diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5f07675..adc0aec 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ $ ./build/ouros
 # or on windows:
 .\build\Debug\ouros.exe
 ```
+For control on debugging: 
+```bash
+$ ./build/ouros --debug 0b00111111
+```
+where each bit in the mask corresponds to a debug level, in order: unused, unused, fatal, trace, error, warning, notice, and info. `0b1111111` enables all debug messages. 
 
 ## Additional Resources
  - https://howtovulkan.com/
diff --git a/src/app/App.cpp b/src/app/App.cpp
index 705f48f..175e46b 100644
--- a/src/app/App.cpp
+++ b/src/app/App.cpp
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 App::App() {
 
-    utils::debugPrint(__FUNCTION__, __LINE__, "App constructor.");
+    utils::debugPrint(__FUNCTION__, __LINE__, "App constructor.", utils::DebugLevel::Trace);
 
     init();
 
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ App::App() {
 
 void App::init() {
 
-    utils::debugPrint(__FUNCTION__, __LINE__, "Init app.");
+    utils::debugPrint(__FUNCTION__, __LINE__, "Init app.", utils::DebugLevel::Trace);
 
     window_ = new Window();
 
@@ -21,12 +21,11 @@ void App::init() {
 
 int App::run() {
 
-    utils::debugPrint(__FUNCTION__, __LINE__, "Run app.");
+    utils::debugPrint(__FUNCTION__, __LINE__, "Run app.", utils::DebugLevel::Trace);
 
     bool quit = false;
 	while (!quit) {
         // app loop for as long as the window is open
-        // poll events here
         // other threads might be able to change quit to true to auto close
 
         SDL_Event event;
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 40b4577..b2fd944 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -1,13 +1,23 @@
 
 #include <iostream>
+#include <cstring>
 
 #include "app/App.hpp"
 #include "utils/utils.hpp"
 
-int main(int arg, char *argv[]) {
+int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 
-    std::string message = "main()";
-    utils::debugPrint(__FUNCTION__, __LINE__, message);
+    // parsing executable arguments
+    // TODO: move elsewhere
+    // this is for the debug mask
+    for(int i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
+        if(std::strncmp(argv[i], "--debug=", 8) == 0) {
+            std::string debugMaskString = argv[i] + 8;
+            utils::parseDebugMaskString(debugMaskString);
+        }
+    }
+
+    utils::debugPrint(__FUNCTION__, __LINE__, "main()", utils::DebugLevel::Trace);
 
     // maybe do some exceptions here
     App app = App();
diff --git a/src/utils/utils.hpp b/src/utils/utils.hpp
index 0a67836..4260b6c 100644
--- a/src/utils/utils.hpp
+++ b/src/utils/utils.hpp
@@ -1,22 +1,57 @@
 
+#pragma once
+
 #include <iostream>
 #include <iomanip>
 #include <string>
 
+// TODO: might move a lot of this into a debug.h file
+// TODO: logging ? but i dont care enough
+
 namespace utils {
 
-    // TODO: implement
-    enum class DebugLevel {
+    enum DebugLevel : size_t {
         Info = 0,
         Notice,
-        Error
+        Warning,
+        Error,
+        Trace,
+        Fatal,
+        Extra1,
+        Extra2
     };
 
-    static void debugPrint(const char* function, int line, std::string message) {
+    static const char* debugTypeStrings[] = {
+        "Info",
+        "Notice",
+        "Warning",
+        "Error",
+        "Trace",
+        "Fatal",
+        "Extra1",
+        "Extra2"
+    };
+    // the idea is to have a debug bitmask, maybe 8 bits wide, where the bits can be set via compiler flags
 
-        std::cout << "[ " << std::left << std::setw(16) << function << ": " << std::right << std::setw(4) << line << " ] " << message << std::endl;
+    inline uint8_t debugMask;
+
+    static void debugPrint(const char* function, int line, std::string message, size_t debugLevel) {
+
+        if(!(debugMask >> debugLevel)) return; // then ignore this debug level
+
+        std::cout << "[ " << std::left << std::setw(16) << function << ": " << std::right << std::setw(4) << line << ", " << std::left << std::setw(8) << debugTypeStrings[debugLevel] << " ] " << message << std::endl;
 
         return;
     }
 
+    static void parseDebugMaskString(std::string& debugMaskString) {
+        std::string value = debugMaskString;
+        if(value.rfind("0b", 0) == 0) {
+            value = value.substr(2); // strip the binary literal identifier
+        } else {
+            std::cout << "Unsupported debug key." << std::endl;
+        }
+        debugMask = static_cast<uint8_t>(std::stoul(value, nullptr, 2)); // interpret a string as a uint
+    }
+
 }
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