Starmaster is a video game for the Atari 2600 video game console. It was created by Alan Miller and released in June 1982 by Activision. The game is very similar in many ways to the Atari 8-bit computer game Star Raiders.
In the game, the player pilots a fighter jet, with the goal of destroying a number of enemy ships before they destroy four posses. The gameplay is presented mainly in the first person, the view from the cockpit, which is achieved surprisingly good effect given the primitive graphics capabilities of 2600.
The Starfighter carries laser weapons, shields, and a faster-than-light drive. The fighter also carries a limited amount of energy, which is expended by firing lasers, getting hit by enemy fire, warping, or simply flying around. If the ship's energy drops to zero, it will be destroyed and the game ends. Enemy fire can knock out fighter subsystems (such as weapons) on top of the power drain.
Game "Universe" - a square-shaped galaxy, displayed in a grid of 36 sectors. Each sector can be home to some enemy ships, space bases, both, or none. The player "warps" the Fighter in a sector to attract enemy ships; once they are destroyed, the player moves on to another. The player can also warp in a sector from the nearest base, and dock with it (quite a difficult process) to replenish energy and restore damaged subsystems. Enemy ships, in turn, maneuver around the galaxy as they destroy the pos.
The game is won when all enemy ships are destroyed or lost if any of the player's fighters or all four posses are destroyed. Thus, the game can only last a certain amount of time, unlike games like Space Invaders, which can go on forever.