diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b58101f7f..bc4f6ec6b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -118,8 +118,9 @@ set(SRB2_SDL2_EXE_NAME srb2kart CACHE STRING "Executable binary output name")
 include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/src)
 
 add_subdirectory(src)
-add_subdirectory(assets)
-
+if(NOT ${SRB2_CONFIG_DEV_BUILD})
+	add_subdirectory(assets)
+endif()
 
 ## config.h generation
 set(GIT_EXECUTABLE "git" CACHE FILEPATH "Path to git binary")
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 39b71cda7..1355c85ee 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ set(SRB2_CONFIG_YASM OFF CACHE BOOL
 	"Use YASM in place of NASM.")
 set(SRB2_CONFIG_STATIC_OPENGL OFF CACHE BOOL
 	"Use statically linked OpenGL. NOT RECOMMENDED.")
+set(SRB2_CONFIG_DEV_BUILD OFF CACHE BOOL
+	"Compile a development build of SRB2Kart.")
 
 ### use internal libraries?
 if(${CMAKE_SYSTEM} MATCHES "Windows") ###set on Windows only
@@ -280,6 +282,10 @@ if (CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID MATCHES "Clang")
 	set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS ${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -Wno-absolute-value)
 endif()
 
+if(${SRB2_CONFIG_DEV_BUILD})
+	target_compile_definitions(SRB2SDL2 PRIVATE -DDEVELOP)
+endif()
+
 set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS ${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -Wno-trigraphs)
 
 target_compile_definitions(SRB2SDL2 PRIVATE -DCMAKECONFIG)