During game development for a gamejam, there are times that we sacrifice the quality of our codes just to meet our target functionality. Personally this should be avoided and mitigated as early as possible. Codes are fragile items, if not properly designed one change can lead to multiple unexpected behaviors. The demand for the quick work doesn’t mean we always need to sacrifice code quality.
This are the following drawbacks for untidy codes.
1. Lack of Re-usability – Most of the time codes that are rushed are difficult to reuse. This codes are not properly commented and grouped or the object is not properly designed.
2. Readability overhead – Reading spaghetti codes are hell, and for a gamejam this will also eat alot of your time.
3. Lack of content – Some developers are not happy seeing ugly structured and designed codes, which might lead to discontent.
4. Vulnerable – Dirty codes are vulnerable to defects.
5. Issues beyond fix – If issues arise it is either you can do a quick patch or you cannot fix it at all unless overhauled.
Personally the development time I a lot for a game jam would be roughly on the following breakdown.
1. Create a neat well designed and commented codes for the first 75%
2. Perform a full testing at around 5%
3. If you really have an additional non-core feature or if you have a code you need to rush – 15%
4. Put a 5% buffer at the end to perform the last rounds of testing.