diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 09d2a2a..e54ecbe 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@ embed-resource = "1.6.3"  # embedding of .exe metadata
 
 [features]
 default = ["x11", "embed_assets"]
-dev = ["bevy/dynamic_linking", "bevy/file_watcher"]
+mute_music = []
+dev_mode = []
+dev = ["dev_mode", "mute_music", "bevy/dynamic_linking", "bevy/file_watcher"]
 wasm = ["bevy/webgl2"]
 x11 = ["bevy/x11"]
 wayland = ["bevy/wayland"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8a4e7d2..6c11962 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -138,12 +138,6 @@ See https://superuser.com/questions/1202989/how-to-you-add-a-parameter-to-an-exe
 
 If there is no package for the version or operating system that you need, or if you wish to tinker on the game, you can also build outfly yourself.
 
-For development, it's recommended to use `--features dev` to enable dynamic linking for faster compile times, e.g. like this:
-
-```
-cargo [run|build] --features dev
-```
-
 ## On Linux
 
 Install the build dependencies. On ArchLinux, it's the following, though you can replace `rust` with `rustup`:
@@ -160,8 +154,6 @@ cd outfly
 cargo run --release
 ```
 
-NOTE: Audio is muted by default when run through `cargo run`, unless you add `--release`
-
 ## Building for Windows on Linux
 
 ```
@@ -206,6 +198,21 @@ echo '<script type="module">import init from "./outfly.js"; init()</script>' > w
 python -m http.server -d wasm
 ```
 
+## Dev Features
+
+For development, it's recommended to use `--features dev`:
+
+```
+cargo [run|build] --features dev
+```
+
+This enables the following:
+
+- Mutes music by default (you can still unmute it)
+- Enables "dev mode", which changes the game slightly, e.g. enables some debugging features and additional cheats.
+- Enables dynamic linking for faster compile times. Note that this makes it harder to run the game directly with `./outfly`, please use `cargo run` instead.
+- Enables bevy's "file watcher" feature that auto-reloads changed assets while the game is running. This obviously works if the assets are not embedded directly into the binary with the `embed_assets` feature. To use this, customize the compile features like this: `--no-default-features --features "dev x11"`
+
 # Changelog
 
 - git: Add command line options to set window/fullscreen mode
diff --git a/src/var.rs b/src/var.rs
index bb1de78..46199a8 100644
--- a/src/var.rs
+++ b/src/var.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 
 use bevy::prelude::*;
 use std::collections::HashMap;
-use std::env;
 
 pub const SCOPE_SEPARATOR: &str = "$";
 
@@ -122,21 +121,9 @@ pub struct Settings {
 
 impl Default for Settings {
     fn default() -> Self {
-        let dev_mode;
-
+        let dev_mode = cfg!(feature = "dev_mode");
         let default_mute_sfx = false;
-        let default_mute_music;
-        if let Ok(_) = env::var("CARGO") {
-            // Mute audio by default when run through `cargo`
-            default_mute_music = cfg!(debug_assertions);
-
-            // Enable dev mode when running `cargo run` without `--release`
-            dev_mode = cfg!(debug_assertions);
-        }
-        else {
-            default_mute_music = false;
-            dev_mode = false;
-        }
+        let default_mute_music = cfg!(feature = "mute_music");
         let version = if let Some(version) = option_env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION") {
             version.to_string()
         } else {