"Alien vs Predator" runs between 10-15 frames per second, with the in-game visuals being displayed at a 16-bit color format, while both cutscenes and static screens are rendered at the 24-bit color format. The system's Blitter and GPU processors are used to draw the textured surfaces on-screen and handle calculations respectively. The Alien's AI, dubbed "Alien Chess" by Andrew Whittaker, was created for the title and its function is to activate the enemies when the player approached them, among other features. The Colonial Marine is named after then-Atari employee Lance J. Lewis, who was one of the map designers, manual writers and lead tester for the title.