Datastorm
| Datastorm | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Visionary Design Technologies |
| Publisher(s) | Visionary Design Technologies |
| Programmer(s) | Søren Grønbech |
| Composer(s) | Timm Engels |
| Platform(s) | Amiga |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Shoot 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Distribution | 3½-inch floppy disk |
Datastorm is a 1989 scrolling shooter video game for the Amiga home computer. It is similar to the arcade game, Defender. Written by Søren Grønbech, it was inspired by Dropzone for the Commodore 64. As such, the exact gameplay deviates from Defender in that the task on each level is to carry the 8 pods through a portal, with points on completing a level for each one saved. The amount of points increases for each level: on levels 5, 9, 13 and so on, the player gets a new set of eight and the scoring resets.
Like Grønbech's Sword of Sodan, it made full use of the Amiga's hardware at a time when most games were direct ports from the Atari ST; the number of sprites moving smoothly around the screen is noteworthy. Some, including the Datastorm itself, cover almost the entire length of the screen.