It is an unofficial rule within the tech community that anything that any tech product that sits still for long enough will have the original DOOM ported to it, up to and including refrigerators and toasters. It’s no surprise then that a DOOM port for Android smartphones exists, then, but getting that same port in virtual reality (VR) is somewhat more startling.
D-GLES, previously known as DoomGLES is an unofficial 3D hardware accelerated source port of the Doom Engine, using OpenGLES, which has just introduced support for VR.
D-GLES uses the graphics processor of a smartphone or tablet in order to deliver high-quality graphics in a way not possible in the original release of DOOM. The result has a high resolution with real-time dynamic lighting, particle effects, realistic water effects and real-time shadows.
Android users can buy D-GLES for $2.53 (USD) from the Google Play Store, and by paying an additional $1, the VR mode becomes unlocked, allowing users to take advantage of the stereoscopic rendering by using a Cardboard headset.
The title supports Xperia Play gamepad buttons, and has keyboard support for both bluetooh and USB. A small number of gamepads are also supported, such as Moga, Nvidia Shield and Xbox 360 gamepads.
Network gaming is also supported in D-GLES, with instructions on how to get it up available on the developer Kokak’s official website. There are options to load in custom files and maps, known within the Doom community as ‘WADs’ after the filename. The Freedom and Requiem mega packs are included in the D-GLES download.
For users who own the commercial version of Ultimate Doom, Doom 2, TNT or Plutonia, there are options to extract the WAD files and transfer them into D-GLES so you can play them on the go, or try them out in VR.
Further information can be found on the Kokak website, and a video demo can be viewed below