Vortex Software

Vortex Software was a video game developer founded by Costa Panayi and Paul Canter in the early 1980s to sell the game "Cosmos" which Panayi had developed for the Sinclair ZX81 [ [http://www.sincuser.f9.co.uk/032/htsquad.htm "Flying Low"] article from Sinclair User issue 32; interview with Costa Panayi] . They converted the game to the ZX Spectrum, but due to the low sales of the ZX81 version they licensed the game to Abbex.

Luke Andrews, Costa's brother-in-law, and Crete Panayi, Costa's brother, became involved to handle the business affairs and advertising respectively. The company was based at 280, Brooklands Road, Manchester, M23 9HD.

In the summer of 1984, Mark Haigh-Hutchinson was offered a position and ported several of the games to the Amstrad CPC in addition to "Alien Highway" for the ZX Spectrum.
Chris Wood and David Aubrey-Jones were also associated with Vortex as outside contractors.

The company produced several notable games for the 8-bit home computers of the period. "Deflektor" was also ported to the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST.

After the release of "Hostile Alien Terrain Encounter" in 1988, Costa spent the next two years deciding where he wanted to go. In 1990 Vortex was reborn with Costa, Mark and Luke and the intention to develop a game for the Amiga and Atari ST. They developed a much enhanced version of "Highway Encounter" in just three months, but unfortunately they never managed to find a software publisher for the game, so it remained unpublished.

Several games achieved critical success; "Tornado Low Level" and "Highway Encounter" appearing in the Your Sinclair official top 100, for example.

List of games

ZX 81

*"ZX81 Othello" (1981)
*"Word Mastermind" (1981)
*"Pontoon" (1981)
*"Crash" (1981)
*"Cosmos" (1983)
*"Astral Convoy" (1983)
*"Serpent's Tomb" (1983)

ZX Spectrum

*"Cosmos" (1982), Abbex Electronics
*"Astral Convoy" (1982), Vortex Software
*"Gun Law" (1983)
*"" (1983), Vortex Software
*"Android 2" (1983), Vortex Software
*"Tornado Low Level" (1984), Vortex Software
*"Cyclone" (1985), Vortex Software
*"Highway Encounter" (1985), Vortex Software
*"Revolution" (1986), U.S. Gold
*"Deflektor" (1987), Gremlin Graphics
*"Hostile All Terrain Encounter (H.A.T.E.)" (1989), Gremlin Graphics

Amstrad CPC

*"" (1985)
*"Android 2" (1985)
*"Highway Encounter" (1985)
*"Tornado Low Level (T.L.L.)" (1986)
*"Alien Highway" (1986)
*"Revolution" (1986, published by U.S. Gold)
*"Deflektor" (1987, published by Gremlin Graphics)
*"Hostile All Terrain Encounter (H.A.T.E.)" (1988, published by Gremlin 1990, unfinished)

MSX

*"Highway Encounter" (1986)

Commodore C64

*"Highway Encounter" (Pedigree Software, 1986, published by Gremlin Graphics)
*"Deflektor" (Gremlin Graphics, 1987, published by Gremlin Graphics)
*"Hostile All Terrain Encounter (H.A.T.E.)" (Gremlin Graphics, 1987, published by Gremlin Graphics)

References

External links

* [http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:z9SQhjYbAkkJ:www.bsa.lu/dl/oc/zx81/vortex/history.doc&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=4 History of Vortex Software] by Mark Haigh-Hutchinson
* [http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekpub.cgi?regexp=^Costa+Panayi$&loadpics=on Costa Panayi] at World of Spectrum