The Palace
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The Palace is a software program used to access two-dimensional virtual communities, also called palaces. A typical palace is represented as a series of flat backgrounds with one or more clickable areas, or doors, and players represented by either the default spherical avatar or a user created avatar up to 132x132 pixels large, with an 8-bit color palette. As in many other Virtual Worlds, prestige is shown through the intricacy of the user's avatar. Some users sign on with two or more clients in order to blanket their avatar across a higher area to give themselves more area to express themselves.
The Palace's source code, along with that of its associated server software, was the subject of a number of sales between companies until 2001, when it was purchased by Open Text Corporation as part of a bankruptcy settlement. The software is currently unsupported by Open Text or any of its previous owners, and many members of the community now consider the software abandonware and provide support for existing versions on various unofficial web sites.
There are no official Palace software developments but two groups have decided to make alternative clients. The most promising at the moment is PalaceChat. It was created by Jameson Heesen, a former Palace hacker who decided to make a turn around and save the community he terrorised for so long. Palacechat is the first and only Palace compatible client that runs on Apple's osX as a native application.
But like many projects there are some drawbacks and most people decide to stick with the old and outdated client for as long as their operating system supports it.
External links
- The Palace community portal (http://www.palaceplanet.net/)
- The Palace Directory (http://www.thepalace.com/) (unofficial)
- Brainhouse Laboratories (http://www.bhlabs.com/)
- Phalanx Directory (http://www.phalanxes.com/)
- Pawnsoft (http://www.pawnsoft.tk/)
