diff --git a/src/error.c b/src/error.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b180d93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/error.c
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+#include "error.h"
+
+#include <SDL_messagebox.h>
+#include <stdarg.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <stdnoreturn.h>
+
+#define PRINT_BUFFER_SIZE 128 // defines the buffer size for printing
+
+// writes the arguments to the specified buffer
+// using a macro instead of an inline function because fmt otherwise gets horribly messed up
+#define write_args(buf, fmt)                            \
+    va_list args;                                       \
+    va_start(args, fmt);                                \
+    (void)vsnprintf(buf, PRINT_BUFFER_SIZE, fmt, args); \
+    va_end(args);
+
+static gamestatus status = STATUS_RUNNING;
+
+void set_gamestatus(gamestatus nstatus) {
+    status = nstatus;
+}
+
+gamestatus get_gamestatus(void) {
+    return status;
+}
+
+void debug(char const* fmt, ...) {
+    char const* env = getenv("DEBUG");
+    if (env == NULL || *env != '1')
+        return;
+
+    char buf[PRINT_BUFFER_SIZE] = {0};
+    write_args(buf, fmt);
+
+    (void)fprintf(stdout, "\033[95m%s\033[0m\n", buf);
+}
+
+void info(char const* fmt, ...) {
+    char buf[PRINT_BUFFER_SIZE] = {0};
+    write_args(buf, fmt);
+    (void)fprintf(stdout, "\033[0m%s\033[0m\n", buf); // write colour here for consistency
+}
+
+void warn(char const* fmt, ...) {
+    char buf[PRINT_BUFFER_SIZE] = {0};
+    write_args(buf, fmt);
+    (void)fprintf(stderr, "\033[93mW: %s\033[0m\n", buf);
+}
+
+void error(char const* fmt, ...) {
+    char buf[PRINT_BUFFER_SIZE] = {0};
+    write_args(buf, fmt);
+    (void)fprintf(stderr, "\033[mW: %s\033[0m", buf);
+}
+
+noreturn void fatal(gamestatus error_code, char const* fname, uint32_t ln, char const* fmt, ...) {
+    char buf1[PRINT_BUFFER_SIZE] = {0};
+    write_args(buf1, fmt);
+
+    char buf2[PRINT_BUFFER_SIZE * 2] = {0};
+    sprintf(buf2, "%s\n    at %s:%u (exitcode: %u)", buf1, fname, ln, error_code);
+
+    (void)fprintf(stderr, "\033[91mE: %s\033[0m\n", buf2);
+    SDL_ShowSimpleMessageBox(SDL_MESSAGEBOX_ERROR, "something went wrong! :O", buf2, NULL);
+
+    // set status, but exit immediately, as code is not allowed to execute beyond this point
+    set_gamestatus(error_code);
+    exit(status);
+}
diff --git a/src/error.h b/src/error.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e19d500
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/error.h
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <stdnoreturn.h>
+
+/* defines statuses in the 0..127, any higher/negative values are POSIX-reserved.
+ * The max value (or -1) shall mean the application is running, anything else shall mean an exit code of some kind */
+enum {
+    // clang-format off
+    STATUS_SUCCESS = 0,                // 0; successful exit
+    STATUS_ERROR   = 1,                // miscellaneous error
+    ERROR_INIT     = STATUS_ERROR | 2, // initialisation error
+
+    ERROR_STD             = STATUS_ERROR   | 64, // standard library error
+    ERROR_STD_INIT        = ERROR_INIT     | 64, // standard library initialisation error
+    ERROR_STD_MEMORY      = ERROR_STD      | 32, // memory error
+    ERROR_STD_MEMORY_INIT = ERROR_STD_INIT | 32, // memory initialization error
+
+    ERROR_SDL                = STATUS_ERROR   | 32, // SDL error
+    ERROR_SDL_INIT           = ERROR_INIT     | 32, // SDL initialization error
+    ERROR_SDL_RENDERING      = ERROR_SDL      | 16, // rendering error
+    ERROR_SDL_RENDERING_INIT = ERROR_SDL_INIT | 16, // rendering initialization error
+    ERROR_SDL_AUDIO          = ERROR_SDL      | 8,  // audio error
+    ERROR_SDL_AUDIO_INIT     = ERROR_SDL_INIT | 8,  // audio initialization error
+
+    STATUS_RUNNING = -1,
+    // clang-format on
+};
+typedef int8_t gamestatus;
+
+void set_gamestatus(gamestatus); // sets the current status of the game
+gamestatus get_gamestatus(void); // gets the current status of the game
+void debug(char const*, ...);    // prints a debug message to stdout if the DEBUG environment variable is set, otherwise the call is ignored.
+void info(char const*, ...);     // prints an info message to stdout
+void warn(char const*, ...);     // prints a warning message to stderr
+void error(char const*, ...);    // prints an warning message to stderr
+
+// prints an error message to stderr before exiting
+noreturn void fatal(gamestatus, char const* file_name, uint32_t line, char const* fmt, ...);