Candyman Chapter Concept
I know it's a meme to want Candyman, but I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring with a power I figured would work better than just shooting bees at people, like everyone thinks his power would be.
New Killer: Daniel Robitaille (The Candyman)
The Candyman is the son of a slave killed for having the audacity to love. Hired to paint for Caroline Sullivan, he fell in love with her, made love to her, and she prepared to bear his child. Upon learning of this, her father gathered a mob, attacking Daniel. They chopped off his hand with a rusty blade, shoved a hook into the stump, and covered him in honey, which led to him getting stung to death, dying in his beloved’s arms and transferring his soul into the mirror she held dear before the mob burned his body. From there, he became an urban legend, his story spread through the ages. He would use his hook to kill anyone who disgraced his legend by saying his name in the mirror, relentless in his chase and bearing no mercy, say for the one woman who reminded him of the love he died for. The Candyman hits survivors with his hook. His memento mori involves him crashing through a mirror that appears before the survivor, snagging the survivor’s arm with his hook and pulling them to him, where he splits them from their groin to their gullet, drags them back through the mirror, and reappears, flinging the blood off his hook.
The Candyman’s power is called Urban Legend. The Candyman will come from the mirror to slay those that disrespect him. When playing as the Candyman, 7 mirrors will spawn at various locations around the map, one always being in the basement. By looking at one and holding the Power button, he can teleport to it after a 3 second animation, getting a short speed boost similar to the Onryō’s ability. Whenever survivors pass too close to one, something around 8 meters, it will notify the Candyman of their presence. This ability has a cooldown of 30 seconds. Survivors can, by speaking into one of these mirrors, summon the Candyman through that 3 second animation. The survivor that summons him becomes Exposed for 60 seconds, and the cooldown of his teleport is pushed to 90 seconds. Survivors can only summon him one time per person per match. He also has an Active Ability. The Candyman's presence is hypnotic, as he pulls you into his words. By holding the Active Ability button for two seconds, he can emit a hypnotic field 12 meters around him that causes the obsession to stop in place, staring directly at him and being unable to move. The survivor can then attempt to perform the, "He's Not Real" action, getting a series of rapid skill checks in the vein of the yellow glyphs with the Doctor's Madness skill checks on top. If they succeed, they break free of the control, stunning the Candyman for 3 seconds. If they fail, they are stuck in place and become Exposed. If they choose not to perform He's Not Real, the Candyman is guaranteed a hit, but not a down. After that survivor is downed by the hypnosis and hooked, another survivor becomes the obsession. This ability has a cooldown of 45 seconds, which resets if the obsession switches for any reason.
The Candyman’s teachable perks are Sweets to the Sweet, Be My Victim, and Hex: Believe In Me
The Candyman would have voice lines:
-When the match starts, the voice line, "I am the writing on the wall, the whisper in the classroom. Without these things, I am nothing. So now, I must shed innocent blood," plays (every time).
-Upon hitting a survivor, he says, "What's blood for if not for shedding?"
-Upon downing a survivor, he says, "You're mine now," or, "It's time for a new miracle." If he downs them in the exit area, the voice line, "No need to leave yet," plays (every time).
-Upon picking them up, he either says, "I came for you," or, "And now I must kill you." If that survivor is the obsession, he holds them bridal style and either says, "Come with me and be immortal," or, "The pain, I assure you, will be exquisite."
-If he gets stunned, he either says, "I'll split you from your groin to your gullet," or, "Why do you want to live?"
-If he performs a locker grab, he says, "Allow me to take you," or, "We must be going now, you and I."
-Upon successfully hooking someone, he either says, "They will abandon you," or, "All you have left is my desire for you."
-If someone he's in chase with escapes through the exit gates, the voice line, "Come back to me!" plays (every time).
-Upon hypnotizing someone, the voice line, "Believe in me," "Come with me," or, "Be my victim," plays (every time).
-When summoned, the voice line, "I was obliged to come," or, "You doubted me," plays (every time).
New Survivor: Helen Lyle
Helen Lyle was a university student working to study urban legends and the effect thereof. Now that she’s said his name, she’s become more involved than she could ever wish for, and the pain, I can assure you, will be exquisite.
Helen Lyle's teachable perks are Urban Investigator, Lost In Legend, and It Was Always You.
New Map: Cabrini-Green Homes
The Cabrini-Green housing project was once home to a variety of low-dwelling activity. Aside from the murder and gang violence, it held a congregation devoted to the belief in the Candyman, a congregation that only spread his name farther.
Do note: I am not a game designer nor an expert in balancing or mathematics. If these values should be changed for balancing, whether too weak or too strong, please let me know.
Comments
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Forcing the killer to come to your location is definitely an interesting dynamic. It's kinda like Pinhead's teleport, except the killer doesn't have a say in the matter. I can imagine this being immensely frustrating at times, but the survivor becoming exposed feels like a dcently fair tradeoff, but the exposed time would need to be bumped up to like, 60 seconds or so. Either way I could see myself being very very frustrated if I was on the verge of getting a kill I really needed just to be pulled away against my will. In general I'm just not the biggest fan of abilities that can just kinda move people against their will.
What do these character's perks do though? Im curious about them.
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That's fair. I look at making powers as authentic to the source material as possible, so I wrote it to piss you off as much as it pisses off Daniel. When people, "Say his name," both in-movie and in-game, they are actively telling him, "I'm not afraid of you. Come get me, you son of a b****." It's a survivor actively taunting you, refusing to believe in your power, so though they get a slight assist for their bravery, they should still fall to the rage of the Candyman. I'll up the Exposed time to 60 seconds to really make it serious (I was going to do that initially, but figured it would sound unfair) but I hope the point of its feeling is gotten across.
As for the perks, no clue. I just thought up some neat names and figured other people better at designing fun perks could figure it out for me. I did have an idea for Hex: Believe In Me:
Hex: Believe In Me.
They will know your power and won't live long enough to forget it.
When a survivor sees you for the first time (working the same as Michael's Stalking), they become affected by the Hex. As affected survivors see you, especially when successfully using your power (as in getting score events), or as they spend time near each other, you become more powerful. Lunge distance increases, break time decreases, vault time decreases, and if any survivors die, all affected survivors scream, become Exposed for 10 seconds, and become Oblivious and Exhausted for 30 seconds. All of these effects go away if the Hex totem is broken, and this Hex can't be moved to other totems by any means. It's one and done.
I want to ask, alongside this perk idea, what do you think of the rest of it? Mainly, do you think his memento mori, obsession-based hypnosis, and voice lines fit him, or would you suggest any changes?
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Alright, that makes sense, I like what you're going for there thematically.
The Hypnosis is something I'm kinda conflicted over. I can see it being really strong when combined with his mirror teleport, but I can also see it being a source of frustration when doing so. Either someone summons you and you use hypnosis to get a free down, or they succeed and you've just been both ripped away from a chase against your will, and you're now stunned for three seconds. At least the latter part of scenario 2 would be your own fault though. It being obsession based definitely limits its usefulness though. You can only use it on one specific survivor on a time, and if they succeed on the skill checks, you're now stunned for 3 seconds. I think obsession based perks are fine, but powers based around obsessions are kinda questionable.
As for the voice lines, I can't really speak to their accuracy/autehtnicity cause I've never actually seen candyman.
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Mainly, the hypnosis is to both play on how he works in the movie and give him a power that isn't, "Artist/Plague, but bees." It's based around the obsession because he doesn't care for others, simply cutting them down for disrespecting his legend, but his obsession, Helen, he takes extra care with. He hypnotizes her, and her alone, with his words, trying to draw her further into his legend. If he could do it to anyone, not only would it be too powerful, but it would lose the dark romance and intimacy with the obsession that makes Candyman so unique. Plus, it makes sense with his rules. If you're hypnotized, you have three options. By standing there and not even trying to fight back, you're submitting, admitting that he's as powerful as he thinks he is. Choosing to perform He's Not Real and winning is doing what Helen does in the movie. You take your will and you tell him, to his face, "I'm not afraid of you. You aren't as powerful as you think," and get rewarded for your willpower. Doing the same and failing, which I see as being pretty easy, considering the yellow glyph/Madness skill check combo, is harnessing your will only to have it broken. Not only are you submitting, but he has broken your will and showed you his power, making you believe him even more, which fuels him even more. It may not be the strongest thing in the world, it may not be the coolest to use, but it's thematic, and I am of the opinion that an authentic, thematic power is better than a mechanically sound one. I mean, just look at the difference between the Hell Priest and Sadako's authentic powers vs...Freddy. To me, the best thing a killer can be in this game is unique and authentic to the source, though I will admit that I see where you're coming from.
And to say it, I would highly, HIGHLY recommend you watch Candyman. It's an incredibly unique pseudo-slasher and currently stands as my favorite slasher movie ever made. It's meaningful, gothic, and darkly romantic, and has so much to enjoy in terms of music, aesthetics, and acting. A huge recommendation from me. And, of course, thanks for the critique.
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Candyman is an ancient Greek tragedy dressed up as a 20th Century slasher film. Licensed characters tend to have greater traits than any of the original characters; Candyman's great trait would be that he is more sympathetic than most villains. My legitimate sense of empathy kicks in and I would love to get this killer some counseling.
Since this is Dead By Daylight the Entity would happily take advantage of Daniel since his pain would be a great source of nutrients.
Helen Lyle is a different story. She could be both survivor and killer. By investigating the legend she became consumed by the legend itself. I had my own hypothesis that the film was actually an initiation. Helen herself became an urban legend with Daniel playing the part of recruiter/mentor.
One last note. Tony Todd and Virginia Madsen were the perfect choice for their roles. Those two actors had the most beautiful, expressive eyes. Any other actors may have lessened the impact of the film.
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