diff --git a/base/vulkandevice.hpp b/base/vulkandevice.hpp
index b0e30863..60eb32c3 100644
--- a/base/vulkandevice.hpp
+++ b/base/vulkandevice.hpp
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ namespace vk
 			uint32_t transfer;
 		} queueFamilyIndices;
 
+		/**  @brief Typecast to VkDevice */
+		operator VkDevice() { return logicalDevice; };
+
 		/**
 		* Default constructor
 		*
@@ -222,7 +225,7 @@ namespace vk
 		*
 		* @return VkResult of the device creation call
 		*/
-		VkResult createLogicalDevice(VkPhysicalDeviceFeatures enabledFeatures, bool useSwapChain = true, VkQueueFlags requestedQueueTypes = VK_QUEUE_GRAPHICS_BIT | VK_QUEUE_COMPUTE_BIT)
+		VkResult createLogicalDevice(VkPhysicalDeviceFeatures enabledFeatures, std::vector<const char*> enabledExtensions, bool useSwapChain = true, VkQueueFlags requestedQueueTypes = VK_QUEUE_GRAPHICS_BIT | VK_QUEUE_COMPUTE_BIT)
 		{			
 			// Desired queues need to be requested upon logical device creation
 			// Due to differing queue family configurations of Vulkan implementations this can be a bit tricky, especially if the application
@@ -294,7 +297,7 @@ namespace vk
 			}
 
 			// Create the logical device representation
-			std::vector<const char*> deviceExtensions;
+			std::vector<const char*> deviceExtensions(enabledExtensions);
 			if (useSwapChain)
 			{
 				// If the device will be used for presenting to a display via a swapchain we need to request the swapchain extension
diff --git a/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp b/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp
index 2e6a1c0e..e324ea35 100644
--- a/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp
+++ b/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp
@@ -20,33 +20,33 @@ VkResult VulkanExampleBase::createInstance(bool enableValidation)
 	appInfo.pEngineName = name.c_str();
 	appInfo.apiVersion = VK_API_VERSION_1_0;
 
-	std::vector<const char*> enabledExtensions = { VK_KHR_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME };
+	std::vector<const char*> instanceExtensions = { VK_KHR_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME };
 
 	// Enable surface extensions depending on os
 #if defined(_WIN32)
-	enabledExtensions.push_back(VK_KHR_WIN32_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME);
+	instanceExtensions.push_back(VK_KHR_WIN32_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME);
 #elif defined(__ANDROID__)
-	enabledExtensions.push_back(VK_KHR_ANDROID_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME);
+	instanceExtensions.push_back(VK_KHR_ANDROID_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME);
 #elif defined(_DIRECT2DISPLAY)
-	enabledExtensions.push_back(VK_KHR_DISPLAY_EXTENSION_NAME);
+	instanceExtensions.push_back(VK_KHR_DISPLAY_EXTENSION_NAME);
 #elif defined(VK_USE_PLATFORM_WAYLAND_KHR)
-	enabledExtensions.push_back(VK_KHR_WAYLAND_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME);
+	instanceExtensions.push_back(VK_KHR_WAYLAND_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME);
 #elif defined(__linux__)
-	enabledExtensions.push_back(VK_KHR_XCB_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME);
+	instanceExtensions.push_back(VK_KHR_XCB_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME);
 #endif
 
 	VkInstanceCreateInfo instanceCreateInfo = {};
 	instanceCreateInfo.sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_INSTANCE_CREATE_INFO;
 	instanceCreateInfo.pNext = NULL;
 	instanceCreateInfo.pApplicationInfo = &appInfo;
-	if (enabledExtensions.size() > 0)
+	if (instanceExtensions.size() > 0)
 	{
 		if (settings.validation)
 		{
-			enabledExtensions.push_back(VK_EXT_DEBUG_REPORT_EXTENSION_NAME);
+			instanceExtensions.push_back(VK_EXT_DEBUG_REPORT_EXTENSION_NAME);
 		}
-		instanceCreateInfo.enabledExtensionCount = (uint32_t)enabledExtensions.size();
-		instanceCreateInfo.ppEnabledExtensionNames = enabledExtensions.data();
+		instanceCreateInfo.enabledExtensionCount = (uint32_t)instanceExtensions.size();
+		instanceCreateInfo.ppEnabledExtensionNames = instanceExtensions.data();
 	}
 	if (settings.validation)
 	{
@@ -851,7 +851,10 @@ void VulkanExampleBase::initVulkan()
 	// This is handled by a separate class that gets a logical device representation
 	// and encapsulates functions related to a device
 	vulkanDevice = new vk::VulkanDevice(physicalDevice);
-	VK_CHECK_RESULT(vulkanDevice->createLogicalDevice(enabledFeatures));
+	VkResult res = vulkanDevice->createLogicalDevice(enabledFeatures, enabledExtensions);
+	if (res != VK_SUCCESS) {
+		vkTools::exitFatal("Could not create Vulkan device: \n" + vkTools::errorString(res), "Fatal error");
+	}
 	device = vulkanDevice->logicalDevice;
 
 	// todo: remove
diff --git a/base/vulkanexamplebase.h b/base/vulkanexamplebase.h
index 6d3c2e19..342984a1 100644
--- a/base/vulkanexamplebase.h
+++ b/base/vulkanexamplebase.h
@@ -85,6 +85,8 @@ protected:
 	* @note By default no phyiscal device features are enabled
 	*/
 	VkPhysicalDeviceFeatures enabledFeatures{};
+	/** @brief Set of device extensions to be enabled for this example (must be set in the derived constructor) */
+	std::vector<const char*> enabledExtensions;
 	/** @brief Logical device, application's view of the physical device (GPU) */
 	// todo: getter? should always point to VulkanDevice->device
 	VkDevice device;