diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 0d6ddcc..cd5e6d5 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ option(ENGINE_BUILD_TEST "Compile the test program" ON)
 
 SET(CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES "Debug;Release;RelWithDebInfo")
 
+# enable link time code generation for all targets in the solution
+set(CMAKE_INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION_RELEASE TRUE)
+
 project(engine LANGUAGES CXX C
 	VERSION "0.2.0"
 )
@@ -53,6 +56,7 @@ set(SRC_FILES
 	"src/systems/ui_render_system.cpp"
 	"src/systems/transform.cpp"
 	"src/util/files.cpp"
+	"src/util/gen_tangents.cpp"
 	"src/util/gltf_loader.cpp"
 	"src/vulkan/device.cpp"
 	"src/vulkan/device.h"
@@ -99,6 +103,7 @@ set(INCLUDE_FILES
 	"include/systems/transform.h"
 	"include/util.h"
 	"include/util/files.h"
+	"include/util/gen_tangents.h"
 	"include/util/gltf_loader.h"
 	"include/window.h"
 )
diff --git a/include/util/gen_tangents.h b/include/util/gen_tangents.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b9637e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/util/gen_tangents.h
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+#pragma once
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/scene.cpp b/src/scene.cpp
index 3952c54..f6a1d9b 100644
--- a/src/scene.cpp
+++ b/src/scene.cpp
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ Entity Scene::CreateEntity(const std::string& tag, Entity parent,
 
   t->tag = tag;
   t->parent = parent;
+  t->is_static = false;
 
   return id;
 }
diff --git a/src/util/gen_tangents.cpp b/src/util/gen_tangents.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d00346
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/util/gen_tangents.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+#include "util/gen_tangents.h"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/util/gltf_loader.cpp b/src/util/gltf_loader.cpp
index 93a7e81..d5a85c6 100644
--- a/src/util/gltf_loader.cpp
+++ b/src/util/gltf_loader.cpp
@@ -435,6 +435,7 @@ engine::Entity LoadGLTF(Scene& scene, const std::string& path, bool isStatic)
                     LOG_DEBUG("Generating tangents...");
                     LOG_TRACE("Tangent gen: vtx count before = {} idx count before = {}", original_num_vertices, num_indices);
                     // generate tangents if they're not in the file
+                    // manually generating tangents directly with MikkTSpace instead of util::GenTangents() in order to directly access glTF vertex attributes
                     struct MeshData {
                         Attribute<glm::vec3>* positions;
                         Attribute<glm::vec3>* normals;
diff --git a/test/src/camera_controller.hpp b/test/src/camera_controller.hpp
index e8e1a2b..54c274c 100644
--- a/test/src/camera_controller.hpp
+++ b/test/src/camera_controller.hpp
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 struct CameraControllerComponent {
     // looking
-    static constexpr float kCameraSensitivity = 0.001f;
+    static constexpr float kCameraSensitivity = 0.003f;
     static constexpr float kMaxPitch = glm::pi<float>();
     static constexpr float kMinPitch = 0.0f;
 
diff --git a/test/src/game.cpp b/test/src/game.cpp
index 71372e6..56f70ac 100644
--- a/test/src/game.cpp
+++ b/test/src/game.cpp
@@ -78,9 +78,11 @@ void PlayGame(GameSettings settings)
         /* create camera */
         engine::Entity camera = main_scene->CreateEntity("camera");
 
-        auto camren = main_scene->AddComponent<engine::MeshRenderableComponent>(camera);
+        engine::Entity camera_child = main_scene->CreateEntity("camera_child", camera, glm::vec3{0.0f, 0.0f, -3.0f});
+        main_scene->GetTransform(camera_child)->is_static = false;
+        auto camren = main_scene->AddComponent<engine::MeshRenderableComponent>(camera_child);
         camren->visible = true;
-        camren->mesh = GenSphereMesh(app.renderer()->GetDevice(), 0.2f, 10);
+        camren->mesh = GenSphereMesh(app.renderer()->GetDevice(), 1.0f, 16);
         camren->material = app.GetResource<engine::Material>("builtin.default");
 
         /* as of right now, the entity with tag 'camera' is used to build the view
@@ -88,6 +90,7 @@ void PlayGame(GameSettings settings)
 
         auto camera_transform = main_scene->GetComponent<engine::TransformComponent>(camera);
         camera_transform->position = {0.0f, 0.0f, 100.0f};
+        camera_transform->is_static = false;
 
         main_scene->RegisterComponent<CameraControllerComponent>();
         main_scene->RegisterSystem<CameraControllerSystem>();
@@ -128,8 +131,13 @@ void PlayGame(GameSettings settings)
         main_scene->GetPosition(bottle).z += 2.5f;
         main_scene->GetScale(bottle) *= 25.0f;
 
-        engine::Entity cube = engine::util::LoadGLTF(*main_scene, app.GetResourcePath("models/cube.glb"), false);
-        main_scene->GetPosition(cube) += glm::vec3{-5.0f, -17.0f, 0.0f};
+        //engine::Entity cube = engine::util::LoadGLTF(*main_scene, app.GetResourcePath("models/cube.glb"), false);
+        engine::Entity cube = main_scene->CreateEntity("cube", 0, glm::vec3{ 4.0f, -17.0f, 0.0f });
+        main_scene->GetTransform(cube)->is_static = false;
+        auto cube_ren = main_scene->AddComponent<engine::MeshRenderableComponent>(cube);
+        cube_ren->material = app.GetResource<engine::Material>("builtin.default");
+        cube_ren->mesh = GenCuboidMesh(app.renderer()->GetDevice(), 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f);
+        cube_ren->visible = true;
         auto cubeCustom = main_scene->AddComponent<engine::CustomComponent>(cube);
         cubeCustom->onInit = [] {};
         cubeCustom->onUpdate = [&main_scene, cube](float dt) {
diff --git a/test/src/meshgen.cpp b/test/src/meshgen.cpp
index 21b630b..ebabcb4 100644
--- a/test/src/meshgen.cpp
+++ b/test/src/meshgen.cpp
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ std::unique_ptr<engine::Mesh> GenSphereMesh(engine::GFXDevice* gfx, float r, int
 
             if (j == (detail / 2) - 1) norm = -norm;
 
-            for (auto it = vertices.end() - 6; it != vertices.end(); it++) {
+            for (auto it = vertices.end() - 6; it != vertices.end(); ++it) {
                 it->norm = norm;
             }
         }