The engineering and prototyping for "Asteroid" was done by Alcorn. The game is encoded entirely in discrete electronic components, like Atari's earlier games, and unlike later computer-based arcade games; the graphics are all simple line elements with the exception of the spacecraft, which are generated based on diodes on the circuit board arranged in the shape of half of a ship to represent the shape they create. That half ship is mirrored on the screen, similar to the diode array in "Computer Space", which generated eight directions of a rotating ship with a mirrored four images. The game was completed quickly, and Alcorn soon moved on to Atari's third game, "Gotcha". When the game was complete, the design was given to Midway to sell as "Asteroid", only for Atari to produce a nearly identical version itself titled "Space Race", which was released on July 16, 1973. Namco released the game in Japan due to their acquisition of Atari's Japanese division, releasing it in July 1974.