[a] Set in the Razak solar system, it focuses on the conflict between the Yars, a fly-like humanoid alien race, and the Qotile, who have destroyed their habitable planets.

The player controls a Yar tasked with destroying the Qotile's energy shield, and finishing off the enemy with the Zorlon cannon.

The game received positive retrospective reviews from publications such as Flux, AllGame, and Retro Gamer.

The backstory of the game features the Yars, a fly-like humanoid alien race that descended from the common housefly.

[2][3] After a space ship containing these flies crashes into the Razak solar system, radioactive dust transformed them into Yars.

[8] The new task is for the Yars to call upon the cannon by devouring the cells that the energy shield is made of or touching the Qotile to have it fire and destroy their enemy.

Yars' Revenge differs from many other similar popular games from that era such as Space Invaders (1978), Galaxian (1979), or Gorf (1981) as it allows has gameplay on the main axis of conflict oriented horizontally rather than vertically.

[12] The primary goal in Yars' Revenge is to break a path through the energy shield and destroy the Qotile with a hit from the Zorlon cannon.

They are collected by eating a cell, touching the Qotile and catching a zorlon cannon shot after it bounces off the shield.

He found the work environment dull, and heard about Atari from a co-worker, understanding it as a place "where the kind of crazy stuff that [Warshaw] would do at HP would be a common occurrence".

[23][24] This led to Warshaw making Yars' Revenge which eventually was developed under the name Time Freeze.

The visuals of the zone are generated by randomized data pulled from grabbing bytes of code and displayed on the screen creating the glittering colorful effect.

[30] According to Warshaw, Wright said the game had "long-term playability concerns" and was continuously relisted for play testing.

[25] Warshaw responded that he was upset that the game was continuously retested, noting it received positive reviews, particularly from women gamers.

[34] A comic titled Yars' Revenge: The Qotile Ultimatum was included with the game based on Warshaw's story treatment.

[38] Kimura was recruited by Atari art directors James Kelly and Steve Hendricks right after graduating the ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles.

[57] In 1995, the editors of Flux magazine ranked Yars' Revenge as number 90 on their list of "Top 100 Video Games".

[60] Howard Scott Warshaw went on to program other high-profile games based on films for the Atari 2600: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1982) and E.T.

These comics featured original characters called The Atari Force who were later included within the arcade game Liberator (1982).

The more you eat, the closer you get to danger..."[68] Warshaw said that Atari programmer Dave Theurer was interested in making an arcade conversion of the game, which never went into development.

[69] The game was described as being set on Yars' training grounds and saw the players acquiring the skills to defeat the Qotile.

[70] Atari initially had an agreement with Warshaw to the game, with the company putting the project on hold as they were not at a position do development at the time.

[71][72] This version of the game features differences from the original game, such as a scrolling screen, a secret bonus level with a where the player maneuvers Yar left and right to avoid asteroids and to touch the Ghost of Yar for extra points, intermission screens with graphics and a password-based continue system.

[77] The game was in the rail shooter genre and borrows elements from the original such as the neutral zone and a drone that automatically locks onto and fires at enemies.

[78] It was the company's only game and released in 2011 for the Xbox Live Arcade following the studio formally closing in 2012.