Simon Willison • 7/14/2026

DOOMQL

This article describes DOOMQL, a creative project by Peter Gostev that uses SQLite as a full game engine to render a Doom-like game. It implements movement, collision, enemies, combat, and pixel rendering entirely through SQL queries, including a ray tracer using recursive CTEs. The game runs as a Python terminal script and generates a SQLite database that can be explored with Datasette. The article also covers how to set up a Datasette app with a live minimap to visualize the game state. It is a technical demonstration of SQLite's capabilities and a novel intersection of databases and game development.

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#Python #sqlite #Datasette