video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
written for the
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocess ...
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...
. The game is similar to
Atari 8-bit family
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE ...
game ''
Star Raiders
''Star Raiders'' is a first-person space combat simulator for the Atari 8-bit family of computers. It was written by Doug Neubauer, an Atari employee, and released as a cartridge by Atari in March 1980. The game is considered the platform's kil ...
''. ''Starmaster'' was not ported to other systems, but has been re-released in collections such as ''
Activision Anthology
''Activision Anthology'' is a compilation of most of the Atari 2600 games by Activision for various game systems. It also includes games that were originally released by Absolute Entertainment and Imagic, as well as various homebrew games. The Mi ...
''.
Miller programmed other Atari 2600 games for Activision including ''
Ice Hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...
'' and ''
Robot Tank
''Robot Tank'' is a 1983 video game for the Atari 2600 similar in design to Atari's '' Battlezone'' arcade game, and more so to its 2600 port. It was written by Alan Miller and published by Activision.
Gameplay
The player remotely controls a ...
''.
Gameplay
The opening jingle of ''Starmaster'' features ''
Also sprach Zarathustra
', Op. 30 (, ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' or ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'') is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical 1883–1885 novel ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''.2001: A Space Odyssey''. The player pilots a starfighter, with the purpose of destroying a number of enemy ships before they destroy four friendly
starbases
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space statio ...
. Gameplay is presented mostly in first-personcockpit view.
The starfighter carries
laser weapons
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The firs ...
,
shields
A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...
, and a
faster-than-light
Faster-than-light (also FTL, superluminal or supercausal) travel and communication are the conjectural propagation of matter or information faster than the speed of light (). The special theory of relativity implies that only particles with zero ...
drive. The fighter also carries a limited
energy
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...
supply, which is drained by firing the lasers, being hit by enemy fire, warping, or simply flying around. If the ship's energy drops to zero it is destroyed, and the game ends. Enemy fire can knock out the fighter's subsystems (such as weapons) on top of draining energy.
The game universe is a square-shaped
galaxy
A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar Sys ...
mapped into a grid of 36 sectors. Each sector can be home to some enemy ships, a starbase, both, or nothing. The player "warps" the fighter to a sector to engage enemy ships; once they are all destroyed, the player moves on to another. The player can also warp to a sector with a starbase, and dock with it (a rather tricky process) to replenish energy and repair damaged subsystems. Enemy ships in turn maneuver through the galaxy as they home in to destroy the starbases.
The "BW/Color" control on the console is used to switch between the sector map and the cockpit views, instead of its usual function. The "Select" switch simply adjusts the number of enemy ships at the start of the game. The "Skill" switches have no function.
The game is won when all enemy ships are destroyed or lost if the player's fighter is destroyed or runs out of fuel.
Ship status
The game displays a tactical readout of the player's ship status. A radar screen displays the relative position of enemies and other objects. The following symbols signify damage to a ship's systems, which could have any or all of the following effects:
*L: Laser cannons destroyed. The player cannot fire at the enemy or meteors.
*S: Shields destroyed. The player's ship is defenseless. One more hit from enemy fire or collision with a meteor during warp travel will destroy the ship and end the game.
*W: Warp engines are damaged. The player's ship will use twice as much energy during warp travel. Watch energy reserves.
*R: Radar destroyed. The player can no longer spot enemy fighters on the Galactic Chart. Starbases will continue to appear.
The game uses color to inform the player of the game's action: a red explosion occurs when an enemy ship is destroyed, a blue explosion occurs when the player destroys incoming enemy fire, and a yellow explosion results when the player's ship is hit by enemy fire.
Scoring
At the end of a game, the player's score is calculated using the following formula:
*''Base'' is the score set at the start of the mission.
**Ensign: 3100
**Leader: 4300
**Wing Commander: 5700
**StarMaster: 7000
*''E'': For each enemy starfighter destroyed: 100
*''S'': For each unit of stardate that has passed: minus 1
*''D'': Each time the player's ship is docked to a starbase for refueling and repairs: minus 100
*''B'': Each starbase destroyed by enemy: minus 500
Patches
Players could earn embroidered patches by photographing their television screens with a certain score and mailing the picture to the company. To join the "Order of the Supreme Starmaster," players would need to reach the following levels:
*Ensign: 3800
*Leader: 5700
*Wing Commander: 7600
*StarMaster: 9000
Reception
''
Video
Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
'' magazine's "1982 Guide to Electronic Games" described ''Starmaster'' as "the best space-piloting game cartridge ever created for a programmable video-game system".
Richard A. Edwards reviewed ''Starmaster'' in ''
The Space Gamer
''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...
'' No. 55. Edwards commented that "''Starmaster'' is very similar to the Atari 400/800 game ''
Star Raiders
''Star Raiders'' is a first-person space combat simulator for the Atari 8-bit family of computers. It was written by Doug Neubauer, an Atari employee, and released as a cartridge by Atari in March 1980. The game is considered the platform's kil ...
''. Its graphics are perhaps not quite as good, but the sound and color keys are better, and best of all, it can be played on the Atari VCS. Pick this one up."
See also
*
List of Atari 2600 games
This is a list of games for the Atari Video Computer System, a console renamed to the Atari 2600 in November 1982. Sears licensed the console and many games from Atari, Inc., selling them under different names. A few cartridges were Sears exclu ...
Star Raiders
''Star Raiders'' is a first-person space combat simulator for the Atari 8-bit family of computers. It was written by Doug Neubauer, an Atari employee, and released as a cartridge by Atari in March 1980. The game is considered the platform's kil ...