The June 7th AMA Summary (In text form for your convenience)

Hello, thought I'd try to be helpful. This thread will be just a summary of the AMA, I'm doing this for no particular reason other than convenience. I will take a few liberties in shortening things but I will try not to shorten answers. too much.

The lovely people who took the time to answer the questions are:

•  Dave Richard, Senior Creative Director
•  Michael Nielsen, Lead Game Designer
•  Andre Laniel, Lead Level Designer
• Thomas Desrosiers-Dorval, Game Designer
• Janick Neveu, Game Designer
• Justin Brown, Product Director

Gonna start the thread off with this non-question, someone commented on the thread:

"All I have to say is thank you making this game because without it, we would not have this unique community."

to which we got the response:

"Thank you for being a part of it! We feel really grateful to have such an engaged, creative, and supportive community of players.

Thank YOU, you are the Legends!" -Andre

With that setting the tone, here we go:

Q&A:

Question #1: With the release of Dredge and now Singularity, we have now gotten a few original monstrous killers. What changed with the design philosophy of DbD that allowed this to happen, and can we expect further creative visual designs like them in the future?:

A: "The fact we said we would only do humanoid was not a design philosophy but more because of technical/scope limitations at that time.

So what allowed us to do so? We levelled up! The team is bigger, more experienced all thanks to the growth of the community of course! Characters with different structures are definitely going to happen again as we continue to explore more possibilities in DBD." - Dave

Question #2: Whatever happened to the promised Twins rework?:

A: "Due to limited space in each release and the unexpected complexity of the update needed for the Twins, the update has been delayed a LOT longer than we wanted. However, it's been designed and we are working on releasing something in early 2024." - Michael

Question #3: When designing maps, what, if anything, is done with structure and layout to make maps fair for both sides?:

A: "The intention when we create maps is not to favor one side more than another.

We are using data collected and feedback we get from the Community. We have started in the last year to rebalance the maps and we are going to continue and be active when it comes to maps that already exist and same with newly released maps. We want to bring the best experience for everyone to enjoy." - Andre

Question #4: What was the real reason you removed Maurice initially?:

A: "Honestly, when Peanits saw The Dredge's lobby animation with the suspiciously familiar-looking horse head flopping out, he jumped on the opportunity.

He posted that animation on our social channels with a caption that read "MAURICE NOOO" and the community's reaction was immediately huge. So much so that we decided to to push the joke all the way, removing Maurice from the game. And the rest, as you know, is history." - Justin

Question #5: How long, from concept to release, does it take to design a full killer? Not including perks, survivor, or map, but just the killer and their power?:

A: "In general about 11-12 months overall from start to finish." - Janick

Question #6: Were there any other concepts that the team was considering as powers for the Singularity before deciding on biopods or was this what they set their sights on right away?:

A: "The Pods were in the concept from the beginning.

Originally, the Killer had two mechanics it could use: One involved shooting the Pods to teleport to Survivors and the other one allowed it to shoot Survivors to teleport them to its location.

It was deemed exceedingly disorienting on the Survivor side so we removed it and brought back more opportunities for the killer to Teleport later in the creation process." - Janick

Question #7: Any plans for Freddy?:

A: "I can't give you any super-secret details but I can tell you that he's on our radar for killers to update." - Michael

Question #8: Has there ever been any thoughts on adding alternative game modes or queues?:

A: " I can confirm this is something we are actively prototyping. We plan on starting small and doing game modes as limited time modes and building up from there. We are hopeful that we'll have more to share with you all later this year" - Justin

Question #9: New voicelines and lobby interactions for old original characters? (Dwight, Meg, etc):

A: "Never say never! The game evolving includes the old content as well as new content" - Dave

Question #10: "Has it been considered to clean up some the more usless offerings on the bloodweb?"

A: "We are actually exploring the offerings and their system as a whole right now on the design team! I can't give you any hints about what might be changed or where we might end up yet, but we are exploring new effects and actively designing ways to make this system better overall." - Michael

Question #11: More DBDMobile cosmetics coming to PC?:

A: "We will start porting some mobile cosmetics over, starting sometime in the next year.

The first batch will be small, with just 4 outfits (2 killer, 2 survivor). They won't be a 1:1 port. We will make some small colour and/or texture changes before being brought to PC.

There will be some mobile outfits that never get ported over though." - Justin

Question #12: Is there a reason more survivor emotes haven’t been added yet?:

A: "Survivor emotes was an idea we played with many years ago. We even got so far as to implement a few of them in a prototype build. Unfortunately, we found them to often either break immersion, or encourage negative gameplay behaviours. For that reason, we haven't revisited the idea for a number of years.

Never say never, it's just not planned for the near future." - Dave

Question #13: Was there anything noteworthy that stuck out to the team when designing The Singularity?:

A: "It was a weird concept and not an easy sell as a great power originally. It sounded bland on paper.

while prototyping we managed to make the pods usable in chases and realised their versatility, that is when it started to shine. We could see how much fun and potential there was in the concept." - Janick

Question #14: Moris have to avoid actually doing too much damage to a survivor's body for various reasons. Is this still within those limitations, or did something change that allows the team to make more brutal moris? Will we see more?:

A: On the level of brutality and gore, there is one thing that we keep in mind except for the actual technical/scope feasibility of an idea.

One of DBD's core pillars is that we want to be an horror that is accessible to all. This means many things for different facets of the game, but in this case it means that some brutal actions and level of gore may make the game inaccessible in some regions! We don't want that. - Dave

Question #15: Will there be any plans to have more diversity in body shapes of survivors?:

A: Inclusivity and representation is very important to us. Body shapes and height is quite challenging at the moment due to technical limitations and gameplay components / metrics. - Whole team(?)

Question #16: Are there any plans to make Custom Games easier to set up for tournaments and other events?:

A: This is a topic that has recently made it onto our radar, and one we can clearly see the value in. The Custom Matches features has been left untouched for far too long. it's still too early to give an ETA on when you could expect to start seeing some of these improvements in the game. - Justin

Question #17: What caused the sudden shift to add more clutter and obstructions into the new maps and reworks?:

A:

"(Clutter In the collision sense): As our team grew during the graphical rework, a lot of details were added to make the maps richer. Lots of lessons were learned during those days (and we are still learning) on what elements and metrics makes it difficult for navigation. Our level design team is actively working with the environment artists to make sure each asset found in a map (colliders, vegetation, etc), especially when it comes to navigation, follows game metrics.

(Clutter in the visual sense): We are looking into that one now. The idea is to have level of priorities in how easilly perceivable elements are on the screen. This pass will make gameplay elements POP compared to the details that are great, but less important to manage your objective." - Dave

"From the level design perspective: we are in the process of addressing the clutter issue. the focus is clarity, readability and navigation. We had this issue with the Toba Landing in PTB and are addressing that in next week's release. We will revisit all maps and themes and make sure it makes sense for everyone." - Andre

Question #18: Regarding individual killer balance, will you start taking feedback from people who have spent countless hours playing them?:

A: "Our external playtesting methods and processes involve a large variety of player types, all of which range widely in skill level & experience in the game.

Veteran players with many hours in DbD have super valuable feedback, especially when it comes to breaking our rules and exposing balance issues.

It's important to point out though that beginner, intermediate and casual players also have important contributions & insights to share that we need to also take into consideration and use to balance our designs" - Michael

Question #19: Any other future plans for The Executioner (Pyramid Head)?:

A: "We initially wanted to change Executioner because we believe he can be improved. That hasn't changed and we still want to release an update for him in the future. Your suggestion about looking to the add-ons is noted!" - Michael

Question #20: What is the meaning of life?:

"69" - Mandy

"420" - Andre

"A great Monty Python Movie" - Michael

[There was a 4th answer here but for some reason you can't read it...]

Question #21: New survivor items?:

A: "No concrete plans as we're still very early in the process, but we are talking about when and how we could put out some new items in the future. Plan on it (at some point)" - Michael

Question #22: What's the status on Trapper balance wise?:

A: "At the moment we do not have a significant gameplay updates planned for Trapper. Partly because our data shows that his kill rate is pretty much where we want it to be (on average, even at high MMRs). He also holds a very important role as one of the simplest and easiest killers in the game.

He's great for onboarding new Killers and we don't want that to change too much.

That said, we do have a small but very fun update in the works for our terrifying flagship killer! Those of you who watched the Anniversary broadcast may have seen the segment about the Naughty Bear Legendary skin coming for Trapper (which will have its own unique Mori). This will ship later in the year, along with a killer update." -Michael

Question #23: Can get an option to hide our prestige levels for harrassment-related reasons?:

A: "Harassment in game is a topic we are always looking for more ways to tackle, and this has been one of the ideas we've been discussing for some time. I'm going to use this question as an opportunity to re-ignite the topic and opened a new Jira request for it today." - Justin

Question #24: How long does it usually take to make an original map from concept to completion? Also, how difficult is it to modify maps once they are in the game?:

A: "Depending on the style of the map, it can take up to 6 months to create. 

When it comes to updating and modifying existing maps, we collect data non-stop and are always investigating player concerns. To use Toba Landing as an example, player feedback during the PTB helped us identify & implement certain adjustments on loops and map visibility that will be going to Live servers" - Andre

Question #25: For original chapters that take place around different nations and even around different periods of time, what’s the process like for the research and implementation to make them as representative as possible?:

A: Inclusivity and diversity is always top of mind for us, with a focus on making sure the representation we have in the game is as accurate as possible. We have multiple steps in our creation process that ensure due diligence in this regard: internal & external consultation with regional partners, extensive research, and immersion are some of them.

Our recent example would be with Thalita & Renato characters' cosmetics, which were designed by our very own Brazilian artist! It was her idea to give Renato his iconic tattoo! - Dave

Question #26: Status on Basekit Unbreakable?:

A: "We are not planning on implementing that into the base game. The finisher mori system is still being worked on and what was tested on the PTB was just an early prototype that will be improved with player feedback in mind" - Michael

Question #27: Can you tell us a bit about the process the team goes through when deciding to nerf/buff an addon?:

A: "Recently we have shifted to an approach that rests on three foundations:

1) Design intent

2) Community feedback

3) Data & statistics

We watch for issues on all three of these fronts and prioritize from there. We are also cautious about vetting our changes with the community management team to get a read on how our updates will be received before release. 

Some decisions (especially those based more on data or design intent) may not always be 100% clear for everyone, and that's okay. That said, we want to be attentive to the needs of our community and what will be most healthy for the game longterm." - Michael

Question #28: The status on the upcoming perk 'Made For this'?:

A: "We are aware that Made for This has had quite an impact.

We're going to be watching out for feedback and data once the community has opportunity to test this.

We already have plans to address Made for This (like we had for Hyperfocus) if and when it becomes a problem." - Thomas

Question #29: Any planned changes to the daily ritual system?:

A: multiple ideas have been explored to improve the system. We appreciate any and all suggestions and will be considering them when discussing next steps - Thomas

Question #30: How does the Entity choose their victims (Both roles):

A:

"Who knows!" - Dave

"No one knows how The Entity or why The Entity or even when The Entity? Maybe darkness in the life of the survivors and killers grab Its attention, or maybe its the other way around, maybe its the Entity's attention that makes their lives miserable. Or maybe its random! Who knows!" - Also Dave

"The Entity works in mysterious ways" - Dave (Again)

Question #31: Will you change the post-hook vision obscuring bubble?:

A: "The intention of the bubble's design is to hide the Killer's exact position after a Survivor's been hooked.

However, it is an old design so maybe it's time for us to review if its use and appearance are still ideal." - Dave

Question #32: Will there be a shift away from relying on pure statistics and instead listening to experienced players more/qualitative feedback in general?:

A: "While data is crucial in balancing in general, it is not a substitute for player or design feedback.

Our approach to balancing is a bit more complicated than this, and I can say it does not solely rest on game design." - Thomas

Question #33: FOV Slider/FOV accessibility options?:

"Yes! Expect to see something late this year or early next year" - Michael

Question #34: Will older licensed killers get new TR/chase music?:

A: "We would love for all the killers to have this feature, nevertheless licensed content will sometime have limitation out of our control. We might get a track for all of them at some point, but no promises." - Dave

Question #35: Any future plans to Improve The Hillbilly?:

A: "Billy occupies a squishy (albeit violent) place in all of our hearts, and we've been working on him! An update has been designed for our Billy-boy (including addons). No specific date planned for implementing this just yet, but you can expect news from us sometime in the next year." - Michael

Question #36: Do you think we'll get more halloween content from the other movies or are there license issues?:

A: Working on getting licenses can be a challenge! - Dave

Question #37: Is The Singularities base design before or after his altercation with Gabriel in their backstories?:

A: Hux's look in the trials is post-melt incident! We wanted to make sure we offered a good level of body horror with this character. We might see its "prime" look later, but keep in mind that even this would be horrid, The SIngularity is using flesh in a very wrong way." - Dave

Question #38: Could you guys do something like a shirt related to Puppers in honour of him and what he brought to the DBD community?:

A: "Puppers' passing has been a huge loss for our whole community and has been deeply felt here on the team.

We have seen the discussions amongst players on how best to remember him and honor him, and we've been following it closely, and have been similarly discussing it within the team. While we have a strong desire to do something, it's simply too soon right now to say what we might be able to commit to."

Question #39: Mori customisation?:

A: [Cries in backlog] - Justin

Question #40: Status update on the progress of the Map balance team?

A: "We began the work some time ago, but recently the speed at which we're able to push it forward has been greatly improved thanks to new hires & resources on our team. Now, we're able to tackle urgent day to day tasks while simultaneously making regular progress on live balance for existing maps.

Regarding the Eyrie of Crows, the intention of our balancing efforts there was to address how strongly Survivor-sided it was. We're still monitoring the results though (data and feedback) and we wont hesitate to go back for more tweaks if we feel that they're needed.

When it comes to Red Forest, we frankly just didn't have the ressources at the time for the scope of work required. Now that we do, I've scheduled an update for both Mother's Dwelling and Temple of Purgation that will hopefully address player concerns."

Question #41: Any changes planned for the Swamp realm? Will you bring back the cut 'Bloodwillow' Tree?:

A: "The tree will eventually return.

However, at the moment, we're focusing our efforts on bringing visual & gameplay updates to existing maps. In The Swamp realm specifically, we're going to remove the generators in the corners of tiles, as well as some elevations that don't have a significant value add gameplay-wise." - Andre

Question #42: Status update on The Skull Merchant?:

A: "Skull Merchant has problems on live and we are very aware of that. We feel the killer is fun and interesting in general, but there are some unfortunate playstyles that make her kit frustrating to play against. 2 things to say here:

1) She is getting an update. Date TBD

2) Her most oppressive games tend toward the 3-gen strategy. This is problematic in our game as a whole, but especially against certain killers (Skull Merchant being the most egregious). We are currently working on a systematic solution to deal with 3-gen games, which will ALSO help with playing against the Skull Merchant." - MIchael

Question #43: Update on visiblity/colour blindness issues?:

A: "We are definitely ramping up our attention to accessibility in our game. It's unclear if/how we will adjust our support for colorblindness in the near future, but I can say we have a dedicated UX designer heading up our accessibility efforts and you can expect to see more accessibility-centered features coming out in the future." - Michael

Question #44: Will we see an anniversary sale with reduced iridescent shard prices?:

A: "I'm not supposed to say, because it's a secret. But yes." - Justin

Question #45: Update on the issues with the Shrine of Secrets?:

A: "I can definitely say that the problems with the Shrine are no secret.

We are very aware that the system needs an update, however it remains on the backlog for now, which means its on our radar but not being actively worked on yet. We will hopefully get to it sooner rather than later." - Michael

Question #46: New maps on some already existing realms?:

A: We've love to do it, but there are currently no plans for it. New maps for Ormond and Grave of Glenvale would be something I'd like to see! - Andre

Question #47: Argentinian Representation for Ace?:

A: "We've had a lot of fun with Ace's personality and used it as the main driver/inspiration for his outfits. Some Argentinian representation would be great!" - Dave

Question #48: Unlink sets for original characters?:

A: "No, for technical reasons such as clipping, bugs and other model related reasons. We have no plans to change how they work in the future" - Justin