Contents:

1. Origins
2. What is it?
3. The Story
4. The Inhabitants
5. The Makings
6. The Sectors

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1. Origins

	The premise of this wad came about when we were trying to decide what textures to use for "ZPack - Random Maps for ZDoom". I joked that we should use one colour for the walls facing horizontal, one colour for the walls facing vertical (on the map), another for diagonals, another for the floor, another for the ceiling, and a different one for sky.
	A few months later, the idea came back to me... so I put together some textures. Feeling that I'd look like a complete n00b with a load of coloured blocks making up the walls to a standard doom level, I had to think about what I'd do to pull it off. Then it hit me - Why not make my own "game"? I've always wanted to, so it seems fair to me that I should at least give it a go. So with that, I started spriting (not something I feel I am either good at, or enjoy, but it's a necessary evil, in my books), and started thinking. To counter my impatience and lack of talent with spriting, I needed ideas that would be easy to draw, so a lot of the things created fly (less animation in a floating thing). I then decided on a name - "Virus", because it seemed like a fairly reasonable name for game based on a computerised world. Since then, it was a lot of spriting and decorate work, as I figured out what I wanted to do. Thank God that the zdoom wiki exists, else I'd never have gotten anywhere.

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2. What is it?

	Virus as a whole is my "game". It's set in a world which I've dubbed "Physical Computer Space", in that it's a 3D world, with physical interactions and the like, generated by the computers which the world exists in. There are various regions within this world. Most of them are low quality (colour only renditions), featuring more or less basic geometry in simple colours to create a world for the inhabitants to live in. The reality of this world is whatever serves the purpose, so things tend to be somewhat questionable. The computers render worlds with solid shapes, and limit where things can go in various ways. They are quite creative however, and like to make things look interesting.
	The inhabitants of physical computer space are built by the computer, and given abilities, survival instincts, various levels of intelligence, toughness and purpose. Low level inhabitants tend to look extremely simple, have very specific purposes, and not be amazingly complex in terms of behaviour. The more high level inhabitants look a lot more complex, can do more and some of them even have the ability to create things themselves.
	Of course, with freedom, and power, comes responsibility. You have to choose to do the right thing... and naturally, some don't. This is where the problems arise.

	Virus, as a game is basically a first person shooter where exploration of the world plays a fairly large part - hence the freedom of movement offered by the ability to fly. The ultimate aim of this wad is to kill as much as you can on your way to defeating the boss. However, exploration will make the boss fight easier, or make progress through the level much more diverse, amongst other things. You will NEED to explore to complete certain objectives but for the most part you only spend your time searching round all the walls if you really want to.

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3. Story

	You are C735, a Spore class inhabitant of one of the industrial sectors of a low quality area within physical computer space. Simply put, you exist to maintain security within the area, alongside all of the other Spore class inhabitants.
	Now, you are being called into action against a threat to the sector. A Virus has been, and is still being, manufactured in one of the structures, and they serve a leader of sorts. It has been deemed necessary to cleanse the sector of all Virus infected inhabitants. This means everybody who hasn't evacuated. Your team has been sent in to clear out the area as much as possible, and then destroy this leader of theirs. You will then be evacuated, and a higher level cleanup team will be sent through to finish the clean up, and destroy the Virus once and for all.
	Unfortunately for your team, it's all dead, except for you. Alone, with only a Basic Blaster, you must face the Virus, and whatever it has taken with it. It seems impossible. You'll know whether it is or not, if you come out of the other side.

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4. The Inhabitants

TeleDrone - The TeleDrone is a special form of low level inhabitant, in that it is only used to mark teleporters, and aside from movement, has no ability. It is also invulnerable. They generally circle the teleport in pairs.

Generator - A generator is another low level inhabitant, which generates power without the need for Prisms. However, it can't move, and beeps constantly whilst it's at work. Quite easily destroyed, normally they explode and whatevee they were powering will become deactivated.

Spore - The Spore class of inhabitant is a mid level inhabitant, designed solely for security. Intelligence is quite minimal, as they only need to know their orders, their targets, and shoot them with whatever weaponary they've been given. As a basic ideal, they fly using twin rotary mechanisms, one located on either side of their body, and tilt their bodies forward, backwards or sideways to move. The arms and tail below the body are what their guns are designed around, and they hold these guns with a grip that only falters in death. Not particularly resiliant, but respected for their ethics, morality and numbers, they make an ideal security guard. Teams of these are usually the first wave of an assault, due to their expendibility and general effectiveness. About 1 in 30 Spore class inhabitants display a high level of ability in action, and are promoted up to the higher detail areas for use as security there.

Prism - The Prism class is one of the lowest class inhabitants available. Entirely without intelligence, it only does one thing - generate and store power. This power enables it to move, sense and duplicate. Theoretically, they can be used as simple weapons (point some in a direction, they'll go there, multiply and, with extra coding, zap everything that they see), but this is quite pointless, as there are classes designed purely for offensive and defensive purposes. Therefore, they are used to power all manner of things. When trapped in a confined space, they will eventually duplicate until they fill it up. Now, not knowing that they've filled it up, they will keep duplicating (it's an involuntary action), discharging large amounts of electrical power. This power is collected and sent away for use. In the event of a prism escape, they normally have to be herded or just destroyed and replaced, depending on the severity, and what they are actually doing. They are made out of some form of crystal, which can be shattered, releasing it's "life".

Turret - The Turret class is quite low level, and was created as a static defense. It consists of a hard metallic block, which is affixed to a surface, and a gun, with aiming and movement technology fitted to make it useful. They are manufacturable, and programmeable, like a lot of other low level inhabitants. These usually are programmed with friends, considering everything else a foe. They are also wired into the walls, so that when they spot a foe, they will sound an alarm (which is usually ignored, as a Turret will open fire on, and usually destory anything it sees, unless it is destroyed itself). Turrets also make sure to tell everybody they are still detecting a threat, by making loud alarm sounds periodically, until the threat is destroyed. If the Turret is destroyed, it sends out a final alarm, and blows up. The final alarm does get the attention of those around it, as that usually means they have trouble. They tend to be placed in strategic areas, and used heavily wherever they are. They can be found affixed to ceilings or floors, but not walls.

MeshWalker - The MeshWalker is a high level war machine, manufactured for the most part because they are formed rarely. It is constructed of a very strong, but flexible wire frame. These have low intelligence, as they are designed to walk in and obliterate everything they are programmed to consider a foe, and only have to manipulate two different weapon sets, but due to their complexity in structure, and size, they are considered high level anyway. They project their war shouts to intimidate their enemy, and their deaths are usually just loud because MeshWalkers always seem surprised that they were killed. When they die, they lose control of their frames, which then just collapse into a heap. Very tough, with a Blaster and twin missile pods, they are considered to be the epitome of war fighting. The only ones of these found in low detail areas are either at war, or in production. Their missiles are interesting, as the computer which fist created the MeshWalkers deemed it necessary to create missiles larger than the capacity of the pods, yet still kept the pods the same size, and allowed this physical impossibility to remain in the design. Clearly, the MeshWalker was designed for purposes rather than looks.

Virus - A Virus is nothing more than a malignant piece of code, which takes over whatever it is inserted into and uses it as a vessel to carry out it's purpose. This purpose is usually to start a war in the hopes of conquering areas, or perhaps to entertain the highest level inhabitants. As the Virus is nothing more than code, it is given a physical capsule in which to travel until it has infected something. The capsule is also considered to be the Virus in some schools of thought. These are generally what would be a low level inhabitant, but designed to replicate the Virus and fire it off at a target so the Virus can rip through and subvert whatever it is attacking, killing it in order for the Virus to then be implanted into the inhabitant, reviving it. Although every strain of Virus is given a different capsule (usually because a capsule design becomes well known in the lifetime of a Virus), the basic idea is always the same. It has to be tough, capable of flying quickly and replicating the Virus code, then focusing it into a projectile. The focusing process tends to spray little bits of Virus everywhere, which only cause minor damage, and are not infectious.

Leader - A Leader is the commander of a group of Spores. They have powerful reflective sheilds which do not absorb damage, but deflect most projectiles straight back to where they came from. They are also quite large, fast and heavily armed, having twin Basic Blasters, a single Blaster and two Missile pods firing the same missiles as the MeshWalker. These high-level inhabitants are generally expected to either sit back and command, or used for surgical and lethal strikes, either one-on-one, or to annhialate a group of weaker enemies. They fly on single large rotary assemblies and boost themselves with twin jet engines on the tail section. Their third eye is used to help with aiming, and is otherwise inconsequential to their existance.

Phobus - Generally seen as a training entity, its a high level inhabitant that does actually have a physical body somewhere, but has otherwise made the training walls. Considered to be the computers representation of itself within its own world, its quite powerful, yet usually is never seen properly.

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5. The Makings

Makings are the creations of those high level inhabitants of physical computer space capable of such feats. The most powerful of these are called the Makers, so it is unsurprising that their name is what influenced the name of all creations. They invariably come as screens which present what the making is in some way or another. Makings are created with the ability to distinguish Virus infections and not work for those who have them, however, if an inhabitant has a making and is then infected, the making remains useable, but not quite as well as it was.

Health Packs - Coming in various strengths, the Health Packs are highly useful for repairing damage to anything intelligent enough to use them, or even adding to the amount of damage they can take.

Shield Packs - Shield Packs add an energy shield to those intelligent enough to use them, which basically takes half of the damage the user takes until the shield is depleted.

Mega Power - Created for those moments when one inhabitant needs to be unstoppable (or close enough), it gives them triple their designed health, and a shield which takes over half of the damage dealt to the user, in a large amount.

Disruptor - Makes it impossible to aim at, or see the user properly. They become a grey fuzz which is distracting and confusing. Lasts 2 minutes.

Speed Boost - Increases the speed of the user for 1 minute. Also leaves a trail of after-images in order to make the speed boost detectable.

Basic Blaster - Infinite ammo, weak damage, questionable accuracy when fire is kept up - this is the best that any Making has ever been, as the computers don't like the idea of infinite ammo, it seems. Fires small yellow projectiles.

Blaster - A better Blaster, this one has an ammo limit, but it does allow you to fire more powerful projectiles faster, with more accuracy. Fires red projectiles, which are known to be difficult to see underwater, if not entirely invisible.

Wall of Death - The Wall of Death is still considered a Blaster weapon, as it fires simple energy projectiles. However, as it fires 8 of them in a box formation, it is considerably more dangerous, even though each projectile does less damage than a normal Blaster projectile. It uses it's own, more powerful ammunition, as all 8 shots come from 1 charge. These are very rare. The projectiles flash from blue to red, with two shades of purple in between, and when they collide with something, they turn grey. These are fired very fast.

Ammo Pack - The ammo pack gives a small amount of ammo for every weapon known to be in the sector (the information is taken from the computer rendering the sector).

2xAmmo Pack - These give twice the ammo as a normal ammo pack, and also allow the user to carry twice the usual ammount of ammunition. Very useful for war, when the Blaster is used by large numbers.

Instant Kill (Power Projectile for Basic Blaster) - Proof that the Makers can cheat their way round what the computers like. The user's Basic Blaster is powered up so that it's next projectile, whilst looking the same, provides an instant kill on it's target.

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6. The Sectors

Low Level Sectors - A low level sector is generally given over to Prism storage, industry and other low-level activites, largely policed by Spores and Turrets, with very little presence from anything mid or high level. Walls, floors, ceilings and skies are composed of single, solid colours and architecture is generally artistic in an overall sense.

Mid-Low Level Sectors - A mid-low level sector is similar to a low level sector, but can use patterned walls as well as solid colours. Generally these are training areas, accomodation for low-medium level entities and more interesting industry. Frequented by low to mid level inhabitants, with some being high level.