MidKnight Story - Alpha Version 1.05

I hope you are all doing great and had a spooky Halloween. I’m excited to share the latest Alpha 1.05 update for MidKnight Story, which brings a bunch of improvements, new mechanics, and bug fixes that I’ve been working on.

Visor

One of the main points of confusion during testing was clearly identifying what the player could and couldn’t climb. To address this, I introduced the Visor. When activated, it highlights climbable ledges and interactables in yellow, loot and regenerative water fountains in green, and enemies in red, making exploration and navigation much clearer.

This also allowed me to avoid relying on the usual permanent yellow paint seen in many other games, so the world can stay visually clean and natural while still giving players the information they need.

Beyond its current functionality, I’m planning to expand the Visor in the future so it can help uncover weak points on larger enemies and potentially serve other interesting purposes as the world of MidKnight Story evolves.

Skippable Cutscenes

Not much to explain here. Cutscenes can now be skipped. A small change, but it should make repeated playthroughs and testing a lot smoother, especially for those of you (and me!) revisiting the demo multiple times.

Improved Platforming and Swimming

One of the main focuses of this update was getting movement and platforming feeling just right. I decided to remove the small jump Paran used to perform in front of short platforms and replaced it with a more reactive, classic jump. After lots of testing, I realized it’s much better for the player to know exactly how Paran will behave when pressing jump. The small ledge jump felt clunky, less predictable, and in a way took agency away from the main jump, making it almost useless.

Now, Paran only has the classic jump, but it’s improved. He can jump slightly higher, and the jump can be performed again as soon as he touches the ground, making movement feel smoother and more responsive.

Along with the jump changes, I also fixed some movement glitches. Paran’s leaning animations would sometimes behave strangely when walking next to walls, and now they behave properly. I’ve also given the player more leniency: Paran will only stop moving when walking directly into a wall, making navigation feel smoother.

Swimming has also been improved. Turning animations are more pronounced, mechanics are less buggy—for example, pressing the B button twice to go underwater no longer breaks the animation—and buoyancy has been adjusted. Paran won’t be automatically pushed to the surface anymore, giving players more control over his position underwater and making exploration feel more natural.

Improved Weapon Switching

This update also makes weapon switching feel much smoother, especially for keyboard users who press F1 and F2 to switch between sword and gun. I created custom animations for the switch and made sure the walking and running animations connect properly when changing weapons.

In the previous version, Paran’s walking or running animation would reset or switch awkwardly whenever you changed weapons. Now, the animation always follows the current movement state, so switching between sword and gun feels seamless. You can see the difference in the video.

Location Names Displayed

A small but fun addition adds a bit of lore to the game. Now, when you visit a new area, a title appears showing the name of that location. It’s a subtle touch, but it helps make the world feel more alive and gives a little extra context as you explore.

Improved Foot Placement

We can finally say goodbye to awkward foot placement. I managed to fix one of the most annoying issues (at least for me) with the IK system: unpredictable foot behavior caused by the highly detailed Nanite terrain.

To solve this, I added a three-way sensor for each foot, which calculates the average slope of the ground beneath it. Previously, each foot relied on a single sensor, which meant that even a tiny but steep rock could twist the foot in strange ways. With the new multi-sensor setup averaging different slopes under the sole, Paran’s feet now stay much more stable and grounded. Movement feels far more natural and visually pleasing.

Paran's New Drip (Continued)

While improving the game, I’ve also been refining Paran’s outfit, which is now almost exactly how I envisioned it. I reworked the jacket so it fits his body better, and the new vest is more compact—perfect for an agile scavenger like Paran. In the next update, I’ll be adding the final piece of his outfit: a weapon holder for his sword on his back.

Along with the jacket, I also reworked the tank top so it aligns better with the rest of the outfit. I added a necklace as well, which holds more significance than it might first seem.

A bit of lore:

The pendant contains a Vitrium, a rare gemstone that holds latent power and can be activated only by certain individuals, Paran being one of them. This particular Vitrium is a Materialization Vitrium, allowing the user to materialize and dematerialize objects to which they are “connected.” While they might look like simple stones, their potential is still largely unknown...

In Game Manual

I added a quick manual guide so players can easily see what each button does, whether you’re using a controller or a keyboard. It’s a small addition, but it should make getting into the game and understanding Paran’s abilities much smoother, especially for new players or anyone revisiting the controls after a break.

Quality of life Improvements & Bug Fixes

As I was adding new features and improving others, I also included some quality-of-life upgrades. One of the most requested was the auto-reload feature. Now, when Paran tries to shoot and his gun is out of ammo, it will automatically reload, making combat feel smoother and less survival-like.

I also fixed several bugs and glitches I stumbled upon. For example, if you broke a vase on a ledge, the climbing system would sometimes mistake the vase debris for the height of the ledge, which could trigger the wrong climbing animation. Small fixes like this should make movement and interactions feel much more reliable.

What's Next?

In a few days, I’ll release a mini update that adds vibration support for Xbox controllers, giving a bit more immersion to the action, along with some fixes I noticed while testing the latest demo.

For the next big update, you can expect improvements to the combat and damage system. I’m still not entirely satisfied with how combat feels right now, as it can be somewhat clunky. My goal is to make it smoother and add dynamic damage animations for when Paran gets hit by small flying projectiles. These hits currently break the combo and interrupt the action too much. The new dynamic damage animations will ensure Paran still takes damage without being stopped from performing actions.

I’m also working on better executions for enemies when they’re on the ground, to make combat feel more seamless and stylish overall.

The next update will also give you a first look at some new areas, so we can finally start exploring more of what Paran’s adventure has in store. Spoiler alert: it’s going to be really cool :)

Thank you for reading and the continued support!

Your friendly indie dev,

Mattia