http://dbd.game/killswitch
Why didn't BHVR want Springtrap to be a stealth killer?
Although I am a massive fan of FNaF, I am just the tiniest bit disappointed he isn't more stealth-oriented. Springtrap does have a slightly smaller terror radius, and a bit of undetectable after leaving a door, but really not nearly enough to consider him stealthy. In the Year 9 Part 2 stream, Jay Guzzo, a game developer at BHVR and presumably the director of Springtrap's DBD gameplay design, explicitly said;
"One of the goals for Springtrap was to figure out how to lean into those jumpscares without making him just a straight up stealth killer, which is something we wanted to avoid."
Why? Something especially weird about this is that because he lacks more stealth options, he actually is much less of a jumpscare killer than others are. I get that they didn't have a ton to work with when designing Springtrap for the game, that's exactly why it's so weird; they had one thing to work with, his stealth, and they just didn't.
I thought maybe they might have wanted him to stand out because there's about 10 other killers who also lean into stealth, but there's also 9 other killers who can teleport and they gave him a teleporting power so I don't really think that would be a plausible explanation.
Does anyone have any ideas on why they didn't want Springtrap to be stealth-based? It's just very strange how his whole identity has been sneaking up on you unseen, and they didn't want to implement that into DBD.
Best Answer
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Because the aim with this chapter is baiting new blood into the game if at all possible, and stealth is notoriously disliked and effective against low level players due to not having a good understanding of the game, the mechanics, and especially the maps.
So if you want the FNAF fanbase to try this game, you desperately need the chapter to be as newbie friendly as possible.
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Answers
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Stealth killers are all on the weaker side, because voice communications (which the game was not built around the expectation of) neuter their stealth capabilities and more skilled survivors require stronger chase power to catch quickly. So if you're putting in FNAF, probably the biggest chapter they'll ever get in terms of appealing to new players, you'd want to turn the FNAF killer into something that doesn't have to play ring-around-the-pallet, even if it is out of character. Bonus points for being able to quickly travel around the map, another essential requirement for a strong killer. The Undetectable feels tacked on for thematic purposes.
I doubt BHVR are fans of the IP, this is a payday, and this is how you get the pay.
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Because stealth killers are not very strong and can be very difficult to play and if you're going to get 10,000 new players who just want to play Springtrap, you're gonna have to give them something they can play without hundreds of hours of prior experience. Same goes for all the new survivor players who will have little idea how to handle stealth killers and would get noobstomped into the dirt.
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Probably because stealth killers take more time and skill than most of the others to learn, but a chapter that is meant to attract a lot of new players needs to have a killer that is easier to get the hang of.
Though, thematically he would be much better as a stealth killer.
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I'd like to think that Afton simply isn't a stealthy kind of guy. He's a pretty much in your face kind of persona despite "hiding" in a costume. I feel he has too much pride to skulk around. In the FNaF 3, I feel he's either just trying to find you, or just play with you before he goes in for the kill as opposed to literally sneaking around trying not to be scene. He stands quite proud and in your face on those cameras.
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I agree with that sentiment.
I will point out that Springtrap does at least have a 24m terror radius, and the Undetectable after using a Security Door is a solid 20 seconds maybe? So he is at least a little more sneaky than most killers.
Post edited by Caiman on2 -
He is a stealth Killer, when you use the Doors.
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Because of the demonstrable lie that all stealth Killers are always weak and that stealth itself is weak. It's not, and they are not. They simply take a lot more time, energy, skill, and effort at the game to become good with than someone more simple to learn like a mobility or speed Killer does. This chapter will draw many new players and BHVR doesn't want this big massive chapter that has been the most asked for Killer for YEARS to be too hard for people to use or get the hang of. A stealth Killer requires much more macro knowledge and setup understanding, tactical thinking, and game sense to win consistently with.
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None of that game sense matters when a survivor tells their buddies you are heading to their side of the map.
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They said they wanted him to have a bit of everything so he can appeal to most. That is why they talked about having the "Dracula philosophy". They wanted to avoid making him a pure stealth killer because they wanted to give him plenty of things for variety.
He can be played like a chase heavy killer with Foxy hook and Endo CPU, he can be played stealth heavy with badge and coin, he can be played info with panel and party hat, you can switch up your playstyle a lot, which is never a bad thing.
Even basekit, he has a ranged attack that can be used as a mortar attack, he has stealth, mobility, and short ranged info for mindgame. The only thing he doesn't have is a dash but you have the celebrate add on to go 20% faster i guess ?
Also, he absolutely can stealth, with the badge, which is a green so very cheap, you have a whooping 30s undetectable everytime you use a door, slam unforeseen on top and you can be stealthy 80% of the game (i would not be against having 30s basekit since the cameras are the counterplay to his stealth but it's fine).
I use Alien Instinct, Friends till the end, Darkness Revealed and Unforeseen with strapes and badge and i am undetectable for almost the entire match. The only thing i need is info to actually jumpscare people, Alien Instinct and Friend till the end will confuse them, they won't know which one will get attacked and you can chain ambushs by having tons of info. Darkness revealed is free info on most of the time, at least two people for like a 3s interaction, then i can teleport nearby and start a party.
He has plenty of stealth, take some info which he lacks and he's a really fun stealth killer, i wish Xeno could do this.
Post edited by Heliosse on5 -
He stands quite proud and in your face on those cameras.
I don't really agree with that, (he does sometimes, but IMO he's making an effort to be sneaky when possible) but instead of me just saying "nuh uh", let's make a game out of it and play a few rounds of "Where's Springtrap?". Here's 9 camera feeds (with static and etc removed), and 1 has Springtrap:
Springtrap is on the bottom left image, look to the right of it and you can see his hand.
Round 2!
Springtrap is on the top row, middle image. Look to the bottom right of it, that's his shoulder. The drawing in the bottom right image doesn't count! Bottom middle features The Puppet in the darkness though, so if you saw that feel free to reward yourself a bonus point.
Round 3!
Springtrap is in the bottom left image again, most of his body is in clear view in the hallway. This one will probably have been the easiest out of the three, especially now that you've gotten practice!
There are definitely times where he is 100% blatant and just stares at you though, I've cherry picked these, but hopefully this shows people why some were thinking Springtrap would be a stealth Killer while providing a bit of fun.
I don't personally mind him not being a stealth Killer, though. I think he incorporates enough stealth elements as is, though I am curious why BHVR ruled out making him a stealth Killer, they probably have an interesting reason.
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Maybe because FNAF games are about monitoring animatronics which doesn't pair 100% with stealth?
The right reason is probably what others have already said, which is that stealth overperforms at the lower levels then drops off hard against better players (and the optimal playstyle against stealth is boring, see ghostface in tournaments where everyone holds a safe checkspot until someone has eyes on the killer). My personal theory is also that pure M1 gameplay turns a lot of beginners off of the game, so they gave him a skill based projectile ability and map mobility to hook more people into playing him.But in his game FNAF3, you basically know where he is at all times due to audio and visual cues. He also will be in the same spot basically every time if he's on a camera, so if you've completed FNAF3 you will always be able to spot him on a camera, but he is probably one of the hardest animatronics to see on some cameras. Perhaps in general it's more thematic to imagine their presence is always known rather than something that you never imagined coming?
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That's because you're picking pictures where he isnt there. Im talking about where he is there. He isn't making any attempt to hide. He's just in your face.
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Dedicated stealth killers are a bit of a mess at the moment. Most are on the weaker side highest being considered around B tier) and the general concensus is that they are not fun to face for both players of low and high skill level
Low level players will struggle to understaands the sound cues and clues in place and end up getting destroyed while good players will which forces the stealth killer player to rely on hit and run taactics which lead to slow uneventful games
With springtrap they gave him enough stealth for it to be a sizeable part of his kit without making it his entire power which would've rendered him at most B tier1 -
He should at least be able to be a little stealthier. Imo.
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Dude, he IS a stealth killer, with a limited weakness to it that the Survivors has that goes away when the battery runs out, he gets undetectable when entering & leaving doors, no warnings if he jumpscares you in the office, he's WAY more stealthy than the xenomorph, who, in their lore and franchise, IS supposed to be stealthy like that but isn't due to behavior gutting him upon his debute with the 40m motion tracker that's in the flame turrets that goes off regardless of undetectable or not, taking any stealthy away from a creature whose primary style IS stealth & ambush, much like how springtrap is rn in the ptb
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The killer is going 6, nvm he is heading 1 now, he just tp to main, hes going for the gen on 3. And thats all it takes for the best macro stealth to be absolutelly useless.
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Well said, my friend, I agree completely.
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i feel "stealth elements with audio cues" is appropriate. he's meant to be sussed out by cameras and noises to figure out what he's doing before he gets on top of you.
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Stealth builds will work on him though with perks, right? he doesn't have a lullaby but has a ranged attack, that's going to be huge for him.
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Almost nobody but the top 1% of Survivor SWFs play with callouts like this. Most people are playing this game casually.
Stealth Killers are viable against 99% of everyone playing the game, bro. Why bring this comp nonsense argument into it? Nobody cares about or really ever plays this comp, and when they do, pretty much everyone in the Roster not named Blight or Nurse have to suffer for it.
The community is no longer comp 'must win at all costs' anymore, those days are over. They died back in 2024. We've all moved on from that now. We're now as a whole a lot more "Play Casual but Play to Win", which is a little more chill.
Post edited by LockerLurk on5 -
Not the point of my post and you're falling into a logic trap by taking THAT away from my post rather than my actual argument. This is fixable by simply knowing how to play a Stealth Killer by… you know… actually being stealthy so they can't do this as easily. I handle SWFs just fine with them all the time.
Post edited by LockerLurk on3 -
He'd be a good stealth killer if he wasn't a walking Metal_pipe.mp3
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True but to be quite fair, Demo has this same problem due to its big steppies. :)
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They don't seem to want to make another stealth killer for some reason. Even Xenomorph would of made an interesting stealth killer
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Well we did get two about a year ago in Chucky and technically Xeno. Stealth is a sort of niche playstyle and not for everyone. Do we really need tons of any kind of Killer?
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Is he even a stealthy character, though?
iirc, in his origin game, he even has a terror radius of sorts.0
