🕹️Dead By Daylight Breaking Down Game Design EP 4

Goal:

1. Survivor:

• Repair five generators, give other players time by evading the killer, rescue and heal other players, and escape using the powered exit generator with as many of your lives as possible in order to grow your rank.

1. Killer

• Stop gen repairs, chase other survivors in as little time as possible, sacrifice players on hooks, and kill as many players as possible in order to grow your rank.

Fundamental Experience:

1. Survivor

• Survive in an isolated, mysterious, dark map with three other people while on the hunt from a terrifyingly powerful and ruthless killer in a game of cat and mouse.

1. Killer

• Hunt a vulnerable group of four survivors while exercising your terrifying presence and power in a game of cat and mouse.

Game Mechanics:

1. Survivor
   • Choose a survivor with different perks and skills before starting the match (CD3)
   • Choose four perks, a item, addons, and an offering before starting the match (CD3)
   • You are matched with three random other players and a random killer of your rank (CD7)
   • The map and generator, chest, totem, and some other thing placement is random unless someone chose an offering which makes one thing more or less likely (CD7)
   • You can't see generator auras like the killer can
   • While repairing generators experience ability checks. If you click in the small area while getting the check, you repair more. If you click in the bigger area you pass the check but don't get bonus progress (CD2)
   • If you miss the generator skill check, the generator explodes a little, reverting progress and alerting the killer to your presence (CD8)
   • The more survivors on a generator the faster you repair (CD5)
   • When the killer is closer than 32 meters away, you begin to hear their terror radius which sounds like a heartbeat for most killers and alerts you to their presence. The loudness of the beat is proportional to how close they are (CD8)
   • The survivors have running speeds of 4m/s while most killers have running speeds of 4.6m/s
   • The killer can kick your generator which takes away some progress and visually makes it look different. Meaning if you go back to repairing it and they come back, they can tell if someone has been on the generator again
   • To hide from the killer you can crouch which slows you down but lowers your height (CD8)
   • You can hide in lockers which makes your breathing less loud and if you have a wound you can't hear it as well. But if the killer opens the locker while you're in it, you instantly get downed instead of needing to take two hits (CD8)
   • If you sprint through windows or to knock down pallets it alerts the killer to your presence but does the action faster (CD8)
   • If you hit the killer with your pallet it stuns them for a second (CD8)
   • If you brought the flashlight item, you can blind the killer by lighting it in their eyes for a few seconds especially while they are putting down a pallet (CD8)
   • If they are carrying a survivor when you flashlight them, this drops the survivor allowing them to run (CD5)
   • Some areas of the map are better for survivors to evade killer and some better for killers. For example, the shack is a place on almost every map where survivors have the advantage because of a loop which can be done that is quiet effective (CD8)
   • But, one shack of two has the basement in it. If the survivor is hooked in the basement it's worse for them because it means they must spend some of their valuable running time simply getting out of the basement meaning the killer will likely have an easier time hitting them again (CD8)
   • If the killer hits you, you are put in the injured state. Being in the injured state means the next hit downs you, and you make an audible wounded noise which makes it easier to find you when the killer is hunting. In addition, you leave blood pools which the killer can use to track you even if you aren't running and leaving scratch marks (CD8)
   • Other survivors can heal your wound, or you can heal yourself with a medkit or self-heal perk (CD5)
   • If you are downed, you drop any item you were carrying on the ground (CD8)
   • Once downed, the killer can pick you up and bring you to a hook. You can still try and get out of the pick up if the killer takes too long to bring you and you succeed on a number of skill checks (CD8)
   • Getting downed alerts the other players to your presence (CD5)
   • While downed, other players can heal you to bring you back up if the killer doesn't immediately bring you to a hook (CD5)
   • Getting hooked alerts the other players to your presence (CD5)
   • On the hook, other players must unhook you (CD5)
   • Each player has three hook lives because if you get hooked three times you are sacrificed to the entity and die. However, these hook lives can be decreased if while on the hook you spend too much time on the hook. The checkpoints for losing a hook life is halfway and at the end of the bar (CD8)
   • Every time a generator is repaired it alerts all other players and the killer to where it was done (CD2)
   • Throughout the map totems and chests are scattered randomly
   • Totems can be cleansed to get a small boost to your bravery score which adds to your score at the end of the game (CD2)
   • Chests can be searched to find an item (CD2)
   • Once all gens are powered, the exit gates become powered (CD2)
   • If you power the exit gates in a short animation they open and you can escape by running through (CD2)
   • Powering the exit gates starts a timer on the map for players to escape or they die (CD8)
   • The hatch always appears when as many generators are completed as one + the number of survivors. Except for when there is one survivor. Than it appears immediately (CD8)
   • The hatch is a second means of escape for survivors. Before the exit gates are powered it appears closed but can be opened with a key. Once the exit gates are powered it automatically opens. Except when there is only one survivor left. Than it is opens right away regardless of exit gates (CD8)
   • Once the round is over you are given a score across four dimensions for how you played. Objectives, Boldness, Altruism, Survival. Objectives refers to how well you helped with objectives (repairing gens). Boldness refers to how well you helped your team by sneaking away from or escaping the killer during chases. Altruism refers to how well you healed, or unhooked survivors during the match. Survival refers to how well you survived, and how many lives you survived with
   • Scores during a trial are converted to blood points at the end. Scores are compiled during many things in a trial including doing objectives, being bold, being altruistic, surviving, cleansing totems, searching a chest, and more. Sometimes, special events occur which allows you to get score events in that way too (CD4)
   • Bloodpoints are the general currency in DBD which you can use to upgrade your blood web, giving new items, perks, addons, and offerings (CD4)
   • At some point while going through the blood web, the entity spawns at the opposite side, slowly eating away the things you could have gotten from that part of the blood web, meaning there's strategy to where you upgrade into cause you can't get everything from the blood web (CD6, CD8)
   • If you go through an entire blood web, your character levels up. Characters can get to level 50 before you can rest to level 50 and give them a prestige showing your dedication to the character and unlocking cosmetics (CD2)
   • The higher in level you get the bigger your blood web gets and the more likely you find rare things (CD6)
   • There are 27 general perks available to any character you can find in any blood web as a survivor
   • Each survivor has three unique perks you start with if you play them in their load out
   • Every perk has three rarity levels which makes them stronger once you unlock them in that characters tree
   • Prestige 1, 2, and 3, on a character allows for that characters unique perks to show up in the bloodwebs of other characters are rarity level 1, 2, and 3 respectively (CD4)
   • Those same unique perks can be bought from the shrine of secrets
   • Many mobility or escape perks (e.g., Dead Hard, Sprint Burst, Lithe) trigger a status effect called Exhaustion, which disables the use of other exhaustion perks for a set time (e.g., 40s) (CD3)
   • While each perk can be used alone, many builds depend on synergies (e.g., Borrowed Time + Kindred + We'll Make It for hook rescues) (CD3)
   • While you’ve focused on generic killer mechanics, every killer has a unique power (e.g., Huntress’ hatchets, Nurse’s blink, Blight’s rush). Survivors must adapt playstyles depending on the killer type (CD3)
   • Line-of-sight, environmental occlusion (e.g., tall grass, corners), and sound management are all stealth tools beyond crouching or hiding in lockers (CD8)
   • DBD lacks voice chat or pings. Survivors rely on game sense, visual cues, and occasional perks (e.g., Bond, Empathy, Kindred) to understand teammate behavior. This adds challenge and reward to coordinated play (CD3)
   • Totems now have added value via boon totems (survivor-activated buffs like Circle of Healing) and hex totems (killer-activated debuffs like Hex: Ruin). Survivors can bless dull totems instead of cleansing them to create aura-based boons, visible to all teammates within a radius (CD3)
   • Survivors who walk instead of run don’t leave scratch marks, which killers rely on heavily for tracking (CD8)
   • Survivors can be Exposed (next hit = downed), Oblivious (no terror radius awareness), or Broken (cannot be healed) depending on killer powers or perk interactions (CD8)
   • Some players use blending cosmetics (dark outfits) to make themselves harder to see—an indirect but effective gameplay tactic (CD8)
2. Killer
   • Choose one from many killers with different powers and perks (CD3)
   • You inflict a terror radius at 32 meters which gets louder the closer you are to the survivor
   • You can see all generators auras in the map
   • Survivors make gen repair noises when repairing
   • You can kick a generator to regress progress a little and put it in a dif visual so if you come back you know whether a survivor has begun repairing again (CD8)
   • The killer leaves a red stain in front of where they are looking which can be strategized to trick survivors by doing things like moonwalking and more
   • Your movement speed is usually 4.6m/s compared to survivors who's is usually 4m/s
   • Killers rely heavily on scratch marks (left by running survivors), blood pools (when injured), and sound cues (grunts, vaults, lockers) to track survivors
   • Hitting a survivor puts them in the injured state. Being in the injured state means the next hit downs the survivor, and they make an audible wounded noise which makes it easier to find the survivor when you're walking around the map (CD2)
   • Killers can vault windows, but much more slowly than survivors
   • They can break dropped pallets or kick walls (on maps with breakable walls) to open loops and reduce survivor options
   • Killers can use perks to read survivor auras (e.g., BBQ & Chili, Scourge Hooks: Floods of Rage) or deny survivors’ aura-reading (e.g., Darkness Revealed, Trail of Torment) (CD3)
   • Certain killer perks convert regular hooks into Scourge Hooks (glowing white). When survivors are hooked here, a special effect triggers (e.g., Pain Resonance causes a gen explosion) (CD3)
   • Killers can close the hatch, immediately starting the Endgame Collapse. This can deny the final survivor their escape option (CD8)
   • You can see hook auras when you are carrying a survivor
   • Scores during a trial are converted to blood points at the end. Scores are compiled during many things in a trial. Sometimes, special events occur which allows you to get score events in that way too (CD2)
   • Bloodpoints are the general currency in DBD which you can use to upgrade your blood web, giving new items, perks, addons, and offerings (CD4)
   • At some point while going through the blood web, the entity spawns at the opposite side, slowly eating away the things you could have gotten from that part of the blood web, meaning there's strategy to where you upgrade into cause you can't get everything from the blood web (CD6, CD8)
   • If you go through an entire blood web, your character levels up. Characters can get to level 50 before you can rest to level 50 and give them a prestige showing your dedication to the character and unlocking cosmetics (CD2)
   • The higher in level you get the bigger your blood web gets and the more likely you find rare things (CD6)
   • There are 27 general perks available to any character you can find in any blood web as a killer
   • Each killer has three unique perks you start with if you play them in their load out (CD3)
   • Every perk has three rarity levels which makes them stronger once you unlock them in that characters tree (CD2)
   • Prestige 1, 2, and 3, on a character allows for that characters unique perks to show up in the bloodwebs of other characters are rarity level 1, 2, and 3 respectively (CD2)
   • Those same unique perks can be bought from the shrine of secrets
   • You gain rank points and bloodpoints based on your chasing, devoutness, gatekeeper, and maliciousness. Chasing refers to your ability to chase survivors gaining points each time you find a survivor and the shorter the chase is. These points go down the more you stay close by a survivor as they are hooked. Devoutness refers to your ability to sacrifice and kill survivors. You gain points for each player sacrificed and if each player is hooked. Gatekeeper is won by slowing down generator repair. The more generators are unrepaired in the first 9 minutes of the trial the better. You get points if the exit gates aren't powered when the trial ends. Maliciousness is gained through putting pressure on survivors by injuring, interrupting, or putting them on hooks. Points are lost when survivors are healed but not lost when survivors are taken off hooks.

Game Elements

• Chance
• Strategy
• Time Limit
• Cooperation And Competition
• Rewards
• Skill Tree/Blood Web
• Map
• Procedural Generation

Octalysis Framework Of Survivors And Killers

Ways The Game Could Be Improved

Players can gain win streaks ramp ups which gives them more blood points the more times they get through a trial with a certain score. They lose this streak if they don't make it through a trial with a certain amount of points. This increases CD8 during the trial.

If a player disconnects especially toward the beginning of a trial all players receive some points so they don't get screwed by disconnection.

Add icons to the hub showing rough loadout role like healer, scout, gen repairer, etc. This way teams can better collaborate how they would like to play.

Rotating game modifiers like increased gen repair, or points for stealth, or whatnot.

More Map Events like environmental hazards or shifting layouts (e.g., collapsing floors, dynamic lighting) would heighten tension.

There needs to be a better system for learning about the different killers. It can be very confusing playing against a killer when you don’t know what their moves do. Perhaps after a round there could be a tooltip shown which allows you to read about what a killer does. Or during loading screens more tooltips are shown saying what each killer does and how to navigate their powers.

One more problem is the endgame. As soon as you reach Rank 1 in Dead By Daylight there isn't any incentive to keep playing except to prestige your characters more and more. Firstly, we could make you earn more bloodpoints simply for being in Rank 1 while levelling up. Otherwise, you actually punish players for being Rank 1 and trying to prestige their characters because it's so much harder without any added reward.

We could also add a leaderboard showcasing the score of people in Rank 1 in your certain region or by some other dynamic. This encourages you to get higher and higher in that leaderboard even after you have gotten Rank 1.