Debugging & Cheats
Console commands, hotkey bindings and log filtering — all stripped from Shipping builds.
A set of console commands for testing, wired up on the player controller and available in the editor and in development builds. They are stripped from Shipping builds, so there is nothing to remove before you ship.
Open the console with the tilde key and type any command below. Most take an optional argument.
Player
| Command | Effect |
|---|---|
| SKAddLife [count] | Grants lives. Defaults to 1. |
| SKRemoveLife [count] | Removes lives without killing the player — for testing the HUD's life row in isolation. |
| SKKillPlayer | Kills the player through the real death path, so the whole life-loss and respawn chain runs. |
| SKDamagePlayer [amount] | Applies real damage, including hit flash and invulnerability. Defaults to 25. |
| SKHealPlayer [amount] | Heals the player. Defaults to 25. |
| SKRefillAmmo | Refills every ammo-costed weapon. |
| SKGodMode | Toggles damage immunity. |
Waves
| Command | Effect |
|---|---|
| SKSkipWave | Jumps to the next wave — skip to the boss without playing the level. |
| SKSetWave [index] | Jumps to a specific wave. |
| SKSkipStep | Advances one step within the current wave. |
| SKSetStep [index] | Jumps to a specific step. |
High scores
| Command | Effect |
|---|---|
| SKSubmitScore [score] | Files a score without playing a run. Defaults to 100000. |
| SKDumpHighScores | Prints the table to the log. |
| SKClearHighScores | Wipes the table — the quickest way to test a first-run empty state. |
Hotkeys
Commands can be bound to keys through DebugExecBindings in your project's input
configuration, which is far quicker than typing during play. Add a line per binding:
Adding your own
The cheat manager is a normal class you can extend. Add an exec-marked function to a subclass, point the player controller at it, and optionally add a hotkey binding. Commands added this way are stripped from Shipping alongside the built-in ones.
Reading the log
Everything the kit prints uses its own log category, LogShmupKit, rather than the
engine's catch-all. Filter the Output Log by it to see only ShmupKit messages, and grep for it in
packaged logs.
The kit warns rather than failing silently when something is misconfigured — a weapon mount with no data, a spawner with no camera director, a select screen with no catalogue. Those warnings name the setting to fix.