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How to make generators less boring
A while back I did a poll of sorts asking if survivor mains were willing to make their interactions more dangerous if it also made them more fun. Much to my surprise, the answers were overwhelmingly positive. This is one of the reforms I'd like to see.
As we know, most interactions in Dead by Daylight boil down to holding M1 for prolonged periods of time and occasionally tapping the space bar. However, it doesn't have to be like that. This thread is going to focus on generators because I'm sick and really can't be bothered to type up everything at the same time. It's going to be a long thread, and there's no TL;DR section.
In the intro movie, generators are repaired by "hotwiring". In-game, survivors seem to stick their hands in the generator and move them around for a bit. With those things in mind, this is what I'm proposing:
- M1 starts the interaction, as per usual. M1 also ends it. You do not need to hold M1 to keep it going.
- Once the interaction has started, the screen changes to focus on the part of the generator that's in front of you.
- Once the camera has shifted, you are given mini-games, of sorts, detailed below.
- Each completed mini-game will move your camera deeper into the generator.
- The repair speed will be at the normal rate of 1 c/s while you're solving the mini-games, but it will deteriorate over time all the way down to zero if you do nothing for a prolonged period of time. Completing a mini-game resets the repair speed.
- Skill checks will now depend on how quickly you complete a mini-game. If you take too long (longer than it takes for the repair speed to drop to 0 c/s), it will be as if you'd failed a skill check.
- If you fail a skill check, you'll be back in third person as your character moves away from the generator, but only for a brief moment.
- When you cancel the interaction, either by pressing M1 or being grabbed, the progress you gained during the mini-game will be reset completely. In other words, your progress is only "applied" after you complete a mini-game.
To start the generator, you have to correctly guess which two of 4-8 wires you need to connect. The wires are coiled together, except for the ends that you can manipulate, but only two are actually connected to the generator. To make this easier and less tedious than just blind luck, if you pick up a correct wire and connect it to an incorrect wire, you will see electricity shoot out of the correct wire into the incorrect one. Furthermore, the wires will be split 50/50 on either side of the screen, so you only need to connect one wire from one side to one wire on the other side.
Once the generator has been started, you will be given a screen with two large gears on either side, and a bunch of smaller, loose gears. One of the large gears will have a certain rotation. Your goal is to place the smaller gears in such a way that the static large gear will rotate as indicated. There are more small gears than are needed, to prevent people just stacking gears so they "fit". Making the large gear rotate in the opposite direction or getting the gears stuck will be as if you'd missed a skill check. This will continue until the generator has been repaired.
That's my idea on how to redesign generators so they're not as boring as they are now. Suggestions for totems and sabotage will follow if the feedback is positive.
Comments
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I see a Vote Up, but replies would be appreciated.
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It would be impossible to watch out for the killer if you're playing generator mini games though.
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Which is why I made the poll thread first, and most people were in favor of making interactions more dangerous if they were also more fun.
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I would find it more fun if the button to hit the skill check changed each time.
Like the skillchecks would be slower (not too slow) but the button to hit the skillcheck changed each time.
So maybe i have to press X instead of Space.
So nerves of steel or fail the SC
The button pool would be limited so it cannot be ANY key but still gives more interaction than just Spacebar.
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QTEs are the bane of video games. One sneeze, one wrongly-timed blink and you fail.
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It's a funny idea to remove the boredom during repairing... and make it more interesting..
But while I have fun solving Minigames a Wraith, Pig, P1 Myers can sneak up on me. I have no possibility to watch the map... spot the Killer in distance. See an injured survivor or other things.
I don't really know how to solve this... maybe with possibilities zu choose during a skillcheck? (Pictures of 4 cables, numbered 1-4, Press the number of the biggest cable?) I dunno...
My personal experience is... games where I sit longer than 1 gen are quite rare... so moments where I can do gens undisturbed are the "relaxing" part for me... :)
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Like I said, when I made the poll asking specifically for survivor mains' opinions, the response was overwhelmingly positive.
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Time to tag everyone who replied positively in the poll thread...
@Poweas @Ihatelife @I_am_Negan @Ryuhi @Delfador @HavelmomDaS1 @HeroLives @BlowHard74728 @Coriander @Iceman @DemonDaddy @Kagrenac @NoShinyPony
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It sounds interesting, but I would have an option were you can work the gen or take a look around. Taking a look around would stop the gen progress until you switch back to work on the gen.
Taking a look around would put you in 3rd person view with no gen progress still on the gen, and going back to work the gen would put you in 1st person view in the gen.
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Thanks for mentioning me. I'm not a survivor main nor a killer main, I play both sides pretty equally.
The idea by itself sounds good, but we need to make changes. I see issues with 0 TR killers, I see issues with the time to finish a gen (it seems like to be even faster to finish a gen).
I personally would add the second objective idea many mentioned previously like picking up parts to finish a gen.
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I like the idea @I_am_Negan said, about switching between generator repair and third person just to look around. That should solve all the problems with the one 0 TR killer. As for speed, it's only faster if you yourself can solve the mini-games very quickly. Note that the repair speed will actually decrease over time during each mini-game, until it reaches 0, if you take too long.
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Yeah I could get down with this. Thanks for the @
I don't have much to add since I didn't know how do to this either but I could get behind this idea.
However my biggest issue is that this heavily hinders survivor awareness outside of the generator. There would be no way to know if a Michael is stalking you or a Wraith is coming.
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I like the concept of more than one mini game as they require more thought than blind reaction. As for the view issue some have brought forth; have the games angled so that both the gen and a field of view are visible. Before and after each test allow survivors to swivel the view to the opposing side. If the angle is wide enough this would create small blind zones while alone but allow grouped survivors to maintain a watchful eye for one another. Solo is still viable as you can switch sides on the gen to prevent a continuous opening. In most instances you will still have tr despite the possibility of poor gen positioning or view angle. Ofcourse it may just mean you want to tackle the dangerous gens first and leave safer ones for late game.
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I play solo surv a lot, so it's important for me to see what's going on. It's not only about whether the killer is near, it's also about where another surv is getting downed, is another person going for the unhook etc.
Switching between "repair mode" and "look around mode" doesn't feel like a solution to me. It would be different for SWF groups but I don't want to see solo and SWF drifting more apart.
@GraviteaUK I like your idea. It reminds me of rhythm games. 😊
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The only thing that gens needs is a longer time to do it. 160 seconds will be good 😉
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Seriously interesting idea though. Survivors needs some skill practice though
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That seems a bit too long.
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I need to be able to look around so this change would make me a killer main.
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Ugh so doing gens makes me an even easier target, since watching out for the numerous blink nurses, prayer bead spirits, Wraiths, Myers, and Pigs ready to gank you on gens supposedly isn't enough to do.
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To everyone who says this would make generators more dangerous (which I asked in a previous thread and received pretty much only positive replies), what exactly were you expecting? The only way to make generators different is to make them more dangerous.
Right now they're easy, relatively safe, and boring. Making them more complex (and therefore opening the way to making them more fun) necessarily requires them to be more dangerous, since you will need to pay more attention to the generator instead of getting a 360º view of your surroundings.
All other reworks are just variations of "Hold M1 until completion". The most "famous" one is finding parts. Sure, you get the parts. Then what do you do? You hold M1. How exciting.
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Just want a few clarifications so I understand everything properly.
So as long as you are completing the mini-games at a reasonable pace, repair speed would continue at what I assume would be the pace that they go at normally. If you start to lag on a mini-game, the speed starts to slow until you complete the mini-game you are currently on, and if you take too long on a given mini-game, the generator explodes as though you failed a Skill Check under the current system. Is this all correct?
Also, when you say "This will continue until the generator has been repaired.", you mean that once you correctly finish a gear mini-game, you keep getting more gear mini-games to complete until your generator is finished, right?
Assuming I'm understanding this all correctly, this is an interesting idea. I guess the one concern I have with it is whether it would be doable to ensure that there's enough variety in the gear mini-game puzzles so that skilled players can't basically just memorize the different solutions and just recall them by glancing at which gears they have available or something.
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Indeed, you got everything right.
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I think the mini-games will become more repetitive than you think. Even if you create a bigger collection of games.
It is one thing to do something boring and not having to pay attention. It's 2 things to do something boring and having to concentrate on it. I think it'd be a change that you would dislike once you've tried it enough times and the feel of personal involvement would've fainted.
Your goal is not wrong here; generators are very boring indeed. But in it's current implementation, at least you can read the chat.
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Anything and everything gets repetitive with time. The goal here is to at least give players something to do that doesn't boil down to "hold M1 until completion".
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I love the idea and if the devs ever did a whole "Gen rework" that is almost exactly what I'd want. (Though it might be difficult to balance around voice communication... as with everything)
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"Anything and everything gets repetitive with time."
A lot of things may feel repetitive. Simply things with an unsure nature do not feel repetitive. RNG, scarcity etc.
Actually, the most fun thing in the match for a survivor is in fact the killer. A mechanic that would involve or increase the chances of a survivor interacting with the killer would be ideal.
The current Gen may feel repetitive, but they at least are not exuberantly demanding, rendering them the better, yet unideal solution.
I simply do not believe that any kind of mini-game would be a fun solution for generators. Even if you picked the most famous dopamine inducing mobile games, such as flappy bird or candy crush and made them thematically fitting with DBD and generators, would I want to play that 5 times each match of DBD.
I don't think that changing the complexity of the generator process is inherently flawed, but I do think that doing that in the form of anything resembling the typical mini-game would be something that everyone would be disillusioned with quite quickly as a permanent addition to the DBD formula.
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I think your idea of parts would be a good way to make doing generators more fun.
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I'm still in that "stick to the gen, hide from the killer" phase of DBD. I like doing gens. I like the sounds, the animations, and while I understand many of you are really sick of it, you do have to keep an eye out for the killer, some of whom can approach without noise or visual models. Unless you know that it's a killer who cannot stealth OR that the killer is chasing someone else, you're never safe.
I'm sick and tired of the Wiggle/Struggle mechanics, especially when they're tiring and wearing my equipment. I don't want to add more things like that, especially to something you're stuck on for minutes per game, like generators. I'll take second objectives like gathering parts over more mini-games.
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As long as it doesn't involve interactions with other players it's gonna be boring and repetitive. What makes the gameplay interesting are the unpredictable things.
Locking the camera onto the generator could already make it a lot more interesting. The permanent 360° vision is what totally kills the atmosphere - and it's the main reason why Survivors never fear repairing gens.
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Rebind wiggle to the scroll on the mouse. Save the buttons.
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I think a minigame would be just feel too much at some point in a game you play and repeat for hours and hours. Especially it would feel a little bit too artificial.
The only thing, that I could imagine, is if instead constantly holding M1, there is box with parts nearby and you have constantly run back and forth to add all parts to the gen.
This constant movement can make the interaction more interesting, because while you still can look around during the movement phases, it will really limit your 360° view from time to time. And for killers it might be easier to spot you then. Also it would limit SB users a little bit more.
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Give me a skill check sequence that's similar to Guitar Hero and I won't be bored with generators. If that's not possible I'm pretty well content with any change or no change at all as I'll prefer getting chased being a distraction.
Just my personal preference of course. If there's anything to take from my answer though I find completing generators boring. Although admittedly I'm pretty sure if you make any change that derives from the simple nature of generators less people will want to do them as a lot of survivors just want to play casually and generators are pretty much downtime as a survivor. Maybe if this was a toolbox feature or something along those lines I could see it being fine though regarding a minigame that focused in on the generator.
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Sounds a lot like Moonbase Alpha's repair minigames, except it's connecting instead of creating.
Anyway, the "focus on Generator" part will make it only easier for me to get the first hit in as Wraith, almost guaranteed with this change.
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