Debug room

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A debug room is a location in a computer game, structured like other rooms in the game, within which game-playing actions can be used to set options, pick characters and items, and control other aspects of game play. It is not intended to be accessible to players within the game, but only to programmers or play-testers debugging the game. It can only be accessed by cheating, which in some cases requires special hardware devices.

The best known one is in Final Fantasy VII. One example of what can be done, from Andrew Dean's guide, is: "In the Main Debug room, talk to Yuffie and choose 'full name'". This "puts a load of gibberish in each character's name" and will also "mess up the weapon and armor statistics" but has the "interesting side effect" of making you "practically invincible. Every attack made upon you by the enemy will miss, or if they are lucky enough to actually hit you then the damage will actually heal."

Final Fantasy VIII, Xenogears, and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars also contain noteworthy debug rooms.

[edit] Programmer's Room

Unlike a debug room, which is a tool left behind and intended only for utilization by the game's original developers, a programmer's room is more deliberate, more out in the open, waiting for the player to discover it. In a programmer's room, players can fiddle around with various things, from sound tests to enemy viewers to reading messages inserted by the game's development staff. The programmer's room does not incorporate the more volatile debugging tools found in a proper debug room.

Two very well-known examples of a programmer's room are the one in Chrono Trigger and its sequel, Chrono Cross. There is also one in certain versions of Final Fantasy IV. Enter the Matrix contains a programmers room modelled after the programmers hallway in the Matrix films.

The computer game Damocles features the author's house as a location. Inside, the Author's Chair can be piloted like a vehicle, and the Author's Computer allows the player to directly affect the reality of the gameworld. Furthermore, should the player somehow destroy the Author's Computer, it has an apocalyptic effect on the game environment.