Building Project Dymes

For a long time, I have wanted to create something that brings together the different parts of my life and the things I care about most.

Nightlife. Music. Content creation. Gaming. Building the Dynasty Dymes brand. Working with entertainers and seeing the personalities, relationships, conflicts, ambitions, and stories that exist behind the scenes.

Project Dymes is where all of those worlds finally come together.

This is more than an idea for a game. It is an original world inspired by my experiences, my creative interests, and the brand I have spent years building.

What Is Project Dymes?

Project Dymes is a 2.5D arcade-style beat ’em up set in the fictional city of Regalis, Texas, located a short distance away from San Antonio.

The game takes inspiration from classic side-scrolling brawlers, modern fighting games, nightlife culture, music, and character-driven storytelling. Players will fight through clubs, city streets, corporate buildings, hidden locations, and other areas across Regalis as a much larger conflict begins to unfold.

At its core, Project Dymes is about a group of women protecting their home, their community, and each other.

The combat is designed to feel fast, stylish, expressive, and different depending on which character the player chooses. Each member of the cast will have her own strengths, movement style, personality, and approach to a fight.

Some characters will rely on speed and technique. Others will use power, defense, boxing, aerial movement, or pole-based abilities.

The goal is to create a game where the characters do not simply look different. They should also feel different when you play them.

Inspired by Dynasty Dymes

A major part of the inspiration behind Project Dymes comes from Dynasty Dymes, the brand I have been developing through nightlife, entertainment, music, content, and the people I have worked around.

Working in nightlife has allowed me to see a world that is often reduced to stereotypes from the outside.

There are performers, DJs, security teams, managers, regular customers, creators, business owners, and people trying to build something for themselves. There are friendships, rivalries, mentorships, disagreements, and moments where people come together when something threatens the environment they helped create.

Project Dymes takes inspiration from those experiences, but it is not intended to be a direct recreation of real people or events.

Regalis is a fictional city. The Dragon’s Den is a fictional club. The characters and larger conflict belong to an original universe.

However, the personalities, atmosphere, music, humor, tension, loyalty, and sense of community are influenced by things I have experienced and observed in the real world.

I wanted to make something that treats this setting as more than a backdrop or a joke.

The women of Project Dymes are not simply background characters waiting for someone else to save them. They are fighters, performers, mentors, leaders, protectors, and people with their own goals and stories.

Introducing Dynah Stee

One of the central characters in Project Dymes is Dynah Stee.

Dynah is a headliner, co-leader, mentor, and the primary protector of the Dragon’s Den. When people within the club need guidance, discipline, or someone capable of handling a serious threat, Dynah is usually the person they look toward.

She is calm, confident, powerful, and highly respected. She does not need to constantly announce that she is in control. Her presence speaks for itself.

Dynah is also the standard-bearer of the Dragon’s Den.

She represents what the club is supposed to be: expressive, strong, unapologetic, disciplined, and protective of its people.

However, there is much more to Dynah than what most people in Regalis initially understand.

Dynah is also Adesola, the Dragon Deity of Expression.

Her true identity, history, and connection to the larger world of Project Dymes will be explored another time. For now, what matters is that Dynah has chosen to make the Dragon’s Den her home—and when that home is threatened, she will not stand aside.

The Heart of the Story: The Dragon’s Den

The Dragon’s Den is the central location of Project Dymes and the emotional heart of the story.

Within the game’s world, the club is run by me, L.G.

My in-game counterpart is responsible for the business, music, operations, and the larger direction of the club, while Dynah serves as one of its strongest leaders and protectors.

The Dragon’s Den is more than a nightclub.

It is where the characters work, perform, train, argue, celebrate, plan, and build relationships with one another. It acts as a headquarters, a gathering place, and a home base for the main cast.

Each character has a different reason for being connected to the Den.

For some, it is an opportunity. For others, it is a place where they finally feel accepted. Some see it as a business, some see it as a family, and some see it as something they have a responsibility to protect.

That is what makes the conflict personal.

The characters are not fighting simply because the city needs heroes. They are fighting because something they built together is being targeted.

Before Project Dymes expands into the larger mysteries surrounding Regalis, its rival clubs, its civic organizations, and the forces operating behind the scenes, everything begins at the Dragon’s Den.

Another Night in the Den

The story begins during what appears to be a normal night.

The club is preparing to open. Music is playing. Staff members are getting ready. Dynah and Trinity Yi are sparring. Bella Cash arrives with a warning that something unusual may be happening outside.

A mysterious figure has been seen near the club.

At first, it seems like another situation the Dragon’s Den can handle.

Then the attack begins.

What should have been one more night in the Den becomes the beginning of a conflict that spreads across Regalis.

The crew is pulled into confrontations involving rival clubs, a powerful civic organization, hidden enemies, and a threat much older than anyone initially realizes.

As the night continues, the characters begin to discover that the attack on the Dragon’s Den was not random.

Someone has been watching them.

Someone has been moving pieces into position.

And Dynah may be connected to the reason why.

Where Development Currently Stands

Project Dymes is still in early development.

Right now, much of my focus has been on building the game’s basic systems and learning how everything works inside Unreal Engine.

The current development work includes:

• Basic character movement

• Walking and running

• Character-facing controls

• Early health and stat systems

• Character state management

• Pole interaction

• Entering and exiting pole-based movement

• Climbing and sliding along poles

• Early environment and gameplay testing

• Planning the combat, enemy, combo, and character systems

The pole mechanics are especially important because they are intended to become a major part of the game’s identity.

All playable characters will be able to interact with poles, although certain characters will have much greater control, mobility, and combat potential while using them.

At this stage, many of the mechanics are being tested without final animations, finished character models, detailed environments, or polished effects. The goal is to make sure the foundations work before adding the presentation that will bring everything together.

I am also learning as I go.

I did not begin this project already knowing every part of game development. I am learning Blueprint scripting, gameplay systems, level design, animation workflows, character design, and the many other pieces required to turn an idea into a working game.

That process will involve mistakes, changes, experiments, and systems that may need to be rebuilt as I improve.

That is also part of what Building Project Dymes will cover.

I want this series to show more than finished artwork and polished ideas. I also want to document the actual process of learning, testing mechanics, developing the world, making creative decisions, and gradually turning Project Dymes into something people can play.

What Should I Cover Next?

This is only the beginning.

There is much more to introduce, including the women of the Dragon’s Den, the city of Regalis, the rival clubs, the combat system, the story, the enemies, and the deeper mythology surrounding Dynah.

For the next entry in Building Project Dymes, what would you like to see?

Should I introduce the main playable characters, take a closer look at the Dragon’s Den, explain the combat and pole mechanics, or begin breaking down the opening story?

Let me know what part of Project Dymes you would like to explore next!

Peace and God Bless!