I Created The Best Dead by Daylight Mechanic
Hey everyone! This is my first and only interaction on the forums here, I made my account specifically for this post. At three thirty in the morning I woke up from a dream and that dream was, for whatever reason, about a new Dead by Daylight mechanic. There was so much detail and so many layers to the mechanic in this dream that I couldn't help but think about it further. After eventually coming to terms with the fact that two hours of sleep was all I was getting tonight I figured I would spend some time writing out the concept and sending it to the feedback and suggestions board on the main Dead by Daylight website. As I wrote it out and thought about it more I became completely enamored with the idea, fleshing it out exponentially more than my dream initially presented it. I'm not sure at all how much attention their feedback and suggestions messages get or if it'll even pass by the eyes of an actual person so I wanted to share it here. If the community deems it a good direction and this post gets enough interest, that could be the very thing that brings it to Behaviour's attention so I copy and pasted my message into this post down below. Please leave your feedback and thoughts! I'd love to hear your ideas on the mechanic, whether you would or wouldn't want it in the game, and Summons you think would be a good fit in Dead by Daylight. And if you would like to see it in game, please do whatever you can to let Behaviour know. Thank you guys so much and remember, I wrote this all up in the middle of the night on two hours of sleep and off the starting point of an idea in a dream so I'm sure its plenty rough around the edges! Also, sorry for the extensive read haha
With Invocations being a new gameplay element coming to the game soon in the All Things Wicked chapter there has been a great deal of discussion online about the awesome potential it has and how DbD would benefit from more objective types and ways to progress a trial on both sides. The way this worked last time was survivors getting Boon totems and killers getting Scourge hooks. Now, I of course don't know for sure myself but I could make an educated guess that the team already has an idea as to what the next killer mechanic will be if not a finalized vision for it already. Despite this, I accidentally came up with a perfectly simple, yet game changing, mechanic for killers that would truly alter DbD as we know it and in a way I have yet to personally see anyone else suggest; Summons. The name can be changed to whatever you see fit of course, this is the least important part of the mechanic. This very simple concept is the ability to, through perks or an entirely new mechanic type, summon creatures and characters to your aid. The possibilities this opens for both original and licensed content cannot be overstated; the paths you could go with this truly are endless. People and monsters that would never have had a place in the game before as their own killers, or as elements of a killer's power, are now perfect fits. I created a couple different mock-up ideas to show the potential this concept has, the first of which being a licensed summon from an IP you have already done business with in the past; a Hunter Zombie from Left 4 Dead.
The Killer can place, much like a trap killers such as Trapper or Hag deploy in a trial, a Hunter Zombie. This creature can be placed on floors, walls, and ceilings if space allows. It does not move from its placement and emits hissing, growling sounds just like in the original games as a warning to survivors within a certain range. If a survivor enters its activation range, and has a clear line of sight sizable enough for the Hunter, the Hunter will leap from its mounted point and pin the survivor to the ground while emitting its iconic scream throughout the trial. The survivor can break free from its hold themselves given enough time and luck or can be saved by other survivors guaranteed, very similarly to Trapper's bear traps. So, what does this add to the game? Well, much like any Summon, this adds more faces from licenses your players love, player engagement through builds on a level that was never possible before, unique hazards and objectives to exponentially improve the freshness and uniqueness of each trial a player finds themselves in, a fun element of horror that I always see players discuss wanting in DbD through a jumpscare-esque game event, and the possibilities for further monetization and customization. One of the greatest perks of the Summon system is how easy it would be to keep each Summon balanced! Is the Hunter too hard to avoid for survivors? Or is there some other issue with its balance? Well you have a variety of options to fix this such as; increasing or decreasing the range of its hisses/growls. Increasing or decreasing the volume of its hisses/growls. Increasing or decreasing the range it can leap. Limiting whether it can full down a survivor or if it can only put a survivor in the damaged state. Changing whether it can or can't inflict deep wounds. Changing how many times it can be used in a trial. Changing the cooldown of how often it can be placed in a trial. As you can see, the options are more than plentiful and offer several avenues to tweak the Summon, positively and negatively, through any element of its functions. My idea doesn't include any way for players to modify their Summons in any capacity as this would heavily complicate the balance of the mechanic, though this is certainly something you could approach if you had the desire.
Another idea, one that has been discussed amongst the community for years, The Slenderman. At the start of a trial a random survivor is chosen by The Slenderman and must collect seven pages randomly spawned throughout the trial that are visible to all players but only collectible by the chosen. A very short grab animation is used to collect pages. As the chosen survivor collects pages, The Slenderman will appear to only them throughout the trial with increasing frequency, jumpscaring the survivor and adding a layer of true horror atmosphere. Near the end of the collection of pages static effects will appear across the screen when viewing The Slenderman and will force the survivor to scream if they look at The Slenderman for too long. Upon collecting all seven pages The Slenderman no longer appears and the perk deactivates. While The Hunter functions as a lite-trap of sorts, The Slenderman acts as an individual slow down perk that adds a new yet simple mechanic to any given trial with a very unique horror atmosphere. This once again is something that could be customized via skins and provides a character that would make the DbD playerbase overjoyed. This Summon provides just as many, and simple, options for balancing such as; changing the intensity of visual effects present when viewing The Slenderman. Changing how visible and easy to find pages are. Changing how long a survivor must look at The Slenderman to initiate a scream. Changing whether or not this perk activates at the start of a trial and if not, by what means it is activated. These options ensure survivors aren't powerless against the effects of the perk, but are also still pressured by a terrifying being.
A third licensed Summon I considered was Mr. X from the Resident Evil franchise. Just like in the original game, this ruthless tyrant is an unstoppable pursuer, slow but devastating. At the start of a trial Mr. X spawns alongside the killer and slowly searches for the current obsession. Upon finding the obsession Mr. X stops at nothing to reach them, following them wherever they go. He can be stunned by flashlights and similar tools, pallets, and is affected by any slows the killer is such as Champion of Light. He ignores gens and cannot destroy pallets or walls. If the obsession changes by any means during the trial, Mr. X will search for that new target instead of his previous one. If Mr. X reaches the obsession he will swing, damaging them by one health state. Mr. X ignores other survivors who are not the obsession but will swing and damage them as well if he is body-blocked for a sufficient amount of time. Mr. X will function as a stronger version of Nemesis' zombies, but sacrifices the ability to be in two places at once as well as the ability to pressure all survivors indiscriminately. Instead, he is a single entity that pressures a specific target. This intimidating and unrelenting pursuer would add the same paranoia and tension he did in his own game as he would function in the same way, just like my previous two Summon suggestions. He also comes with plenty tweaking options such as changing his movement speed, what he is and isn't stunned/slowed by, what he can and can't interact with, how long he is or isn't present in the trial and by what means he can be activated in a trial if not simply present at spawn. These three licensed Summons fit perfectly in the game, are characters players love, can be monetized and customized through skins, add countless new experiences and build synergy, provide new mechanics and hazards for players to interact with, refresh the gameplay loop making each match much more different and unique than before, and pave the way for characters and licenses that weren't possible as Killers themselves.
I also considered Summons such as Jigsaw through tv's that spawn around the map and speak to the players or a Facehugger egg that acts as a mine/trap survivors can set off. There are even more directions you could take with original Summons, doubling as ways to look further into the world of DbD and expand on lore. Creatures from The Void, ghosts and demons, an original "Weeping Angel" kind of enemy that requires the attention of the player, alternate reality versions of survivors and killers only hinted at before in lore entries, you name it. All of these add fresh experiences to the game, heavily shift the gameplay loop, and can be customized. I truly do believe that the development and inclusion of this mechanic, or your own unique variation of it, really could act as a sort of "DbD 2.0" update. This single mechanic fixes so many problems the game might have, adds so much replayability and customization, as well as providing that true horror element players have wanted and discussed for years. All while being an extremely safe addition due to the simplicity and flexibility of its balancing options. The creativity of both you the developers and us the players would explode with the inclusion of this mechanic. Players and devs alike come up with ideas for their games all the time, some good and some not so much. Myself included. But I truly believe this could be one of the greatest additions to Dead by Daylight anyone might come up with. I'm sure you all get ideas and feedback constantly throughout each day but it would mean the world to me and your fans if this specific suggestion was truly considered and tinkered with. I love Dead by Daylight, I love this universe you've created and the characters that live in it, and I love the work everyone at Behaviour does. Thank you for your time!
And that's everything I came up with in the moment. If you made it this far I'd like to thank you once again for your interest and support.
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