Yes, in theory quarks and their anti-particles will be created just the same as electrons/positrons. However, a) it is a lot easier to detect electrons/positron

Yes, in theory quarks and their anti-particles will be created just the same as electrons/positrons. However, a) it is a lot easier to detect electrons/positrons than it is to detect quarks and b) protons are significantly heavier, so you'd need quite a bit more energy. Really the best way to think about this is just a particle collider, but colliding photons instead of matter. You'll still get a whole sea of debris that you can sort through and find interesting physics, but just detecting electrons would be a good first step.