Dead by Daylight has been there for some time, but Behavior Interactive seems to be golden with his novel concept. It is the horror equivalent of a multiplayer arena shooter, except that one of them is a nightmarish killer, while four others take over the role of survivors who need to work together to overrise the killer and to escape intact.
According to Steam charts, the game sees every month still between 40 and 50,000 players, with peak values that are twice as high. And that’s no wonder, because Behavior has constantly put more and more content in the game and worked with the largest hats of the horror like Light Raiser, Resident Evil and Saw.
Before the latest update of Dead by Daylight, the Sadako and Yoichi from The Ring introduces the new characters, we talked to David Richard, Creative Director of Behavior Interactive, to learn more about how the team this horror icons in the game to live has awakened, the new Jump Scares and Easter Eggs as well as the future of the game.
The PC Player 24: Sadako from Ringu is an iconic figure that created a variety of media. How much influence did you take both the film and the book version of Sadako to create the game version of it? Was one more based on the other? Which investigations did you employ to bring you to life in the game?
David Richard : We have stated early in the development that we wanted to highlight and use content that most people are familiar with all over the world and which would recover the hardcore fans. It was clear to us that the original film was the right way in this sense. Our team of designers and artists dipped deep into history and any other aspect of the film to replicate the fantasy fans.
The Western audience will be better familiar with the Americanized versions of Sadako in The Ring. So how did you decide how much of your Japanese roots should be crossed? Can you say something about the differences between the two versions and what you have brought into the game?
Both films are brilliant and we could have pose each of them easily with almost the same effect. We love to keep us as far as possible to originals, and have therefore gone up with the starting material. The Onryo is based on Japanese folklore, yet it is written and presented with a modern turn, which makes it understandable and entertaining regardless of its cultural background.
Yoichi was a child in the films / books, but in the game he is an adult. Can you tell us how you decided to look like as an adult, and how they came to his background history to take the time that has passed between the books / films and the game? Did the licensee wanted to agree or were free to develop original concepts?
First of all, I have to say how happy we were that Kadokawa has allowed us to continue with this idea and create new traditions that does not exist for this character. As with all licensed content, everything we do is followed by specific guidelines and is approved by our partner. Ultimately, our goal is that the contents we have created correspond to their original intellectual property and represent their universe to a Dead by Daylight-Wise.
When we developed him, we wanted to make sure he would go into a scientific field just like his father. Since he knows that Sadako may live in the water in the open sea on the coast, we thought that the studies about the ocean has oriented him. As far as his appearance is concerned, we presented ourselves a mix of father and mother who are visible in the film. The exploration of this figure was like exploring the other two main characters. Many inspirations that find them in the history and the characteristics of Yoichi – and even in his appearance – are based on or be inspired by his father and his mother, and that was very interesting for us.
In conversation, you have said, you said when you publish new content, you want to shake up that the players are accustomed, and that new killers change the ecosystem of the game due to the new benefits and skills. How does the publication of Sadako in their opinion affect the ecosystem and the gaming experience? Was there a direction that wanted to control them deliberately?
In Ringus Universe it is not about blood, violence and the usual horror we see in slasher movies. The psychological horror, the demise that the players must feel when they face Sadako, we wanted to explore and involve them in the game. Sadako’s skills, graphics and audio create this very scary feeling in the game that is a different kind of fear. It’s more about expectation than the immediate danger. Survivors must deal with the televisions, from which Sadako could emerge every moment, and with their curse, who will finally kill them, if they are not watching.
Streamer responded to the disappearance and reappearance of Sadako in the menus of the game. How did you get the idea how the reactions have been taken by the team and there are other Sadako-related Easter Eggs like this, who can still find players in the new content?
Our team was enthusiastic about the reaction of the players! In the development of a killer we have anxiety anxiety. Not everything is equally scary. Some fear tactics are slowly burning, they slowly build up and set up the hair in your neck. Other actions of pain and blood or frightening sudden movements. Every killer has his own way to create anxiety. With Sadako we had the chance to fear in two ways. She can crawl under the skin, be very scary and fear by anticipation al1. She can also jump to jump as we see in the reaction video! As far as the Easter eggs are concerned, it would be no easter egg anymore if I would betray it now, right?
Have you ever thought about bringing content from the works of Stephen King to Dead By Daylight? One of our authors would like to see how Jack Torrance from The Shining as a new murderer next to his wife Wendy appears as a survivor. Is there similar other horror works that you have kept in mind for the future, and could betray that that are?
It is no surprise that I personally bin a big fan of Stephen Kings. The opportunity to work on sources that had such an impact on the horror genre and pop culture in general would be a tremendous honor. With regard to upcoming licensed characters, I do not want to spoil any surprises, but I can promise our fans that there will be both originals and licensed content for them in the future. Your readers can remember my words: they will not be disappointed.
Dead by Daylight is now available for six years. Why, do you think the game has survived all the years and how long do you intend that it continues its current state without, for example, to publish a full DEAD by Daylight 2?
Dead by Daylight as a project and as a team was built so that we are supported as long as possible. If there are players who support him, and a growing community, it makes sense for us to continue to update and support the title instead of going to a continuation. As we have seen over the years, for example in the massive visual revision of cards and characters, it is possible with difficulty and know-how to update a title even in essential points to support it even longer.