Project Dymes: Regalis Rising Development Update – Four Months Without a Public Devlog… So What Have I Been Doing?!

Project Dymes: Regalis Rising — Development Update | October 29, 2026

Well, well, well… Look who finally decided to give y'all a proper game development update!

Welcome to the Project Dymes Regalis Rising development update! It's been about FOUR MONTHS since I released my first public development video, Devlog 00, and believe me, a LOT has happened behind the scenes!

From building combat mechanics and enemy AI to developing environments, character animations, and experimenting with AI-assisted development in Unreal Engine 5, I've been BUSY!

So, what the hell have I been doing all this time?

Apparently, making an actual video game! 😂

Let's get into it!

1. From "I Have a Game Idea" to "Wait… This Actually Works?"

When I released Devlog 00 back in June, the goal was simple: introduce the vision behind Project Dymes.

A flashy, character-driven, 2.5D arcade beat 'em up inspired by games like Streets of Rage 4 and River City Girls 2, but with its own identity, combat systems, personality, and a heavy dose of nightlife culture.

And yes, the premise is still as out of pocket as it sounds.

But at the time, a lot of what I was talking about was either conceptual, experimental, or very early in development.

Fast-forward to October, and the situation has changed considerably.

I now have a working combat framework, enemies that can actually fight back, a playable training environment, and the beginnings of an actual character production pipeline.

We're not talking about a finished game, mind you.

We're talking about the difference between having an idea written down and having systems that can actually demonstrate it.

And for my first game? That's a pretty big deal.

2. The Combat System Has Been Getting BUSY!

This has easily been one of the biggest areas of development over the last few months.

Instead of immediately throwing together a bunch of flashy attacks and calling it a day, I wanted to establish a solid foundation that could support multiple playable characters, unique fighting styles, and more advanced mechanics later.

So I've been building what I call the Universal Combat Framework.

Essentially, it's the collection of systems that governs how combat works throughout the game.

And there is a LOT happening under the hood.

Here's what's working in the prototype so far:

• Basic and advanced attacks: Light and Heavy attacks, attack strings, aerial attacks, directional moves, running attacks, and Blitz attacks.

• Special attacks: Character abilities with health costs, recovery rules, and defensive considerations.

• Combo extensions: Launchers, juggling, relaunches, wall bounces, ground bounces, and attacks against knocked-down enemies.

• Grab and throw mechanics: A foundation for grabbing opponents and incorporating throws into combat.

• Combat feedback: Hit stop, hit reactions, knockdowns, recovery, and input buffering to help attacks feel responsive.

• Multiple enemy interactions: Attacks can register against more than one opponent, rather than everything being designed strictly around one-on-one combat.

One of my priorities has been making sure the combat feels like a proper arcade beat 'em up rather than a fighting game awkwardly pretending to be one.

Because there's a difference.

And I definitely want that difference to come across when people finally get their hands on it.

Oh, and the pole combat is real.

Remember when I mentioned incorporating pole dancing into the combat?

Yeah… I wasn't joking.

I've implemented an initial pole-combat framework that allows characters to interact with poles and perform different attack types while using them.

It's still an early system, and there's plenty more I want to do with it, but the foundation exists and has been tested.

Because apparently regular beat 'em up combat wasn't complicated enough for my first game.

Why make things easy on myself, right? 😂

A major milestone

On October 13, I completed the first version of the Universal Combat Framework.

That milestone passed 50 out of 50 regression checks.

For anybody unfamiliar with game development, regression testing is basically making sure that when I add or change something, I haven't accidentally broken five other things in the process.

And trust me, Unreal Engine will absolutely humble you in that department.

That doesn't mean the combat is finished or perfectly balanced. It means the underlying systems have reached an important functional checkpoint.

Now I can spend more time developing what makes individual characters interesting instead of constantly rebuilding the fundamentals.

3. The Enemies Finally Learned How to Fight Back

For a while, a lot of development involved testing attacks against enemies that were essentially glorified punching bags.

They were useful.

They served their purpose.

But eventually, I needed something that would actually try to hit me back.

Enter Enemy AI.

I've now implemented a basic enemy combat system using Unreal Engine's StateTree technology.

In simpler terms, enemies can make decisions based on what's happening during gameplay.

They can approach the player, get into attack range, attack, recover between actions, react to getting hit, get knocked down, and eventually get defeated.

And here's the important part:

They can do this without me manually triggering every action.

I've also tested multiple enemies operating independently, which is essential for the type of game I'm building.

After several rounds of testing and fixing issues, the Basic Enemy AI V1 milestone passed 103 out of 103 checks.

Now, are these enemies going to outsmart you like some supercomputer?

Absolutely not.

Not yet, anyway.

But we've crossed an important line: the game now has opponents that can participate in an actual combat encounter.

Which means my character can stop bullying defenseless test dummies all day.

Mostly.

4. Money, Pickups, and Getting Your Ass Kicked

Another area I've been developing is the gameplay loop surrounding combat.

Because punching people is fun, but there needs to be more to the experience than that.

The scoring system

I've implemented an initial scoring system that rewards players with cash for dealing damage.

There's also a combo-tracking system and bonus scoring for certain situations, including overkill.

The overall idea is to make combat performance feel rewarding while giving players an incentive to improve.

The exact numbers and balancing will continue to evolve, but the foundation is there.

Health and pickups

I've also added a pickup system that supports health recovery and score rewards.

Players can manually collect items during gameplay, and the interaction system has been designed to work alongside other mechanics, such as grabbing enemies.

This might sound like a small feature, but anybody who's played beat 'em ups knows how important a well-timed health pickup can be.

Especially when you're getting jumped by half the neighborhood.

Player defeat

And yes, the player can lose.

I've built and tested a player defeat system, including the appropriate states and handling for when health reaches zero.

So now, instead of the game pretending nothing happened when the player gets destroyed, it can actually recognize the situation.

Character defeat, enemy defeat, score rewards, recovery, and pickups are all starting to work together.

We're building an actual gameplay loop here, people!

5. I FINALLY Started Building Real Environments!

Now THIS is where things have started getting particularly interesting.

For a long time, most of the action took place inside my original development test environment.

Nothing especially fancy.

Just a place where I could test movement, attacks, collisions, and all the other systems I was working on.

But recently, I decided it was time to start building environments that actually belong in Project Dymes.

And the first one I've been focusing on is the Self-Defense Training Gym inside Dymes Initiative HQ.

Without getting into story details, this is one of the areas being developed as part of the game's world.

And instead of just building something that looks nice, I wanted it to function as an actual playable space.

What I've added so far

The current training gym prototype includes:

• A structured room layout based on my floorplan.

• Combat lanes and boundaries designed around beat 'em up gameplay.

• Training mats, punching bags, benches, and exercise equipment.

• Wall padding, trim, architectural details, and environmental branding.

• Lighting fixtures, custom materials, and visual accents.

• Enemy placements, pickups, and gameplay testing areas.

I've also made some important adjustments to the layout and camera presentation.

One of the biggest changes was orienting the room to better support the familiar horizontal action of classic belt-scrolling beat 'em ups.

And THAT was when it really started feeling more like Streets of Rage 4.

Not because the graphics suddenly became amazing, but because the environment, camera, and gameplay were starting to complement one another.

There's still a significant amount of visual work to do, but seeing my character moving and fighting through a purpose-built environment instead of a generic testing area has been incredibly satisfying.

Even better, the gym has gone through integrated gameplay testing.

Movement, enemy AI, combat interactions, pickups, collision boundaries, camera behavior, and other essential functions have all been tested together, with the latest integrated checklist passing.

This is an important step toward eventually creating complete playable levels.

And yes, I have more locations planned.

No, I'm not showing all of them yet.

Y'all aren't getting the entire game spoiled through a blog post. Nice try. 😂

6. I've Been Experimenting With AI-Assisted Development

Now here's something I didn't expect to become such a major part of my workflow.

Over the past several days, I've been experimenting with AI-assisted tools to help speed up certain development tasks.

Specifically, I've started using Codex, Unreal Engine MCP integrations, and Blender MCP.

For those unfamiliar, MCP stands for Model Context Protocol.

In practical terms, these integrations allow an AI coding assistant to interact with supported tools and software workflows rather than simply giving me instructions to follow manually.

And for someone building their first game, that opens up some interesting possibilities.

Unreal Engine and environment creation

I've been using these tools to help construct and modify environments, place objects, adjust materials, and perform other development operations inside Unreal Engine.

I've experimented with this in Unreal Engine 5.8 and also worked on reconstructing and validating the training gym in my Unreal Engine 5.6.1 project.

That doesn't mean I just type "make my game" and suddenly have a finished product.

I wish.

What it DOES mean is that I can automate or accelerate some of the repetitive work while spending more time making design decisions, testing gameplay, and fixing the things that need attention.

There's still plenty of manual work involved.

But it's proving to be a very useful addition to my development process.

Blender and character development

I've also started experimenting with using Blender and related tools to create a more practical character-production workflow.

One of the biggest challenges for a project like this is taking a character from concept artwork to a functional 3D character that can be animated and eventually used in the game.

That's not exactly a one-button process.

I've been testing a workflow involving AI-generated 3D models, Blender, rigging tools, and Unreal Engine.

And just recently, I reached another milestone:

I successfully imported and previewed three prototype character animations in Unreal Engine!

Those animations included a combat idle, a walking cycle, and a basic light attack.

Now, before anybody gets too excited, they're still pretty rough.

There's some choppiness, and they'll need quite a bit of refinement before I'd consider them suitable for final gameplay.

But the important thing is that the pipeline works at a prototype level.

I've demonstrated that I can take a character through an initial rigging and animation workflow and get those animations playing in Unreal Engine.

Next, I'll be experimenting more with character movement, secondary-motion physics, and improving animation quality.

Because if these characters are going to be fighting, jumping, running, and doing all kinds of acrobatic nonsense, they need to move convincingly.

And that's a whole different challenge.

7. So What About the Characters?

Don't worry. I haven't forgotten about the actual stars of the game.

I've continued working on character designs, combat identities, visual direction, and how I want the playable cast to feel.

One of the biggest things I want to avoid is creating a roster where everybody feels like the same character with a different outfit.

The goal is to make the characters recognizable through their appearances, movement, strengths, weaknesses, and fighting styles.

That means paying attention to things like speed, power, durability, technique, animation, and their special mechanics.

Dynah Stee, for example, remains a major focus of the current gameplay prototype.

But there's a broader cast being developed, and I'm working toward giving them distinct personalities and gameplay identities.

I also want the art direction to feel cohesive.

I've been exploring a stylized visual approach influenced by the expressive character work of modern beat 'em ups and the attitude of classic arcade fighters.

The important thing is making sure those designs can eventually translate into actual game-ready models and animations.

Concept art is one thing.

Getting that character working inside Unreal Engine is a completely different adventure.

And I'm learning that difference firsthand.

8. About Those Members-Only Progress Videos…

Now, some of you who follow my YouTube channel more closely may have already seen bits and pieces of what I've been working on.

That's because I've also been sharing development progress through members-only content.

Those updates have given me an opportunity to document what I'm working on without necessarily turning every little development session into a full public devlog.

And believe me, there's a BIG difference between showing a feature during development and putting together a proper video that explains what I've accomplished.

Especially when you're also trying to actually finish the work you're documenting.

Which brings me back to the elephant in the room…

Where the hell is Devlog 01?

Fair question!

When I posted Devlog 00, I was essentially introducing the project and discussing what I wanted to build.

Now I've got several months of actual development work to show.

And I want the next public devlog to reflect that.

Not just another video of me talking about what I plan to do.

I want to demonstrate what has changed.

What works.

What I've learned.

What went wrong.

And, most importantly, what this project is starting to become.

I don't have a release date to announce for Devlog 01 just yet, but I have substantially more material to work with than I did four months ago.

And that's a good problem to have.

9. What Still Needs Work?

Now, as excited as I am about all this progress, I also want to make something very clear.

Project Dymes is still in active prototype development.

Having working systems doesn't mean the game is finished.

Not even close.

There's still plenty of work ahead, including:

• Improving character models, rigs, animations, and combat presentation.

• Developing complete, character-specific movesets.

• Expanding enemy variety and encounter design.

• Building and refining additional environments.

• Improving visual effects, sound, interface elements, and overall presentation.

• Fine-tuning combat balance and gameplay responsiveness.

• Connecting the existing systems into increasingly complete playable experiences.

• Continuing to stress-test everything as more features are introduced.

And that's without even getting into all the content creation and production work that comes later.

The biggest lesson I've learned so far is that getting something to work and getting something to feel GOOD are two completely different accomplishments.

A character can technically perform an attack.

But does it feel powerful?

Does the animation communicate the impact?

Can the player understand what's happening?

Does it flow naturally into the rest of the combat?

That's the type of refinement I'll be focusing on more as development progresses.

There's also the matter of making sure the systems I've built continue functioning properly as the game gets larger.

Because the last thing I want is to create something that works beautifully in a small testing room and immediately falls apart when I introduce a full stage.

That would be embarrassing.

Funny, probably.

But embarrassing.

10. Four Months Later… Was All This Worth It?

You know what's funny?

When I started talking about making my first game, I knew it was going to be a challenge.

I knew I'd have to learn new skills.

I knew I'd run into problems.

What I didn't fully appreciate was how many different disciplines go into making even a relatively small game work.

Programming.

Animation.

Character design.

Level design.

Combat mechanics.

Artificial intelligence.

Testing.

And about a thousand little details that players probably won't consciously notice unless something goes horribly wrong.

But looking at where Project Dymes was when I uploaded Devlog 00 compared to where it is now?

I'm satisfied with the direction things are moving.

Not because everything has gone perfectly.

It absolutely hasn't.

And not because I'm suddenly some expert game developer.

I'm still learning plenty.

But because I've been steadily turning things that previously existed only as ideas into systems I can actually test and improve.

Four months ago, I was explaining what I wanted this game to be.

Now I'm getting to experience small pieces of it firsthand.

And considering this is my first game, that's something I'm genuinely proud of.

So… What's Next?

The immediate goal is to keep building on the foundation I've established.

That means improving character development and animation, continuing to refine the gameplay, expanding the playable environments, and eventually bringing these different pieces together into something that feels like a proper slice of the game.

I'm also working toward having more meaningful footage to share publicly.

Because let's face it…

At some point, y'all are going to want to see the damn game instead of reading me talk about it. 😂

And I don't blame you.

There's still a long road ahead for Project Dymes: Regalis Rising.

I'm not announcing a release window.

I'm not promising a demo tomorrow.

And I'm definitely not pretending I've got everything figured out.

But after the progress I've made over these past several months, I'm more confident in the project's foundation than I was when I started.

So to everybody who's been following along, watching the videos, checking out the updates, or just wondering what the hell I've been doing lately…

Thank you.

Seriously.

I'm building something pretty ambitious for a first game, and seeing the pieces slowly come together has made the experience worthwhile.

And if you're just discovering Project Dymes for the first time?

Welcome!

You've arrived right around the point where things are starting to get interesting.

Four months without a public devlog. A whole lot of development behind the scenes. And one increasingly ridiculous first game project that I'm determined to bring to life.

See y'all in the next update - Peace and God Bless!

— L.G. / 210LG

Project Dymes: Regalis Rising is currently in active development. All gameplay systems, character models, environments, and visual elements shown or discussed are subject to change.

Follow the development journey on YouTube: @210LG