Dev Blog #1 — Welcome to Project Rialto

Written By Maxwell Spiegel

Welcome to the very first official Dev Blog for Project Rialto.

Over the past several months, our team has been hard at work building the foundations of our game.Today, we’re excited to officially open the doors to our development journey dev updates.

This blog marks the beginning of our commitment to share frequent updates, behind-the-scenes insights, design challenges, and key milestones as we move toward our April 2026 MVP build.

What Is Project Rialto?

Project Rialto is a historical RPG set in 1492 Venice, centered around trade, craftsmanship, and story in one of the most economically vibrant cities in history. Our goal is to create a deeply immersive experience where mechanics and historical authenticity reinforce each other.

Development Progress So Far

MVP (Minimum Playable Prototype)

At the start of 2026, we refined our MVP scope to better align with expectations and our April milestone.

The focus of the MVP is:

  • Greyboxed environment for clarity and iteration speed

  • Unreal mannequin NPCs for rapid prototyping

  • Clean, optimized systems (removing unnecessary plugins)

  • Stable, debuggable gameplay loops

The goal is simple: clarity, stability, and strong core mechanics.

Behind the scenes, this has included:

  • Crafting system implementation (including blacksmith gameplay start, cinematic camera switching, recipe loading, and movement locking during crafting)

  • Vendor dialogue systems with improved interaction flow

  • Questline implementation

  • Compass system with NPC markers

  • Ambient NPC systems

  • Menu restructuring and UI refinement

  • Removal of performance-heavy systems (Lumen, Oceanology) to streamline the build

This groundwork ensures that when testers play the prototype, they understand the gameplay immediately.

Environment & Art Direction

While the MVP remains greyboxed, visual production continues in parallel on a dedicated art level.

Environment & Materials

  • Completed brick materials with multiple variants (floor and wall)

  • Reworked materials

  • Began development of Istrian stone materials for canal walls

  • Blocked out streets, gates, scaffolding, cargo areas, and blacksmith interiors

  • Clutter passes across key areas including Rialto Plaza and Ruga Vecchia

We’ve placed particular emphasis on studying effective production pipelines. Research into workflows from similar game artists has helped inform our modularity, trimsheet usage, and optimization strategy.

Props & Hero Assets

  • Fountain hero asset completed and textured

  • Alchemy set prepared for import

  • Multiple blacksmith-related props (horseshoes, axes, anchors, bells, locks & keys)

  • Cart, wagon, baskets, cargo prefabs, and marketplace clutter

  • Vegetable and food assets for market authenticity

The greybox phase is nearing completion, and the world is beginning to feel structurally coherent.

Systems & Gameplay

Our systemic foundation continues to evolve:

  • Crafting interaction now fully triggers via bench interaction

  • Cinematic camera transitions during crafting

  • Recipe data loading integrated

  • NPC spawn manager implemented

  • Crowd NPC blueprint created

  • Vendor inventory timing improvements

  • Pause behavior integrated when UI opens

We’re building toward a vertical slice that communicates a clear gameplay loop: interact → craft → trade → progress.

Prototype Build (Work in Progress)

Studio & Strategic Developments

Investment & Funding Preparation

We are actively preparing for a polished private demo in April 2026.

To support this:

  • MVP documentation has been formalized

  • Plugin bloat reduced for cleaner builds

  • Recruitment efforts launched (Open Applications now live)

  • Continued research on grant opportunities and investors.

Open Applications Now Live

We have officially launched Open Applications for Project Rialto. If you are interested in joining our Project please check here.

As we scale carefully and strategically, we’re seeking passionate collaborators aligned with our long-term vision. Recruitment discussions and reviews are being handled internally, and we’re excited about having new members join the project.

Looking Ahead

February marks strong momentum. The MVP is stabilizing, the greybox is nearing completion, and systems are beginning to interlock in meaningful ways.

We’re just getting started.

For questions please contact us here.

Thank you for being here at the beginning of this journey.

— The Project Rialto Team

Maxwell Spiegel