Pomm...what?
I recently read a post on social media by Tatu Salmela, the creator of Pommitus, which he developed back in 1996. It turns out he learned programming by reading ST Format, and he’s still actively working on and improving Pommitus to this day. Since then, it has been converted from Finnish into English.
Pommitus is a multiplayer strategy game where you use calculated tactics to bomb your opponent. Initially, I wasn’t impressed with the user interface as I often clicked outside the control box and accidentally fired. However, it quickly became second nature and was a blast blowing up my neighbour with great ease. The sound effects are minimal but effective, and the monochrome graphics are sharp and detailed. Of course, you’ll need a monochrome monitor for the best experience. Being GEM-based, it should work on all Atari computers and even supports those fortunate enough to have a maths coprocessor.
Oddly, an emulator like Hatari might run Pommitus slower than a real Atari ST, but that is easily fixed by flipping the CPU setting to 16 or 32MHz. Erm, nothing ever beats the real hardware...!
I’m incredibly impressed with Pommitus and so grateful Tatu shared his work with me. Here’s a bit of exciting news: he’s developing a new Atari ST game similar to Pommitus that will run on ST Low. It’s still in the early stages, but I’m thrilled to see another Atari ST game in development. Watch this space, folks. :-)
