Quigs is the development suite that made it possible for someone like me, who was never a particularly gifted programmer, to actually build real, working applications for SymbOS. It was created by Trebmint (also known as Rob Buckley), and it is, without exaggeration, one of the most impressive pieces of software I have ever seen for building apps for a Z80.

Quigs actually grew out of an earlier project called SymStudio (you can see an early screenshot of it on my Home page), and it has since evolved into a full, modern development environment. It comes with its own extensive compiler and its own programming language, one that will feel surprisingly familiar if you have ever written a bit of Visual Basic or .NET code. On top of that, Quigs includes a full visual Form Designer, so you can literally drag windows, buttons and other controls onto a canvas and design your application's interface by eye, instead of guessing coordinates by hand.

But Quigs does not stop there. It also comes with its own built-in game engine, complete with support for imageboxes, paint objects, sprites and even hardware like the G9k video chip. That means the exact same toolkit that powers a simple network chat client can also power a Tetris clone, or a fully-fledged first-person shooter running on a Z80.

In many ways, Quigs is to SymbOS what Visual Basic once was to Windows: a complete, approachable, all-in-one product that lowers the barrier to entry just enough that hobbyists like me can turn an idea into a real, working application, without needing to be an assembly wizard first. Every single application on my Apps page was built using Quigs, or one of its predecessors, Unify and SymStudio, and I honestly would never have been able to make any of them without it.

If you are even a little bit curious about 8-bit development, I cannot recommend giving Quigs a try enough. And if you do, don't hesitate to reach out, I am always happy to talk Quigs, SymbOS, or Z80 computers in general!