Over the weekend I implemented a debug console in the game, something I’ve been wanting to do for ages.  It shows logging output, and it can be used to inspect / modify variables, and trigger events in the game.

This was pretty simple to do, because the “global” variables and events were already implemented as ScriptableObject assets (see ScriptableObjects For Fun and Profit for details).  It was just a matter of making them automatically add themselves to a list to then be accessible in the console.  Almost as if I’d planned it that way from the beginning!

These existing variables and events are used by the various systems in the game, and don’t all necessarily make sense to mess with in the console, but many can be useful for testing purposes, or simply for playing around under the hood.  I did add a couple of extra variables just for fun though, one to modify gravity, and another to change the time scale (slow-mo / fast forward).

The console itself has a simple UI, just scrolling text with a box to input commands at the bottom.

There are a few different available commands, for example to do things like listing the available variables or events, or to get help on using the console.Typing a variable’s name will shows its current value, or typing its name followed by a value will modify it.  Typing an event’s name (followed by arguments if required) will raise that event, which can cause things to happen in the game (depending on the game’s current state).