diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 006c7ae..80dfae4 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@ find_package(SDL2 REQUIRED)
 find_package(SDL2_image REQUIRED)
 find_package(SDL2_ttf REQUIRED)
 
+if (NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
+        set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Debug)
+endif ()
+
+
 set(PHYSFS_BUILD_SHARED FALSE)
 set(PHYSFS_DISABLE_INSTALL TRUE)
 set(PHYSFS_TARGETNAME_UNINSTALL "physfs_uninstall")