Star Ship is a first-person space combat simulator video game designed by Bob Whitehead and published by Atari, Inc. as a launch title for the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS). The game has the player in a first-person perspective of a space ship, where can play a few variations of games that either involve shooting enemy space objects while avoiding asteroids, aiming at a second ship controlled by a player, trying to travel as fast through space within a time limit, or have a lunar lander craft land on a moon that is actively trying to avoid the player.
The game was Whitehead's first game for the system after being hired in January 1977. The game was based on the Atari arcade game Starship 1 (1977) as Whitehead was encouraged to make games that were adaptations of Atari's arcade line-up. The game received middling reviews from Video and Creative Computing. Atari officially stopped releasing the game in mid-1980.
Gameplay
Star Ship is from the view point of a star ship cockpit as it travels through space. The goal of the game is to destroy enemy space objects with a laser beam when they are within the target area to score points within a set amount of time. These space objects include a star fighter worth one point, and a space robot worth three points. If the player's ship collides with these space objects or the undestroyable asteroids scattered through space, they lose one point.
In single-player mode, the game lasts two minutes and sixteen seconds.