"Star Warrior" is based on a modified version of the BASIC game engine as previous "Apshai"-based games. In previous games the playfield was presented as a top-down view of a series of interconnected rooms. Only one room would be displayed at a time, and a new room would be drawn after the player moved through a door. In "Star Warrior" the action takes place outdoors, the first Epyx game to do so, with the display showing a one-kilometer area from a seven-by-nine kilometer map, redrawn and re-centered when the player reaches the edge of the current displayed area.