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FOV slider for killer is an important accessibility feature

Dead by daylight is a senior game now, we're approaching the 7th anniversary and the games health is vital too seeing the 8th 9th and 10th. accessibility is incredibly important and we've made some excellent strides forward! With the inclusion of the visual heartbeat and color blind settings, differently abled people have far more access then ever before. But there is one key feature that's been right under our noses(or should i say eyes, or eye in my case). A field of view slider or adjuster. This something that's been requested for a long time. Even somewhat making an appearance in the recent "last standing" feature from the mori system PTB. Or more notably the perk shadowborn and to a lesser extent monitor and abuse. These perks and features all include one important feature. They expand you're field of view. Now why is this important? Because of 2 main factors.

Number one - perks adjusting your field of view is problematic for people with motion sickness, as the rapidly changing fov can make them sick

Number 2 - the inability to customize your field of view in-game is incredibly damaging to differently abled people. Most notably, people with visual impairments and motion sickness.

Now, i would like to share some personal information. When i was a kid, i fell which resulted in permanently damaging my left eye causing me to go legally blind it in. I tell you this because I would like you to understand just how much accessibility means to me personally, and i know many others who have similar stories would feel the same.

Now, back to some hard numbers, did you know that the base field of view for killers is 87? This is an incredibly awkward number as no other first person game has this as the default and definitely not the ONLY option. This narrow field of view has been at one point has been stated too be a "balancing decision" this is, respectfully. Downright ignorant. And too be fair this was a long time ago, I'm sure things have changed. That said, it's time to add field of view settings into dead by daylight. It's not only highly requested but also opens up room for differently abled people to experience and enjoy the game. I for example cannot play the game without shadowborn. I get migraines or have gotten motion sickness. There's just no reason for shadowborn(a perk) to exist as the only solution for this.. I hope this post reached bhvr, and i hope it is understood just how important this really is for the games health, future, and balance.

Comments

  • Marius1234456918
    Marius1234456918 Member Posts: 106

    Not only people with a fate like yours have the problem. I feel sick and nauseous when I play a game where you have a high fov and then switch to dbd. I dont understand how people can play it like that i always have to use shadowborn.

  • JawsIsTheNextKiller
    JawsIsTheNextKiller Member Posts: 3,367

    So is there a magic number for this FOV value or would it vary for each person? I wouldn't want killers setting it to Quake Pro.

  • Coffeecrashing
    Coffeecrashing Member Posts: 3,784

    103 and 105 is normal. 110 and 120 are the highest that FoV normally goes, at least in the games I've seen with FoV sliders.

  • DY86
    DY86 Member Posts: 570

    Not really. A lot of fps games have a 80-90 FOV. The recent released Redfall has a 90 FOV, CoD has a 80 base FOV. Its dif for every game Im afraid

  • DY86
    DY86 Member Posts: 570

    Ive said this before but, the game is balanced around this set FOV.

    Some killers such GhostFace and Myers would benefit tremendously from wider FOV, as they could stalk so much more that It would require rebalancing their kit probably. ( and they aren’t even top tier killers)

    But most importantly wider FOV on survivors would make chases/mindgames much easier (just watch old videos of survivors with stretched resolution).

    Also, maybe DBD engine could not properly run with such wider fov. I remember CoD MW 2019 they didn’t add fov sliders cause It would make older gen consoles crash, and cause inconsistent frame rate as well

  • Mooks
    Mooks Member Posts: 14,802

    Then rebalance it accordingly. We got plenty new features that weren’t there from the beginning. As for Myers and Ghostface: is shadowborn really that strong on them? And if so, why do not more people use it?

    it’s mostly about killer perspective as it’s 1st person, FoV slider for survivors isn’t really commonly requested as far as I can tell.

    The game can handle different FoVs as evidenced by Shadowborn, M&A and even the first PTB version of the Finisher Mori, just finally add the slider with the currently applicable numbers and if necessary expand these later on if it’s too much implementation. No reason to withhold an accessibility option just because it’s not completely implemented but already available (but everyone is aware that proper balance changes regarding the perks is necessary as well as menu Ui, settings etc)

  • Seraphor
    Seraphor Member Posts: 9,420
    edited May 2023

    I would much rather have a reduced 'stalking field' with GF and Myers to account for a wider visual FoV.

    87 degrees is far too restricted for a game with melee range interactions, getting disoriented by things that are on your toes or should be in your peripherals is ridiculous.

    It's funny you mentioned stretched res too because this existed, players were able to change their base FoV. It only gave survivors any benefit, killers didn't not benefit from this at all, with one single exception, Nurse could still see the feet of survivors while in her fatigue stun animation.

    I agree that a wider FoV would be a slight buff to killers, particularly in cases of close-quarters interactions with survivors, minimising the disorienting effects of 360's and hiding on the killers toes. These things should happen anyway. This is exactly the sort of minor quality of life buff that killers should receive in the light of the recent survivors buffs such as the HUD icons. This would be a buff that benefits lower skilled killers more (those who are unable to deal with the disorienting effects), and is more impactful against higher skilled survivors (those who like to 360 or dupe the killer by crouching directly in front of them), which is a good thing, it's a field levelling mechanic, closing the gap between uncoordinated solos and highly coordinated SWF.

    And it is only a 'slight' buff, because if it was a significant buff, that would imply Shadowborn is a decent perk, which it is not.

    Shadowborn increases your FoV by 15 degrees, bringing it up to 102 degrees total. I think 100 degrees would be a fine upper limit for a FoV slider, with maybe an 85 or 90 degrees option as the lower limit. (because believe it or not, some people get motion sickness from a FoV that's too wide) Then you change Shadowborn and MaA perks to affect something other than FoV, and you're ultimately nerfing the upper FoV limit by 2 degrees.

    All of this is as well as serving as an accessibility option for players who suffer from motion sickness.

    Post edited by Seraphor on
  • DY86
    DY86 Member Posts: 570
    edited May 2023

    They do, but the standard FOV is set as mentioned. Thats why I said “base fov”

  • Coffeecrashing
    Coffeecrashing Member Posts: 3,784

    This whole thread is about an FoV slider, and what FoV values should be available.

    If games have an FoV slider, then it’s ok if they have awful base FoV.

  • DY86
    DY86 Member Posts: 570

    Yes. But if you re read my quote, I was responding to the “normal” FOV claim. Not the Slider itself

  • DY86
    DY86 Member Posts: 570

    Not really tho. A lot of FPS has base fov 80. 87 is more than that. Amd FPSs take much more value from FOVs than a Asymmetrical game such as dbd. Besides the dynamics between FP and TP, is what the game is all about, thats why fov tech is a thing, is using the disadvantage of the enemy to your benefit. Same goes for moonwalking. What u don’t understand is that 360ing and hiding IS a mechanic inherent to the game. It shouldn’t be minimized. Thats the whole point of FP vs TP. Like ????

    I was the one who mentioned stretched res cause I know how broken it was on survivor. I played year one dbd. So trust me u dont want fov sliders.

    also shadowborn only increases fov by 15 BECAUSE it is a great advantage in dbd. And thats why its in shape of a perk. People on here love to claim “accessibility” to get unfair advantages.

  • DY86
    DY86 Member Posts: 570

    Rebalance accordingly how exactly? Its easy said than done. Overhauling a whole game to cater to different fovs is something that must take everything into account. How do u propose that?

    15 degrees is not the same as 35. Also FOV perks dont stack as well so. Just so you know, fov on survivors is not “requested” because of events in the beginning of DBD. As Survivors with stretched resolution (therefore wider fov) was broken. Just a FYI. High tier survivors back then did not lose mindgames because of this unfair advantage. And believe you me, if they were to implement FOV sliders for Killers, survs would def want as well.

  • Mooks
    Mooks Member Posts: 14,802

    FoV for survivors isn’t requested because it’s 3rd person and isn’t nearly as much associated with motion sickness and accessibility problems. Doesn’t matter if survivors want it then as well, we know it’s not needed, and it is an asymmetrical game with both sides having different FoV/PoVs. Why lock an accessibility feature for one side just because there might be toxic players from the other side that could make unreasonable demands?

    and rebalancing in the sense of giving the perks other effects, adjust Myers and Ghostface stalk accordingly as well as flashlight/blinding angles if necessary.

    360s and hiding directly in front of the killers seems silly and outdated anyways.


    it’s not really that difficult. Maybe needs more resources with design implementation qa etc, sure. But that applies to any features.

  • DY86
    DY86 Member Posts: 570

    Because its not an accessibility feature ??? It is well known that motion sickness is caused by lower fov than 85-90 or higher than 100 (fishbowl effect). DBD has a steady 87. Like? it is within the recommended range. Adding a slider would create more problems and exploits in game for a unnecessary feature.

    It does matter if survs want like ######### ? I can claim accessibility for the same reasons on a survivor side.

    also who said it’s outdated? It still works sometimes with a decent margin of error, as it should.

    I can link the website with the accessibility guidelines if you want.

  • Coffeecrashing
    Coffeecrashing Member Posts: 3,784

    I was talking about normal FoV options, not the normal base FoV. No one cares what the base is, if the game has an FoV slider. You're just being pedantic at this point.

    If it's such a "great advantage", then shadowborn would be a top tier perk. But it's generally rated very low on tier lists, and it has a low pick rate.

    Literally just throw it in the game, observe if the escape rates go outside of the acceptable range, and make other balance changes if the escape rates go outside of the acceptable range.

    It's the exact same strategy as what BHVR is doing with the survivor HUD, and can work for an FoV slider too.

    It's well known that multiple people on these forums claim the default DBD FoV gives them motion sickness, and they use Shadowborn so they don't have motion sickness.

    And the default FoV is causing some people to have headaches or nausea, regardless of what your website link says.

  • Mooks
    Mooks Member Posts: 14,802

    It is well known that motion sickness can be cause by different FoVs for different people. Some are more affected some less some not at all. I remember that a dev even acknowledged this (and they claimed they are themselves affected for wider FoV and directly affected by Shadowborn). It is an accessibility issue for first person view. And not (to the same degree) for third person view. Doesn’t matter how much you try to spin it in another way. I am pretty sure others can provide trustful sources that a slider is better for accessibility.

    and I didn’t say it doesn’t matter what survivors want? It doesn’t matter if a small toxic part demands something unreasonably.


    i say it’s outdated. It’s my opinion. It only works against new killer players and controller players without affecting experienced killer players on M&K. It’s not an actual engaging nor really skillful mechanic.

  • Gandor
    Gandor Member Posts: 4,261
    edited May 2023

    Go play rock-paper-scissor. That way you get exactly 1/3 chance to win 1/3 to draw and 1/3 to loose. Well. You don't like that game? It's just about luck and not about things you can do in a game? Yes. Exactly. And you are just asking to remove fundamental part of this game too

    And against best Blights, Nurses, Oni's and Spirits in their ability. Sure we want to remove skillful interactions in name of something THAT IS ALREADY SOLVED. Just use the perk.

  • Mooks
    Mooks Member Posts: 14,802

    But it doesn’t work against those killers if they know what they are doing?

    also, an accessibility option locked behind a perk is NOT the solution and the devs agree (see Spine Chill change and Visual heartbeat)

  • Gandor
    Gandor Member Posts: 4,261

    360 maybe. Different FOV techs? hiding next to killer? Nope. Only in better MMR

  • bbqBilly
    bbqBilly Member Posts: 53

    That's not how it works. In a game where you are limited to 4 perks, you pick the ones who have the most impact on the game. Field of view is one of them, but is not as impactful as the others, that doesn't mean that it isn't a great advantage that should just be given away for free.

    There is a reason why the developers haven't added a FOV slider already, and that is because it would completely break the balance and they don't want want to spend months rebalancing the game just to alleviate the issue for 0,1% of the game's playerbase when there already is a solution.

  • Mooks
    Mooks Member Posts: 14,802

    There is a reason why the developers haven't added a FOV slider already, and that is because it would completely break the balance and they don't want want to spend months rebalancing the game just to alleviate the issue for 0,1% of the game's playerbase when there already is a solution.

    do you have a source on that? Or is it just your assumption?

    because as I see it, the main reason why they haven’t implemented an FoV slider yet it because it hasn’t been a top priority and needs further balance changes and perk adjustments.

    as long as they don’t state one or the other way, we do not know what the actual reason is..

  • bbqBilly
    bbqBilly Member Posts: 53
    edited May 2023

    My source is that the game is 7 years old and they havent added it even though the framework is already there (the perk) and it would be very easy for them to change it to an option. It's not a technical challenge, they could get it done in a day if they wanted to. If it wouldn't mean a significant overhaul of the balance of the game, they would have done it already.

  • Seraphor
    Seraphor Member Posts: 9,420
    edited May 2023

    It took 7 years to add a visual heart beat, something that has been in DBD mobile for years now.

    You have no evidence it would mean a "significant overhaul of the balance of the game". It would not be a major buff to killers, it would be a quality of life enhancement, that would make some killers easier to play, specifically because it would make playing killer in general less disorienting. That might mean some adjustments are needed to the likes of Blight/Billy/Oni, but that's about it.

  • Dinoraptus
    Dinoraptus Member Posts: 254
    edited May 2023

    I agree, it would be nice to free up my dedicated Shadowborn perk slot.

    I feel like survivor FOV used to be higher at some point too but I might be taking crazy pills. (I am not talking about the stretched res exploit either)

  • Mooks
    Mooks Member Posts: 14,802

    nice try. But nope, that’s not true at all. the devs can’t just do whatever they want. They are ‚just‘ employees and if they don’t get the go from the employer for whatever reason (which still just might be it’s low priority)then they don’t implement it, and even small feature like this need to go through the whole process (discussion/approval, design, implementation, qa with potential bug fixes, and plenty of refinements in between)

  • bbqBilly
    bbqBilly Member Posts: 53

    If you want to live in the reality of where BHVR is intentionally not fixing an issue that require minor rebalancing (in your words) because of them deeming it "not a priority" even though it would mean a better experience for a bunch of people, then by all means live in that reality. I don't need to convince you, because it will never be changed and you can make up all the excuses you want for it.

  • Emeal
    Emeal Member Posts: 5,169

    I could be its time for the game to allow Killers to set the POV freely within the ranges that already exist in the game.

    Like from 87 to whatever the max value is if you use Shadowborn and M&A and then the use of those perks would simply not change the POV for users who already changed their POV. Ofc Shadowborn would be entirely useless ofc with a POV slider.

    That could be a good compromise for now.

  • Mooks
    Mooks Member Posts: 14,802

    have you noticed literally any other feature that got implemented? they take time. Colorblind mode is relatively easy to implement but it still took much time.

    yes I live in the real reality. „Intentionally not fixing“ is also just maliciously phrased, it’s a new feature, it’s not fixing a bug.

    just knowing how software/video game developement works - especially for a live game - is not making up excuses..

  • fulltonon
    fulltonon Member Posts: 5,762

    Just do it and "monitor carefully" just like when they wrecked everything ever existed.

    It's not hard, maybe impactful and maybe not but ultimately I doubt it to change that much.

  • bnork
    bnork Member Posts: 39
  • Ripley
    Ripley Member Posts: 866
    edited June 2023

    Well I know my gf needs minimum of 95 in games or she gets motion sickness. It's actually incredible how many games still ship with no FOV control at all, or cap at 90, when studies show women are more susceptible to motion sickness. For me around 90-100 is best. I can't play a lot of killers without Shadowborn.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16018346/

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10608604/

  • Keellaeth
    Keellaeth Member Posts: 22

    In competitive games (like DbD is trying to be one right now) any options for visuals and audio will be used for gain advantage. Thats why you don't have any graphic detail setting or in game audio setting. FOV is one of them. If it becomes customizable everyone will play in the highest fov setting.

  • Seraphor
    Seraphor Member Posts: 9,420

    Then balance the game around the highest FoV setting. Not being able to play the game, or being forced to gimp yourself by losing 1/4 perk slots in order to play the game, isn't acceptable.

  • Keellaeth
    Keellaeth Member Posts: 22

    I think it would be okay to do it like this.


    Well actually my dream dbd is like "everyone in the first person, no perks, no bloodlust, no auras for either sides, no terror, no red stain..."

    It would be much more of a horror game and can be balanced around these reworks, but that's not gonna happen :)