What are the alternatives for understanding the nature of quark interactions? As I see it, string theory first developed in order to try to simplify the process

What are the alternatives for understanding the nature of quark interactions? As I see it, string theory first developed in order to try to simplify the process of calculating the possible different interacting paths. The fact that string theory can directly describe particles is convenient, but seems like an instance of the Microcosm Principle [0] wherein quantum particles can be described as collections of quantum particles. We could drop all of this, but then we would have to return to the problem of worldsheets another way, right? [0] https://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2008/12/the_microcosm_principle.html https://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2008/12/the_microcosm_p...