Geometry, not a grid of pixels
In the original Asteroids, a rock’s outline is built from a list of points joined by straight line segments. A vector display draws those segments directly: its electron beam traces a path across the screen instead of lighting a rectangular grid of individual pixels. The result is a bright, clean outline rather than a blocky shape assembled from tiny squares.
“Perfect polygons” doesn’t mean the asteroids are regular or symmetrical. Their corners can be uneven, giving each rock a jagged silhouette; the precision lies in how the outline is constructed, with definite points and straight edges.
Why that suits the game
An outline communicates a rock’s shape without filling the screen with solid color. That keeps the view visually spare, while the sharp contours make rocks easy to distinguish as they drift and rotate against the dark background. The same line-drawing approach gives the player’s ship and the game’s other objects a consistent look.
A vector screen has limits of its own: it can draw only the lines its beam traces, and those lines have visible thickness. But for a game made from moving outlines, that constraint becomes a style. The asteroids look less like pixel art and more like luminous wire-frame shapes being sketched across the screen.
