Jarvis and DeMar drew inspiration from Nineteen Eighty-Four, Berzerk and Space Invaders for the design of Robotron: 2084.

Jarvis and DeMar designed the game to instill panic in players by presenting them with conflicting goals and having on-screen projectiles coming from multiple directions.

It was ported to numerous home systems - most of which are hampered by the lack of two joysticks - Jarvis used the same control scheme in Smash TV (1990).

The main protagonist is called "Robotron Hero" who is a super-powered genetic engineering error (or mutant) and attempts to save the last human family.

Coming into contact with an enemy, projectile, or obstacle costs the player one life, but extra lives can be earned at certain point totals.

Waves also include human family members who can be rescued to score additional points, but certain robots can either kill them or turn them into enemies.

[7] Vid Kidz served as a consulting firm that designed games for Williams Electronics (part of WMS Industries), whom Jarvis and DeMar had previously worked for.

[7][12] The initial concept involved a passive main character; the object was to get robots that chased the protagonist to collide with stationary, lethal obstacles.

[7][8] The game was deemed too boring compared to other action titles on the market, which led to shooting being added to provide more excitement.

[7][13] This method of play inspired Jarvis to add a second joystick dedicated to aiming the direction projectiles were shot.

[8] The developers felt a rescue theme similar to Defender—one of their previous games—was needed to complete the game, and added a human family as a method to motivate players to earn a high score.

[8][11] Inspired by George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, Jarvis and DeMar worked the concept of an Orwellian world developed into the plot.

Jarvis, a science fiction fan, based the Robotrons on the idea that computers would eventually become advanced entities that helped humans in everyday life.

[8] Though games at the time began to use scrolling to have larger levels, the developers chose a single screen to confine the action.

Electrodes are stationary objects that are lethal to the in-game characters, and Grunts are simple robots that chase the protagonist by plotting the shortest path to him.

Levitating Enforcers were added as enemies that could shoot back at the main character; Jarvis and DeMar liked the idea of a floating robot and felt it would be easier to animate.

The developers felt a simple algorithm of shooting directly at the protagonist would be ineffective because the character's constant motion would always result in a miss.

Brains were conceived as robots that could capture humans and brainwash them into enemies called Progs, and also launch cruise missiles that chase the player in a random zigzag pattern, making them difficult to shoot down.

DeMar devised the final enemies as a way to further increase the game's difficulty; Tanks that fire projectiles which bounce around the screen, and Quarks as a tank-producing robot.

[23] In 2008, Guinness World Records listed it as the number eleven arcade game in technical, creative and cultural impact.

Authors Rusel DeMaria and Johnny Wilson enjoyed the excitement created by the constant waves of robots and fear of the character dying.

[25][26] Author John Vince considered the reward system (saving humans) and strategic elements as positive components.

[27] ACE magazine's David Upchurch commented that despite the poor graphics and basic design, the gameplay's simplicity was a strong point.

[25] Owen Linzmayer of Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games praised the freedom of movement afforded by the controls.

[23] In retrospect, DeMar felt players continued to play the game because the control scheme offered a high level of precision.

[8] Shane R. Monroe of RetroGaming Radio called Robotron "...the greatest twitch and greed game of all time".

The 1990 arcade game Smash TV, also designed by Jarvis, features a similar design—two joysticks used to shoot numerous enemies on a single screen—as well as ideas he intended to include in sequels.

[13][23][31][44] The control scheme has appeared in several other titles produced by Midway Games:[Note 2] Inferno, Smash TV, and Total Carnage.

Participants played Robotron: 2084 while being assaulted with distracting sensory events including smoke, loud noises, vibrations, and electric shocks.