Loading AI tools
Computer game programmer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Costa Panayi is a former computer game programmer active during the 1980s. He founded Vortex Software with Paul Canter, publishing games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC.
![]() |
He is of Greek Cypriot descent, and studied engineering at the University of Salford. After graduation, he started to work as a mechanical engineer for British Aerospace, when he got into programming games business from his hobby interests.
In 1982, he studied Sinclair BASIC and subsequently formed his company Vortex Software along with Luke Andrews and Mark Haigh-Hutchinson. They wrote a variety of games, including Gunlaw, the Android series, and Tornado Low Level for the ZX Spectrum.
His games achieved critical success; Tornado Low Level and Highway Encounter appeared in the "Your Sinclair official top 100",[1] for example, and in them he developed original 3D interfaces.
In 1995, he was working as a design consultant for Fisher Price.[2]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.