Quality HUD Update (What DbD needs)

NMCKE

Hello, I absolutely love DbD and play this game casually. However I want to suggest something for both survivor and killers as a QoL change. This wouldn't change the game at all, it will just make the game look more polished and give more information to the player.

SURVIVORS:

HOOK HUD:

When you are on a hook, the only way to tell how much time you have left is by looking underneath your health state portrait. However this can be misleading and hard to tell exactly when you'll enter the second or third phase of sacrifice since the bar moves very slowly. I want another red bar but I want it to be bigger and placed underneath the "Attempt Escape" progress bar. I know this is unneeded but again, I value polished updates then I do balance most of the times so please make this a thing if you can! You can also add progress indicators that tell you if your being sacrificed faster (Monstrous Shrine) or slower (Future perks).

DYING STATE:

Same idea with the "HOOK HUD" QoL change!
Additionally, it should slightly cover the screen with more blood because it adds to the already awesome effect that your actually dying. I know this is unneeded but I really want the game to have a great atmosphere feeling to it rather a null feeling to it.

KILLERS:

HOOK HUD:

Instead of showing the red bar underneath the survivors' portraits, maybe a % value? Let's say 0-49.9% represents phase 1, 50-99.9% represents phase 2, and 100% represents phase 3. This helps the killer know when someone will enter the next phase of sacrifice and help optimize his gameplay. Remember only the killer gets this QoL change, not the survivors unless you all have different opinions than me which I'd love to hear!

DYING STATE:

Same idea with the killer's version of the "HOOK HUD" QoL change but instead it will start at 100% then decrease to 0% (Dead).

Feedback is always appreciated but please don't be jerks if you disagree with my idea!

Tsulan

I´d prefer the "less is more" approach to the hud.
Maybe no hud at all. No indicators, warning signs, nothing.

Could be the hardcore mode. Where the killer only see´s the amount of survivors in his lobby. Not if they joined together or what equipment they have. No scratchmarks, no terror radius, no indicators of other survivors status, no auras, simply nothing.

A true horror game(mode)

NMCKE

Tsulan said:

I´d prefer the "less is more" approach to the hud.
Maybe no hud at all. No indicators, warning signs, nothing.

Could be the hardcore mode. Where the killer only see´s the amount of survivors in his lobby. Not if they joined together or what equipment they have. No scratchmarks, no terror radius, no indicators of other survivors status, no auras, simply nothing.

A true horror game(mode)

I wouldn't mind your idea at all but it seems like the developers want to give more information to the player. In the Q&A 2, they were talking about having Kindred as a base mechanic for survivors in general which I'm completely okay with!

However DbD developers need to make more hardcore perks like No Mither because currently survivor is just too easy for me. 

rj1567

Personally for the hook hud i would like somthing like a yellow or just brighter line at the mark at which you will enter the 2nd phase same for killers as a % isn't very useful as there are just 2 points at which something happens and more stuff on the hud isn't something i would like tbh

NMCKE

rj1567 said:

Personally for the hook hud i would like somthing like a yellow or just brighter line at the mark at which you will enter the 2nd phase same for killers as a % isn't very useful as there are just 2 points at which something happens and more stuff on the hud isn't something i would like tbh

That's definitely fine as well! Basically anything that can give survivors or killers QoL changes. However I really want the hook progress bar underneath your "Attempt Escape" progress bar with a line dissects the hook progress bar in half.

Tsulan

@Nickenzie said:
Tsulan said:

I´d prefer the "less is more" approach to the hud.

Maybe no hud at all. No indicators, warning signs, nothing.

Could be the hardcore mode. Where the killer only see´s the amount of survivors in his lobby. Not if they joined together or what equipment they have. No scratchmarks, no terror radius, no indicators of other survivors status, no auras, simply nothing.

A true horror game(mode)

I wouldn't mind your idea at all but it seems like the developers want to give more information to the player. In the Q&A 2, they were talking about having Kindred as a base mechanic for survivors in general which I'm completely okay with!

However DbD developers need to make more hardcore perks like No Mither because currently survivor is just too easy for me. 

Inbuild Kindred will hurt the game a lot. Survivors will waste no time by checking the hook. They´ll stay on their gens, because they see 1 of them is close to the hook. They can also see if 1 of them suddenly starts to loop, because the killer chases him. Survivors underestimate the change. It´s a huge thing.

Survivor is not only to easy for you. It´s generally to easy. This makes it even easier.

I still remember when there were no indicators. Survivors had to pay attention. "Was that guy who went down injured, or is NOED active." But right now, it gives to much information. Huntress lullaby is given away, even before it has any effect. I can see the killers terror radius, because UP suddenly appears on me HUD.

Skorpanio

@Tsulan said:

Inbuild Kindred will hurt the game a lot. Survivors will waste no time by checking the hook. They´ll stay on their gens, because they see 1 of them is close to the hook. They can also see if 1 of them suddenly starts to loop, because the killer chases him. Survivors underestimate the change. It´s a huge thing.

Survivor is not only to easy for you. It´s generally to easy. This makes it even easier.

I still remember when there were no indicators. Survivors had to pay attention. "Was that guy who went down injured, or is NOED active." But right now, it gives to much information. Huntress lullaby is given away, even before it has any effect. I can see the killers terror radius, because UP suddenly appears on me HUD.

I fully agree on this and all I can say is that I wish for it to never get through the ptb.
At the beginning of the devstream they talked about the killers beeing in need of some buffs.
And after that they went into talking alot more about survivor buff such as this kindered nonsense!

PS: A inbuilt kindered will also indicate where the trapper/hag puts his/her traps down.
Honestly I just think it's too much, but what do I know?

Unknown

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NMCKE

Skorpanio said:

I fully agree on this and all I can say is that I wish for it to never get through the ptb.
At the beginning of the devstream they talked about the killers beeing in need of some buffs.
And after that they went into talking alot more about survivor buff such as this kindered nonsense!

PS: A inbuilt kindered will also indicate where the trapper/hag puts his/her traps down.
Honestly I just think it's too much, but what do I know?

Solo Q and SWF need comms so they can be equally strong. This gives the developers a foundation for balancing the game so they don't have to worry about nerfing or buffing one side. If comms was introduced for both Solo Q and SWF... The developers can either nerf or buff SWF and solo Q easily without over complicating things which I think is what they are doing right now with Kindred IMO.

Peanits

I, too, prefer minimal HUD over numbers all over. There was a stream waaaaaay back where they mentioned this is also their approach as well.

With that said though, I think the hook part of it could still be addressed. Rather than having a percentage, just have a separate icon for the second hook phase (regular hook icon with entity tendrils). Possibly also putting a small notch on the bleedout bar to show when that second hook phase is going to happen. This would benefit both sides equally, letting you know how much time you have left to get a save, or to let you know, "Hey, this guy's almost phase 2, I should stick around for a second to make sure nobody saves him until that happens."

I'd also be nice if they smoothed out the rough edges in the transitions. It seems like phase 2 actually starts a couple seconds before the animation does, leading to some cases where you appear to get unhooked in phase 1, only to die instantly on hook next time. It would be nice if that was synced up as well.

For bleedout, I think it does an okay job already. The bar gives you a pretty good idea of how much time you have left. As for screen effects, I'm not sure how I feel about the blood. If anything, I would say just add the BT effect during the last ten seconds or so of bleedout (where everything loses colour, as if you're slipping).

NMCKE

Peanits said:

With that said though, I think the hook part of it could still be addressed. Rather than having a percentage, just have a separate icon for the second hook phase (regular hook icon with entity tendrils). Possibly also putting a small notch on the bleedout bar to show when that second hook phase is going to happen. This would benefit both sides equally, letting you know how much time you have left to get a save, or to let you know, "Hey, this guy's almost phase 2, I should stick around for a second to make sure nobody saves him until that happens."

I'd also be nice if they smoothed out the rough edges in the transitions. It seems like phase 2 actually starts a couple seconds before the animation does, leading to some cases where you appear to get unhooked in phase 1, only to die instantly on hook next time. It would be nice if that was synced up as well.

For bleedout, I think it does an okay job already. The bar gives you a pretty good idea of how much time you have left. As for screen effects, I'm not sure how I feel about the blood. If anything, I would say just add the BT effect during the last ten seconds or so of bleedout (where everything loses colour, as if you're slipping).

Thank for your feedback! Yes, I agree that we shouldn't complicate the HUD. However I do feel like the hook phases should be more easier to know when they are going to happen. As well as the transitions because one time I kobed and then entered phase 3 when I was hooked again

Dying State, hmm, I actually am interested in the BT effect. Maybe at 4 minutes you would have a colored screen and as you keep bleeding out your screen will slowly transition to the BT screen. I think that would add more tension to the survivor IMO. You should tell the DbD team about your idea @Peanits!