Tools for your own team.
WHY THEY MATTER
The speed of content creation determines how much content exists.
WHAT TO BUILD
Level editing suited to your game Data editing for designers Debug visualisation Cheat and testing commands Build and deployment automation
WHAT DEBUG VISUALISATION SHOULD SHOW
Collision shapes Pathfinding and navigation Artificial opponent state Performance figures Spawn and trigger locations
WHY IT MATTERS SO MUCH
Most bugs are invisible without it, and diagnosing them by reasoning is slow.
WHAT TESTING COMMANDS SHOULD PROVIDE
Jumping to any point Granting items and state Toggling systems Adjusting values at runtime
WHY RUNTIME ADJUSTMENT MATTERS
Balancing requires trying values immediately, not rebuilding.
WHAT TO MEASURE
How long a content change takes to see in the game.
WHY
It is the single figure most affecting production speed.
WHAT TO INVEST IN
Reducing that time.
WHAT TO AVOID
Tools so elaborate they become a project Tools only their author can use
WHAT TO STRIP FROM RELEASE BUILDS
Debug tooling, or gate it securely.
