I think the point was that the source code doesn't make the game better or worse.
A nightmare of hacks is fine as long as the product is great.
IMO writing such code is sometimes even better, especially for a solo developer. If you aim to write beautiful code, it might eventually outweigh everything else, while giving a false impression that you're doing the right thing. Your goal is the product, not code. I'd argue that you can't focus on both (it's called ‘focus’ for a reason).
Of course source code makes the game better or worse. The game is made of code. The code makes the game what it is.
If you write good code, your product will work better and be done sooner. This is the definition of good code. If you write bad code, your product may be overbudget, buggy, inadequate, and so on. This is the definition of bad code.
There is no dichotomy between the product and the code. To suggest that you can make better software by neglecting the code is absurd.
No arguing with that. Same as building material makes a house what it is. The question is, does the success depend on material used? You can build a great house amidst the desert.
But that's an analogy. More real-world example—imagine two startups:
- Startup 1: bad programmer, good QA.
- Startup 2: good programmer, bad QA.
Where would you invest your money?
> If you write bad code, your product may be overbudget, buggy, inadequate, and so on.
Here I disagree. Overbudget? It depends on product success. Buggy? If you have good QA, it's not buggy. Inadequate? You can write the cleanest code, but your product won't work as users want it to.
When we say ‘great product’, do we mean that it has nice clean code, or it's something else? How many great products have bad code?
> There is no dichotomy between the product and the code.
As long as you are ‘just a’ developer, and there are other people focusing on product and its functional quality. In that case you receive specific tasks with deadlines, and yes, you should focus on writing good code.
Not so if you're a solo developer.
1) No one will focus on the product, except you.
2) You most likely would be heavily biased towards writing good code. (Because you're a developer, you're supposed to write good code, right?)
You need to force yourself to focus on the product, to avoid becoming the Startup 2 from above example. Intentionally writing bad code is one way to do that. In that case you at least can be that Startup 1—you'll be forced to pay more attention to functional quality (as opposed to structural), so you'll be good QA.
You can argue that one can focus on both. My opinion is that it's too risky. You need to have priorities set as clear as possible.
> To suggest that you can make better software by neglecting the code is absurd.
Yes, it sounds really controversial (especially to a programmer). I'm far from satisfied with that statement. What would be a better way to be a good QA while being a great programmer?
A nightmare of hacks is fine as long as the product is great.
IMO writing such code is sometimes even better, especially for a solo developer. If you aim to write beautiful code, it might eventually outweigh everything else, while giving a false impression that you're doing the right thing. Your goal is the product, not code. I'd argue that you can't focus on both (it's called ‘focus’ for a reason).