The opening jingle of Starmaster features Also sprach Zarathustra, which was used as the theme for 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. Gameplay is presented mostly in first-personcockpit view.
The starfighter carries laser weapons, shields, and a faster-than-light drive. The fighter also carries a limited energy 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 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 magazine's "1982 Guide to Electronic Games" described Starmaster as "the best space-piloting game cartridge ever created for a programmable video-game system".[4]: 52
Richard A. Edwards reviewed Starmaster in The Space Gamer No. 55.[3] Edwards commented that "Starmaster is very similar to the Atari 400/800 game Star Raiders. 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."[3]
starmaster, other, uses, disambiguation, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, sc. For other uses see Starmaster disambiguation This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Starmaster news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2010 Learn how and when to remove this template message Starmaster is a video game written for the Atari 2600 by Alan Miller and published in June 1982 by Activision 2 The game is similar to Atari 8 bit family game Star Raiders 3 Starmaster was not ported to other systems but has been re released in collections such as Activision Anthology StarmasterDeveloper s ActivisionPublisher s ActivisionDesigner s Alan Miller 1 Platform s Atari 2600ReleaseNA 1982Genre s Space combatMode s Single playerMiller programmed other Atari 2600 games for Activision including Ice Hockey and Robot Tank 1 Contents 1 Gameplay 1 1 Ship status 1 2 Scoring 2 Patches 3 Reception 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksGameplay Edit Gameplay screenshot The opening jingle of Starmaster features Also sprach Zarathustra which was used as the theme for 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 Gameplay is presented mostly in first person cockpit view The starfighter carries laser weapons shields and a faster than light drive The fighter also carries a limited energy 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 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 Edit 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 Edit At the end of a game the player s score is calculated using the following formula S c o r e B a s e 100 E S 100 D 500 B displaystyle Score Base 100 times E S 100 times D 500 times B 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 500Patches EditPlayers 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 9000Reception EditVideo magazine s 1982 Guide to Electronic Games described Starmaster as the best space piloting game cartridge ever created for a programmable video game system 4 52 Richard A Edwards reviewed Starmaster in The Space Gamer No 55 3 Edwards commented that Starmaster is very similar to the Atari 400 800 game Star Raiders 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 3 See also Edit Video games portal 1980s portalList of Atari 2600 games List of Activision games 1980 1999 Star RaidersReferences Edit a b Hague James The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers Starmaster Release Information for Atari 2600 GameFAQs com Retrieved 2010 07 07 a b c Edwards Richard A September 1982 Capsule Reviews The Space Gamer Steve Jackson Games 55 43 Kunkel Bill Katz Arnie November 1982 Video s Guide to Electronic Games Video Reese Communications 6 8 47 56 108 ISSN 0147 8907 External links EditStarmaster at Atari Mania Starmaster at AtariAge Starmaster at MobyGames Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Starmaster amp oldid 1130984168, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
