Update #5 New Character Models + Improved Movement System!
In effort to be on par with the expanding technology and evolution of Unreal Engine 4 (soon to be 5), I decided to make one last big upgrade to the main characters of MidKnight Story. I did this by increasing details, texture quality, and animation capabilities to bring you a story with the most expressive characters I can offer.
The main characters are now less stylized, and this was an adjustment for me, as I've been working with the older, more stylized 3D models for a long time. But this was also intentional: now, they are more similar to how the other citizens look, and they fit the overall style more cohesively.
With an overhauled 3D model for Paran, I had to readjust his outfit as well. Because of that, I took the chance to restyle it as well, basing his new design on the 90s/early 2000s hero archetype with a dash of late 80s as well, evidenced in the jacket.
In the following days, I will update the website’s gallery with the new version of Paran and Sumael.
The past couple of months, I’ve also been focusing on creating dozens of new animations aimed at making our hero's movement feel dynamic, natural, and at the same time more responsive to the player's input. Here's a first look at how Paran traverses a hostile desert environment:
What follows is a comprehensive list of features that I have either added or improved:
SPRINTING
The player can now explore the world of Numia even faster thanks to the sprint ability.
Unlike in many other games, sprinting doesn't wear down Paran’s stamina; this way the player will be able to sprint across the entirety of the World of Numia. I also plan to add sprinting capabilities to the swimming system.
NEW TURNING ANIMATIONS
Whenever the player decides to abruptly change direction, Paran will display different turning animations according to the direction and velocity. When the direction change is not abrupt, our hero will lean into the desired direction to help the turn feel more dynamic. As a side note, I made sure that the player is always able to cancel these turning animations when jumping or dodging enemies' attacks. My goal was to find a balance between having fluid and realistic animations without them being an obstacle to the player's control of the character.
IMPROVED SLOPE BLENDING ANIMATIONS
Paran's animations will lightly change according to the steepness of the surface that he finds himself on. When the slope is extremely steep, Paran will also use his hands to maintain his balance and climb up the slope.
IMPROVED JUMPING ANIMATIONS
I rebuilt the jumping and landing animations from scratch, here too altering the gravitational speed and force. I always felt that Unreal Engine 4's default jumping mechanics were a bit too floaty so I decided to customize them as to add more weight to the character.
DYNAMIC FACIAL ANIMATION SYSTEM
I decided to instill even more life in the characters by giving them a fully dynamic facial animation system that picks a specific animation to play from dozens of prerecorded clips according to the action the characters are performing.
For example, if our hero is walking he will perform a custom facial animation that fits his walking animation. If he is sprinting, naturally his face will now appear more fatigued.
I've also built a library of micro facial animations to use whenever small events occur like jumping, landing, turning, and so on. These micro animations are randomly picked from specific groups so that they will fit Paran's body animation while still appearing natural and unique.
STINGRAY, THE HOVERBOARD
While working on these new features, I've also started brainstorming about the vehicle that Paran will use to explore the Numian Sea and Deserts.
Here's a rendition to show a bit of what I have in mind:
The idea is to have a mechanical hoverboard that has two main forms; one smaller and slower form with which the player will be able to perform cool tricks in the air, and one longer and faster form used mainly to travel across long distances, whether oceanic or desert.
For more detailed info, gifs, and videos regarding these improvements, check the relative Kickstarter update!
Thank you for reading!
Mattia Ciurlino, lead developer of MidKnight Story