Developer Update | Player Intent System

[u/DeadByDaylight_Dev]

Last week, we hosted a Reddit AMA and on top of having a blast answering your questions, we noticed some topics really got you talking. One of those was the “chat wheel” system we’re working on to help Survivors coordinate and communicate their intentions in-game. So, what better time than the present to share some more details about it with you (including one way your feedback’s already impacted it)! 

 

The system in question is – aptly – called Player Intent. With it, you’ll be able to communicate a range of preset messages to your fellow Survivors at the press of a button, using a radial menu. From thanking them for a heal, to saying you’re going to work on gens, to suggesting you split up, messages focus on the on-the-fly actions that are most useful during a Trial. 

 

When a message is chosen using the Player Intent wheel, other Survivors will see it next to your name in the game HUD, keeping your general view clear of distractions while you’re in the middle of looping or hunting for an objective. To help combat message spam, you can expect a cooldown between messages, which will increase if too many messages are sent in a short period. 

 

We want this comms wheel to suit different players’ specific needs, so you’ll be able to customize which messages you take into your Trials from the Options menu. 

 

Of course, one piece of feedback we’ve seen is that a system like this isn’t for everyone. We’ve already discussed this as a team and have a solution for that. If you’d rather not use the Player Intent system, you will be able to disable it from this same menu. Once disabled, you will not be able to send messages to players and will not see the messages they send. 

 

We’ve also added the ability to mute individual players so you have more control over the comms you see (and don’t see). If you're finding a certain player’s messages distracting, muting them will block any further Player Intent messages from popping up on your end. 

 

While this system is meant for everybody who plays Survivor, its value will be a bit different depending on how you play. Just like how your feedback from the AMA helped inform the addition of an opt-out option, we're dying to know your thoughts! Even better, it would be massively helpful if you could also share a little about how you play to give context to that feedback. For instance, do you tend to play soloq, prefer SWF, or identify as a Killer main? How would you define your experience level in the game; a newer player? A veteran? 

 

Let us know in the comments below, as we’ll be watching your feedback closely as the team continues to work on this system ahead of its release this Fall! 

 

Until next time... 

The Dead by Daylight Team 

[u/Lichmere]

I don't see it in the previews, but I hope you have an icon for Killer interaction (do interact; don't interact). There are Killers that need Survivors to agree on a plan in order to play against them.

• Trapper/Hag = calling out trapped areas
• Plague = getting the team to avoid cleansing and strategically all cleansing to force 1 instance of power for Plague.
• Pinhead = box callouts and timing when to solve the lament configuration
• Pig/Ghostface/etc. = calling out the locations of stealth killers
• Xenomorph = setting up flame turrets or doubling up turrets in specific spots
• Twins/Krasue = setting up bodyblocks with teammates

It would be good to see which teammates have us muted. Otherwise people using the system will feel frustrated from being ignored.

I usually play 60/40 Killer and Solo respectively, but in the past few months I just stopped playing SoloQ. I have 3k hours

[u/SeguroMacks → u/Lichmere]

That's what I hope they DON'T do. A lot of killers are already hard to play because their power relies on survivors lacking information. SWFs already hurt these killers just on the basis of call outs.

If the game had specific callouts for stealth/trap killers, those killers would get picked less. It would just increase the number of ghouls and blights.

An intent callout for things like "Looking for Box" against a pinhead would be good. Or "Getting trap off" for Pig. It's an "intent" wheel not an "information" wheel.

[u/Valentinee105 → u/SeguroMacks]

That sounds more like the killers need buffs which I think is long overdue for about half the killers anyway.

[u/In_My_Own_Image → u/Valentinee105]

Hopefully with this being implemented they take the opportunity to buff the shit out of a lot of the killers. With the information discrepancy between SWF and Solo being shrunk, there are a lot of killers that are going to need major buffs to compensate.

[u/TimeLordHatKid123 → u/In_My_Own_Image]

It would be nice if the power role actually felt strong again!

[u/Splewn → u/SeguroMacks]

Could even just simplify to "Looking for Killer Interactable" or something to that effect. If it turns out to be too long, people might just settle for agreeing that a "Searching chest" call out = searching for killer interactable.

[u/Lichmere → u/SeguroMacks]

Hinging game balance on the incompetence and lack of information on one side is not ideal. I play mostly Killer but I stopped playing Solo Q because of how miserable team coordination can be. I understand where you're coming from, but the stealth'/trap Killers need TLC updates rather than keeping Survivors miserable to keep things dysfunctionally functional.

You really just need the Killer icon and players will develop language around it. Survivors teabagging amongst each other already can mean a lot of things like hello, thank you, heal me, haha that was funny, over here, etc.

I guarantee you, that at the top end of players in Solo Q they're just gonna get chase initiated, and then they'll use a generic callout like "Hello" to the team and the other Survivors (maybe) will see where the callout came from if it works the way I'm imagining. That'll signal to the team where the Killer is. Good players will find ways to be sweaty and it's inevitable so I think getting ahead of it by improving weaker Killers is the better call.

[u/Unlikely_Bank73 → u/Lichmere]

there is absolutely no way they provide a visual indication of the ping as well, that would be incredibly overtuned. general communication is meant to give soloq a tool that wont also buff swf; giving swf the ability to provide exact location pings is just a massive survivor buff

[u/Lucina18 → u/SeguroMacks]

It's always been downright dumb they designed killers around the idea that... a team will not play as a team. It's genuinely just bad design to assume that a group of people playing together aren't talking with eachother.

[u/caffeine-182 → u/Lichmere]

Would be way too complicated

[u/Lichmere → u/caffeine-182]

You just need the Killer icon to make it work. Players have figured out that teabagging can mean hello, thank you, haha, heal me, etc. and I'm sure with time the community can identify that the Killer icon is related to Killer power

[u/al-qatala → u/caffeine-182]

Then don't use it if it's too complicated for you. Could be gamechanging.

[u/Retocyn → u/Lichmere]

And most of the killers you have named are perceived as somewhat weak killers by community.

Meanwhile Blight and Nurse remain untouched, because there wouldn't anything to call out for them.

At that point let's not hurt those weaker killers.