Vortex

Vortex Software was founded in the early 1980s by Costa Panayi and Paul Canter in Manchester, initially to sell Panayi's ZX81 game Cosmos, and went on to become known for technically ambitious, pseudo-3D isometric games built around tight, highly optimised Z80 code - most famously Highway Encounter (1985), which was ported to a wide range of home computers including the Tatung Einstein. No Vortex titles currently appear in this site's rebuilt Downloads catalogue, but the company's reputation for advanced engineering within severe hardware limits is well documented.