Custom ImGui Debugging Tool – Project 7: Art of the Dead

To test and debug the weapon system I created early in development, I made a custom ImGui-based weapon tool. The goal was to verify that weapon switching worked correctly, and that my weapon factory created the right weapon with the correct stats.

The tool displays detailed information such as:

• Current equipped weapon

• Slot 1 and Slot 2 contents

• Stats like magazine size, damage, range, ammo inventory, multishot and so on.

Later, I added the ability to edit weapon stats during runtime, which helped us test balancing and quickly iterate on feel and design without needing to recompile or restart the game.

I also included live debug info about:

• Damage done

• Hit ID

• Distance to target
  This helped me quickly detect and fix a bug in my damage calculation related to range penalties and max damage falloff.

Additionally, I created a player debug panel to test mechanics like:

• Health and regen (with regen delay)

• Adding credits

• Simulating damage and instant kills
  This was especially useful before enemy AI could properly damage the player, allowing me to test parts of the core game loop early on.

These tools were essential during development, allowing me and the team to rapidly verify mechanics, find bugs, and prototype changes without needing a full UI or final gameplay systems in place.