Quantum was developed by GCC for Atari and used the nicest vector hardware you could think of at the time: similar to Tempest it uses an Atari color vector generator and two Pokeys for sound. But instead of an 8-bit CPU they used the back then absolutely brand new Motorola 68000. Plus no vector rom but instead double the vector ram to be filled by the m68k. Extremely nice setup, probably my personal favorite – and this game came out even before Atari Star Wars !
The game was also (in contrast to the 8-bit vector games) programmed in a higher language, C, and according to the programmer commercial compilers did not even exist yet for the m68k when this game was started, it was so new.
I quite clearly remember the first time I saw this game’s output on the Vectrex (via VecMAME): the solid atoms just made me smile, what an odd but neat concept to draw a vector game object. Which was part of the reason why I wanted it to run natively on the VecFever one fine day, just to see those blobs floating around. Plus the M68K was a challenge to get in hand and most importantly: the summer weather this year is abysmal, the coolest and rainiest I can remember. So this was a productive distraction…
As an input the game uses a trackball but is very playable (and enjoyable) using an analog joystick as input. With one exception: drawing your signature needs a much finer control and is not really useable. Even circling your initial letters needs some experience to do with it but works ok once you know how. Plus i’ve put in a help: pressing 3: halves the speed for finer control Actually drawing your name when being best player of the day is a game option anyways, and it is disabled by default. It is an odd feature, anyways: if you think about it for a second what young boys have on their minds besides games – and the kind of humor they like – you can easily see in your minds eye what they must have drawn back then. If they actually found a Quantum cabinet in the wild. And if this signature option was actually enabled… until the operator really saw enough, umm, fertility symbols..
v2.65
- added: Quantum Rev.2, Quantum Rev.1 and Quantum Prototype
- fix: very large vector text stream output corruption
- added: brightness modification hint to display stream
- added: 'Munching Squares' tape to pdp1 emulation
- changed vf lib automatic framerate handling
- improved: redraw versatility of vf lib
- added: 6809 cycle measurement functionality
v2.64
- updated year to 2024
- fix: changes to the micro sd expert general options were displayed in the wrong spot
(started w/ the new system text expert option in v2.60)
v2.63
- 6809 apps on the volume also honor the 'fast exit' expert option now just like native apps
(previously only on main page)