Run Doom over SSH in WND Terminal

Play in your browser. Open the free WND Terminal Doom demo and click Play Doom. No download or connection setup is needed. The instructions below are for running your own desktop SSH demo.

Watch Doom through WND Terminal

The actual engine runs separately on the Mac. WND Terminal displays its colored terminal output and sends the player’s keys over SSH.

Actual WND Terminal interface and game output. The clip ends by returning to the game service’s menu. This engine port has no sound.

Read the visual walkthrough

The first Doom level appears as colored terminal text inside WND Terminal.
The player moves, turns, fires and uses the combined Shift + arrow control.
F10, then Y quits the game and restores its SSH menu.

What you need

This optional side demo runs separately from the customer and payroll demo. It uses Docker Desktop and the DOOM-ASCII engine, with no sound. Set it up while online; once the engine and game data are installed, the local demo can run offline.

WND Terminal for desktop and Docker Desktop, installed and running.
The separate WND Software booth kit and matching engine archive. Ask WND for the booth kit.
A lawfully obtained original Doom IWAD file. The engine package excludes original game data; the engine license does not grant rights to that data.

Prepare the service once

Use the standalone setup guide supplied in the booth kit. On a Mac, it is WND Software Booth → docs → Doom-Demo-Setup.md. It explains how to load the matching engine archive, import your own lawful IWAD and check the service.

After setup, double-click Start Doom Demo.command in Finder. Wait for Doom SSH ready at 127.0.0.1:22220. Keep that window open: it prints the private-key path and public host-key fingerprint used below. ARM64 and AMD64 engine archives are separate; use the one matching your Docker host.

Connect in WND Terminal

In WND Terminal, click + beside the current tab.
Choose UNIX / Linux (SSH).
Set Host to 127.0.0.1, Port to 22220 and User name to wnddemo.
Set Name to Doom demo. Leave Terminal at xterm (256 colors) and Characters at UTF-8.
In Key file, paste the private-key path printed by the launcher. This is your installation’s generated key, not a shared demo password.
Tick Save for next time, then click Connect.
Compare WND Terminal’s host-key fingerprint with the launcher’s fingerprint. Trust the key when they match.

The session opens a menu headed WND Terminal DOOM — SSH TERMINAL DEMO. Type 1 and press Return to start the game.

Play and finish

On a small screen, swipe the table to read all columns.

Key	Action
Arrow keys	Move forward or backward, and turn.
Space	Fire.
Shift + arrow	Move or turn while firing.
E	Use or open a door.
Comma / period	Strafe left / right.
F10, then Y	Quit the game and return to the SSH menu. On a MacBook, use fn+F10 if F10 controls the Mac.
Control+C	Stop the game immediately and return to the menu.

At the SSH menu, type Q and press Return to close the connection. Your business-demo tab remains available. To stop only the game service, double-click Stop Doom Demo.command in the booth folder, or run bash booth/doom.sh stop from the source checkout. This retains its keys and game data.

If the game does not start

Make the terminal at least 65 columns wide and 21 rows high. Resizing returns to the menu so the next start fits the new window; each start begins at the first level. For a missing-image or missing-WAD message, finish the corresponding setup step above. A changed host key needs investigation before reconnecting.

The desktop SSH demo runs on your own host. The website Doom demo opens its own hosted game automatically. Traditional terminal input does not send physical key-up events, so the adapter uses a short release timeout and modified arrow keys for combined movement and firing.

UNIX and Linux sessions · DOOM-ASCII engine source and license · Visit the WND Software booth