These portals were represented as spinning squares of red, green, and blue that revolved around each other and floated above the ground.

By version 1.0, Atmosphere also boasted support for using Macromedia Flash animations and Windows Media Video as textures.

.aer files could be generated dynamically using server-side content management systems,[4] as demonstrated by the AtmoWorlds.com Worlds Directory.

[7] Some world developers wrote scripts that limited communication to users within a certain distance, for greater realism.

One of Atmosphere's problems, however, was excessive memory usage, which was exacerbated by the use of advanced features such as embedded models and Flash movies in many worlds.

In addition to these applications, Adobe provided a browser plugin, to explore these worlds within a web browser, and a companion chat server called Adobe Community Server, which ran on an IRC-like protocol known as Yet Another Chat Protocol (YACP).

The company's focus on the Plugin was viewed as an attempt to compete with Flash before its developer, Macromedia, was purchased by Adobe.

For the most part, the Plugin ran only on Internet Explorer for Windows,[14] despite frequent requests by community members to expand Atmosphere support to Mozilla-based browsers, and to Linux and Mac OS.

[16][17] As part of its efforts to garner commercial interest in the software, Adobe introduced support for embedding Atmosphere worlds into PDF documents for viewing in Acrobat Reader.

[12] At this point, Adobe decided to charge for the Builder, which was simply renamed Atmosphere, and continue to provide the Plugin and Server for free.

According to an FAQ from Adobe: The decision to discontinue Atmosphere 1.0 was based on market conditions, customer feedback and research done by Adobe.Adobe retains copyright on Atmosphere and does not give permission for others to distribute copies of the software, so the company's decision to stop making the Builder available for purchase has essentially halted the creation of new worlds.

The running joke on the team was that, instead of the typical meal of brains, Atmosphere's zombies ingested eyeballs, due to the visual nature of the product.

As the HomeWorld was the primary starting place for new users, the community found it easier to establish lively crowds there.

However, without the constant stream of new users that HomeWorld experienced, most of these attempts failed to attract more than a small group of regulars.

Nonetheless, the software continues to enjoy a small fanbase that meets online each year on Halloween.