including sound/music
• Keep the git history intact and provide documentation on how to compile the project

Compiling

Prerequisites

This project uses Emscripten as its compiler toolchain. To install it, follow this instructions and activate the 2.0.30 version.

CMake is needed to generate and run the build scripts, so go ahead and install that too.

Bulding prboom-plus.wad and prboom-plus for PC

To run prboom-plus (on desktop or web), you'll first need the prboom-plus.wad PWAD. It can be built off the prboom2/data directory on this repository using the CMake commands to compile a desktop build:

cd prboom2
cmake . # Generate the build scripts
cmake --build . # Build prboom-plus.wad, client executable and server executable

After this, the executable can found in prboom2/ along prboom-plus.wad. To run it, use:

./prboom-plus

Cleaning desktop build files

Copy the prboom-plus.wad above the repository root and then clean it using:

mkdir $HOME/prboom-data # Create a directory if you want
cp prboom-plus.wad $HOME/prboom-data # Copy the .wad there
git clean -xdf # WARNING: This will remove any untracked files added to the repository

Compiling with Emscripten

After cleaning the repository, it's time to recreate the build files for WebAssembly. If there is an Emscripten version activated through emsdk and the env file was sourced, emcc, emcmake and emmake should be available in $PATH. If that's the case, proceed with:

cd prboom2
emcmake cmake . \
  -D BUILD_GL=0 \
  -D WITH_DUMB=0 \
  -D WITH_MAD=0 \
  -D WITH_FLUIDSYNTH=0 \
  -D WITH_VORBISFILE=0 \
  -D WITH_PORTMIDI=0 \
  -D WITH_ALSA=0 \
  -D WITH_PCRE=0 \
  -D WITH_NET=0 \
  -D PRBOOM_WAD="$HOME/prboom-data/prboom-plus.wad" # Or the path pointing to where the prboom-plus.wad is 
  -D PRELOAD_IWAD="$HOME/prboom-data/doom1.wad" # Or some other IWAD that is recognized by prboom 
  -D PRELOAD_CONFIG="$HOME/prboom-data/prboom-plus.cfg" # Optional. A path to a prboom-plus valid config
  -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="Debug" # Or Release 

emmake cmake --build .

This will generate the following files: index.html, index.js, index.wasm, index.wasm.map, and index.data.

If you run python -m "http.server" or any web server in that directory, you should be able to play Doom on your browser!

Other notable CMake variables

-D OUT_SUFFIX=".html" # emcc output format. Check "-o <target>" in the emmc reference
-D OUT_NAME="index" # Output name
-D EM_KEYBOARD_ELEMENT="\"doom\"" # DOM ID for the element that will capture mouse and keyboard events  
-D ADDITIONAL_FLAGS=""  #  Any flag accepted by emcc in the linking stage

For instance, these are the ADDITIONAL_FLAGS used in the hosted version:

 -D ADDITIONAL_FLAGS="-s MODULARIZE=1 -s EXPORT_NAME=prboom --shell-file='../emscripten/shell.html' -s INVOKE_RUN=0"

See also:

• emcc reference
• settings.js

Differences between release and debug builds

Switching between "Release" and "Debug" in CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE affect some defaults flags:

Type of release	Optimization	Output name	Output suffix	Other flags
Debug	-O0 (No optimization)	index	.html	-gsource-maps --source-map-base /. (Emit source maps. This will only work if the website is served from the prboom2 directory)
Release	-Oz (Optimize the code with focus on size)	prboom	.js	None

Similar projects

The following projects served as inspiration for WebBoom:

Project	Description	Play it
WebAssembly Doom	Based on Chocolate Doom/early Crispy Doom, and maybe other projects (git history erased).	WadCommander
Chocolate Doom WebAssembly	Based on Chocolate Doom with multiplayer reimplementation and no music.	Silent Space Marine
SDLDoom.wasm	Based on SDLDoom, one of the earliest source ports.	No link available
1997 DooM to WebAssembly from Scratch	Based on LinuxDoom (original source code released). Has good documentation on the porting process and doesn't use Emscripten	DooM

Todo

• Persist saves and settings
• Joystick support
• Improve UX
• Multiplayer?