Hello friends!
It’s a new month and with it comes updates regarding the games.
In our previous update, we had said that our goal was to make sure that backers who pledged for the Standard Edition received it ahead of the retail launch. Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of our control, we will not be able to fully achieve this goal. While backers in North America are expected to receive their Standard Editions within that time frame, backers in Australia, UK, Europe and Asia will have to wait a bit longer to receive their Standard Editions. We sincerely apologize for the delay and thank you for your continued patience and support.
Here is the latest timeline we received from the fulfillment agents. Delivery is in motion for all backers, but with a slightly longer timeline than we’d hoped. The good news is that delivery has started and that your games are coming.
We’re excited that the games are finally making their way to you! Most of all, we thank you for your patience and understanding. We will continue to update you here, and to do everything in our power to get your games to you as quickly as possible and in perfect condition.
See you in the next update, where we hope to see reports that games have started arriving at your doorsteps. Happy gaming!
Hello, friends!
Another month has passed here in The Fog, and we’re back to share updates!
It took us a little longer than usual to get this month’s updates together, as news is coming in on a day-by-day basis and we had to collect a few more notes to understand what was happening with transit and fulfillment. Thanks so much for your patience!
Last time, we talked about a necessary delay so that we could ensure your Collector’s Edition games were packed properly to reach you in perfect condition. The repacking process took our factory partners a little bit longer than anticipated, as some new miniatures needed to be created to replace damaged ones.
We’re happy to report that as of today, all boxes necessary to complete fulfillment are repacked and ready to go. We’re scheduling pick up from the factory next week, and we’ve already asked our fulfillment partners to begin shipping everything they can.
We expect to get things back on track for delivery next week, and to give you a full update on the timelines for delivery in our end-of-March update.
While some backers will see shipping notices as early as March, the majority of Collector’s Editions are likely to ship in April, with some arriving as late as May, depending on your distance from our fulfillment centers. We’ll have more exact timelines for each zone in our next update.
World-wide, the Standard Edition will be made available in stores in early April. Our goal is to make sure that backers who pledged for the Standard Edition get it ahead of the retail launch. For clarity's sake, I'll emphasize that the Collector's Edition is not going to retail and will never be in stores.
To get the ball rolling, we are going to start right away with the fulfillment of the Retail Editions of the game, so some of you should see shipping notices quite soon. Don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a shipping notice right away though—especially if you’ve backed for the Collector’s Edition—those are expected to take a little bit longer to ship.
We would like to thank you for your patience and understanding as we enter the final stages of the project. And of course, you can expect regular updates from us here while you wait.
To show our appreciation for your patience, and as an apology for these unexpected delays, I would like to offer you a $20 discount to anything in our online store. It's not a million Bloodpoints, but I hope it makes these final weeks of waiting a little bit easier.
Just log in to our online store (www.level99games.com) with the same email address you used in the pledge manager. You can use the code “THE_FOG_DRAWS_NEAR” at checkout to get a discount on anything in our store.
Please note that this code will only work if you're logged in with the email address you used in our Pledge Manager. Check out Gamefound (https://gamefound.com/projects/level-99-games/dead-by-daylight/yourpledge) if you forgot which email that is!
See you in the next update, and Happy Gaming!
It’s a new year so we have a new update for you all!
The December update is coming in a bit late (our office has been closed for most of the past 3 weeks) so we’re just now getting caught up. We hope you have had a happy holiday as well, and thanks so much for your patience.
Big news! We’ve approved the final factory components of the collector’s edition! Here’s a picture of the stuff that comes in the box! You can see all the tokens, cards, minis, and more! Plus, you get to see the final tray insert for the game!
Right now the factory is in the process of assembling all these components into boxes. The target is to have the games assembled and ready for pickup at the end of next week. Then they’ll go into the hands of our global logistics and fulfillment service.
What comes next? The games are sorted into lots according to how many units are needed in each region, plus some overs. Then they are sent by ocean freight across the sea to various ports. This takes a few more weeks, and is likely what you’ll hear about in our February update. Finally, once they arrive, they pass through customs and ride inland on trains to reach regional fulfillment centers. When received by fulfillment centers, they are inventoried and prepared for shipping. At last, your game is packed, labeled, and shipped to your door. This whole process takes a few more weeks, and is likely what you’ll be hearing about in our March update.
Watch this space for future updates!
See you then, and as always, Happy gaming!
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Greetings friends, and welcome to another monthly update!
This month, we have some updates on the production status and delivery estimates for the game.
Long story short: the complex miniatures in the game took a bit longer than expected (and multiple review passes) to get perfect. So we're now projecting delivery closer to March 2023. In the meantime, we'll continue to keep you updated here each month while production is ongoing.
If you've been following the updates month-by-month, you will have seen that things haven't quite kept to the timetable we laid out in April. Most notably, sculpting for the complex Killers in the Collector's Edition took a fair bit longer than expected (as seen in our May update). Our sculptor was also affected by the war in Ukraine while working to finish up those pieces.
After the sculpts were complete, they had to go through our approval process, where we review both digital and physical samples, which are produced and mailed to us. Behaviour also carefully reviewed and approved the miniatures. These reviews involved a couple revisions, but it's really critical to take things slow and get it all perfect at this stage.
We knew that getting every detail right would cost us in terms of the delivery date, but until we got through miniature approvals, it was unclear what the new timeline would look like. The factory has finally calculated a new timeline and given us a completion date of December 21st for the Collector's Edition. The Retail Edition has been in production (as previously reported), and will be completed closer to schedule, on October 10th*.
* Although the retail editions will be finished a few months before Collector's Edition, all games will ship together next year.
After this, we will still have to approve the factory first (the first copy off of the line) for both editions of the game. It's rare for something to still require changes at that step, but it does take us two weeks to get the proof, thoroughly check it, and then start initiating ocean freight.
In light of all this, we expect delivery around the world to start in earnest around February 2023, with most games arriving on doorsteps in March and April, depending on courier times and any potential ocean freight delays.
We know it's not fun to read about timeline adjustments. However it is critical that we do all the necessary checks in order to get everything right and ensure that your games will be worthy of the Dead by Daylight™ brand and of a place on your shelf. A delay lasts a few months, but a great game is something you can treasure for decades to come, and that's what we're here to make.
I'm extremely proud of the game that the team has put together, and I can't wait to share it with you as soon as we can.
So TL;DR as for where we are right now:
Thanks for your patience on the project, and we look forward to sharing more updates with you next month.
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Scotland Yard / Letters from Whitechapel – These two are effectively the same, and they are the classic “hidden position” games that are definitive of the genre. While they may be a little dry for this modern era, the mechanics are still sound and worth checking out.
Fury of Dracula – If you want to take the concept of Dead by Daylight and see it from the other side—a team of hunters chasing down one evil monster—then Fury of Dracula is a great game. It’s a little on the long side, and a little complex at points, but it could still be considered a modern classic.
Mall of Horror – Mall of Horror was a big inspiration for the final board shape and movement of Dead by Daylight: The Board Game. In this game, you control a group of Survivors trying to escape from automated zombies by working with and against other Survivors. It’s a great game and definitely one worth playing. There’s also a sequel, City of Horror, but the original is still my personal preference.
Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space – Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space is a secret-movement game taken to its extreme conclusion. Playing this was actually a big factor in deciding not to use secret positioning mechanics in the game. The game is good—don’t get me wrong—but it really shows how much overhead and focus is required to make this mechanic meaningful. We didn’t feel that level of complexity was a good fit for Dead by Daylight, which is a much more confrontational experience.]]>These two factors make building interesting Survivors a lot tougher. However, players will be Survivors four times as often as they’ll be playing Killers, so making the Survivors interesting and thematic is a big deal.
A Survivor’s most important feature, in terms of mechanics, is their signature perk. This usually encompasses their main strategic identity. The other two perks provide options that support this game plan.
For example, Dwight’s signature perk, Prove Thyself, lets him give bonus actions to his nearby allies. This puts him firmly in the camp of support characters (specifically, generator repair support, because that’s where 90% of those bonus actions are going). His other perks build on this theme by giving him extra movement options and luck mitigation based on other characters.
One of the most fun ways to play Dead by Daylight™: The Board Game, is Devout mode. This is where you get a handful of perks and can customize your characters. Survivors and the Killer can customize their characters by covering some of the printed perks with these cards, and leaving others exposed. Of course, the signature perk is often the one you want to keep available, but the thematic cohesion of a Survivor’s kit means that a Survivor is still going to retain a significant portion of their identity even with one or two perks covered.
You might even discover a build that lets you use those supporting perks in a brand new way!
Are you curious to see how some of the Survivor identities translated into board game form? Here are a few of my favorites:
Yui Kimura is a high-risk, high-reward character who can sacrifice her health to take extra turns with Any Means Necessary. Her signature perk, Breakout lets her move any wounded Survivor, which can be useful both to herself and allies for escaping chases and clearing generators. Lucky Break lets her instantly recover when a Great Success is rolled by anyone, preparing her to take more bonus turns in the future.
Jane Romero is a powerful support character, based on her signature perk, Poised. This perk gives players bonus turns when they roll a critical success. She can also use Solidarity to heal at range. Her third perk, Head On, synergizes with these, because the ranged nature of her other perks allows her to stick close to lockers and focus her personal attention on confounding the Killer’s efforts.
David King’s aggressive play style took a lot of work to get right. All of his perks interact with and disrupt the Killer, and they’re also very BP-intensive. This means David is going to spend a lot of time cleansing hex totems to keep his abilities online. David’s abilities force the Killer to focus on him. He is very good at protecting others and upsetting the Killer’s movement, so he forces himself to become a primary target. As you might imagine, he synergizes well with Survivors like Claudette and Jane who can reliably keep him healthy.
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The key challenge of designing Killer mechanics comes from the limited objectives of the Killers and Survivors. Killers want to sacrifice Survivors, and Survivors want to finish generators and escape the trial. So all Killer Powers must either support, thwart, or subvert these objectives in some unique way. With 16 Killers in the game, this requires a bit of ingenuity and a lot of testing!
When building a Killer, we have to devise a Killer Power, as well as three unique perks that support that gameplan. Those also need to all be at least thematically related to what the Killer is doing in the original video game as well.
For Killers appearing in the retail edition of the game, we went with a fairly straightforward translation of mechanics. The Nurse can teleport from room to room, the Trapper has bear traps that catch moving Survivors, and the Hillbilly has a chainsaw that lets him move and attack at the same time.
For those appearing in the collector’s edition, we took more liberties. For example, Trickster, Huntress, Plague, and Deathslinger all have fundamentally the same ability—to attack at range. So how do we make them feel unique while still capturing the essential thematics of the video game? We introduce some more traditional board game mechanics into the mix.
The Huntress got the ranged attack you would expect—force a Survivor to roll the die, and on a bad roll they get wounded.
Deathslinger got something a bit trickier—a secret selection game that gets tougher the less he has moved during the turn. Redeemer (Deathslinger’s weapon) also functions to secure sacrifices instead of wounds, setting a nice contrast to Huntress’s hatchets.
Plague ended up becoming an area control character more like Trapper or Hag, with the focus being on infecting the area around her. Plague’s Vile Purge goes onto a Survivor’s perks when they pick it up, blocking access to those abilities.
As for Trickster, we gave his knives the power to reduce a Survivor’s maximum Bloodpoints. This shuts off access to many perks. Trickster’s own perks punish Survivors who don’t have or can’t spend Bloodpoints, making him an economy-focused Killer.
Designing Killer perks was a tough balancing act as well. Killers typically have a steady stream of Bloodpoints available to them, and so can use their perks quite often. The challenge is to design perks that are meaningful, able to be used regularly, but not so oppressive that they completely shut down Survivors. The ideal Killer perk is one that changes Survivor behavior and forces them to adapt.
I’m really proud of the design team’s work on each of the Killer’s signature perks (the one in purple on their boards). These perks actually contain a significant portion of the Killer’s identity and power budget, and really bring that Killer to life.
My personal favorite Killer perk is Legion’s signature perk: Mad Grit. This perk allows you to attack while carrying a Survivor, and adds a really interesting risk-reward to the normal carry sequence in the game.
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Welcome back!
Last week, I shared some mechanics that made it into the final game. This week, I’ll talk about the ones that didn’t.
These mechanics were “sacrificed in the basement,” so that a better, faster, and more focused game could fill the space they left behind.
In the video game, there’s a concept of individual victory or defeat for Survivors, and a sort of graduated victory for Killers. If two Survivors escape and two are sacrificed, the Killer gets a rating that effectively reads “2 out of 4 ain’t bad”, but they have to decide for themselves if they really ‘won’ or ‘lost’.
In the board game, however, The Trial is a much tighter and closed system. We don’t have out-of-game rewards like the Bloodweb or The Archives to give meaning to a defeat. Similarly, any secondary objectives would throw the balance of the game—the Survivors and Killer in the board game are on very tight schedules, and any kind of meaningful diversion (say, “hide in a locker 4 times”) is effectively throwing the game to the other side.
Last but not least, the players of the board game are together in real life. They can’t just jump in another queue after dying, or start up a side game. It was important to keep each player invested and engaged through the whole experience. That meant that we had to make a much more stark victory condition. Either the Killer succeeds and summons The Entity, or all of the Survivors win together by opening the doors.
Earlier on, we had the opportunity for Survivors to escape through the door once it was opened. We also had hatches where some Survivors could escape early. But in the end, we decided to end the game at the opening of the doors. At that moment, it’s very clear whether the Killer is going to get a Survivor before they reach the door or not, and it’s just not very interesting for the other Survivors to watch that last chase play out.
I mentioned in an earlier blog that The Archives and Charms were imagined as a sort of legacy mechanic for the game, and that Survivors and Killers could gain access to more skills and items as they played.
As noted above though, the game turned out to be very tight. If one side or the other had meaningful material advantages (such as extra perks, extra starting bloodpoints, etc), it just wasn’t fun to go up against them. If the advantages weren’t meaningful, they would just be needless complexity.
Offerings were considered briefly as a way to create scenarios by modifying the setup of the board. Ultimately, however, the board setup wasn’t really meaningful—it matters whether you choose to look for Generators or Lockers, but it doesn’t matter much whether those props are in one space or another. In the end, we didn’t feel that setup options made the game significantly more fun than playing a randomized board—they just added another layer of complication to an otherwise clean setup.
Killer Items (specifically Iridescent items) were designed as alternate Killer Powers for each of the 16 Killers. However, there wasn’t enough time to properly test all of this content and still hit our target release date. As I mentioned earlier, if we’re not confident that a component will be good and balanced in 19 out of 20 plays, we cut it. So this was one of those unfortunate cuts. If we do ever do an expansion for the game, this is one of the first things I’ll lobby to put into that box.
Originally, we planned for a 2-player mode to go into the box. However, the final game supports only 3–5 players. After numerous tests, we found that operating all four Survivors at once was just not very fun. Very skilled gamers could handle it, but even for them it was stressful and they were likely to have a sub-par experience. Because of that, we decided to cut the mode entirely.
Putting a wider player count on the box is nice for sales, but when you put that on the box, people expect to be able to open the box, play it at that player count, and get the best experience the game has to offer. We felt that 2-player wasn’t consistently delivering, so we cut it. Of course, experienced players can still house-rule it back in quite easily.
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So there you have it! It feels like a lot, doesn't it? In designing a game, what's left out is just as important as what's left in. While a lot of this stuff seems cool (and it was cool!), it's hard to imagine teaching all these details before a first game, or sharing them with casual players.
We had to make a lot of tough decisions to create a game that would be right for players of all types. In the end, the game is better for these omissions, because it remains a fast, focused experience that you can play again and again.
]]>In this blog post, I’ll reveal how some of those mechanics evolved. I already talked in the previous blog about Hidden Information. Some other key mechanics that underwent vast changes were Perks, Generators, Carrying, and Hooking.
Early versions of perks were based exclusively on the Prop System. These perks gave you new ways to interact with the existing props. Way back, boards had 30 or so spaces, and each space held one prop, so the ability to interact with a prop in two ways rather than just one was a pretty big deal. However, as the map became more condensed and abstract, the props became consolidated into a few large spaces, and players had plenty of choices to make each turn.
Beyond that, having to wait until you found the right prop to use a perk was a bit lame. You might go a whole game and not get to see your character’s special powers. So to better fit with the ubiquity of perks in the video game, we decided to transform these one-off abilities into persistent combo pieces that formed the character’s strategic identity.
The decision to power perks with Bloodpoints came fairly late, and we actually resisted a currency like this for a long time. However, too many interesting opportunities were hedged out by having not enough balancing levers. Using Bloodpoints allowed a larger and more interesting range of perks to make it into the game.
Generators persisted pretty much the same throughout the development. What changed was that Survivors became required to move in order to interact with them.
While working a generator until it’s finished is a tactic in the video game, sitting still and working a gen for 3 rounds doesn’t make for very entertaining play (or very smart play) in a game that is only 8-12 rounds long on average.
However, if you’re an objective-oriented person, it always looks like the right move. We found that game after game, players would stand still for several turns, get hooked, and then have a poor experience because they didn’t get to really interact with the game.
For this reason, we decided to force Survivors to move every turn before interacting. Though it’s got no basis in the video game, the constant movement makes play much more satisfying as a Survivor and more interesting as a Killer.
Often in board games, we find that directly preventing players from making bad or uninteresting moves dramatically improves the experience. You don’t want to tell a player “hey, you can move or not, it’s up to you,” when in almost every situation moving is the correct answer and the other option is just a trap.
Bloodlust is a mechanic in the video game where Killers begin to run faster if they’ve been focused on a Survivor long enough. This helps chases to end and helps close out games. In the board game, we played around with various incarnations of this mechanic, but it reached its final form as Killer Bonus Turns. If the Survivors have made enough noise (rolling skulls on skill checks or disturbing crows), or the Killer has used certain perks or props, they build up Bloodpoints. With enough, they can take a third turn, effectively mirroring how bloodlust speeds up their movement.
Carrying underwent significant changes through development. In early versions, the round could end with a player in the Killer’s grip. While it was fun to let them play a card and influence the Killer’s movement, or to let the Killer go around and continue attacking while searching for a hook, the situation didn’t really serve either side—Killers weren’t advancing their goals, and Survivors were getting taken out of the action and missing turns. It also put a very large focus (and a similarly large section of rules) related to a single Survivor’s situation that wasn’t really all that common or relevant compared to the other activities Killers and Survivors were doing.
In many older versions, there was also the concept of slugging (wounding a Survivor a second time so they have to crawl along the ground). But having 5 statuses (healthy, wounded, slugged, carried, hooked) was just too much detail for the scope of the game we were going for.
In the final game, we settled on just 3 states: Healthy, Wounded, and Hooked. When a wounded character is attacked again, they enter a ‘pick up sequence’ which either resolves with the Survivor getting hooked or getting away, all in just a single roll of the dice. This kept the game moving at a brisk pace, while greatly reducing rules associated with one of the most complex aspects of the source material.
I hope that this look at what made it into the game has been interesting! Next week, I’ll share with you some of the mechanics that got left in the basement.
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One of the biggest aspects of building Dead by Daylight: The Board Game was information control. In the original video game, individual Survivors and Killers have their positions hidden. Due to perks or innate abilities, each side may also have some knowledge of the secret layout of the trial grounds as well.
In this game of “High Stakes Hide and Seek”, what information do we give out, and what information do we need to hide? That was the biggest question to be answered over most of the game’s early versions.
Initial versions were much like Scotland Yard or Battleship. Players each kept their small map of the trial ground hidden, and would call out their moves to share with one another. Players would gain opportunities to look at the map and to discover or reveal information in specific spaces. The downside is that these kinds of hidden information games are long and a bit obtuse. If you go over to the wrong side of the map hunting for Survivors or Generators, the game might be over before you get back. And the game is only really delivering on its promise when the Killer is right on the heels of the Survivors.
Having the board in multiple places was also complex and required a lot of extra components (one for the Survivors to track their position, and one for the Killer to track their position, and more to track what they knew and didn’t know). Besides that, small boards didn’t create the table presence that we were looking for.
In the end, we found that the Killer needed to see Survivors’ positions every turn in order to make the plays that would keep the game moving smoothly forward and keep the mood tense. The only uncertainty that we really needed for this was to obscure the very next move, and so this became the basis for the secret movement selection in the final game.
There’s another dimension to hidden movement as well, and that is that hidden movement is only interesting if you have the tools to speculate on what the other side is going to do. This is how we eventually came to put Props into different categories.
The intention was always that the game’s maps would be randomized, but this created some difficulties. The most obvious was that generators and hooks need to be evenly distributed around the field. The not so obvious is that players need direction early on. Am I going to pursue my objective, look for survival tools, try to interfere with the Killer’s goals, etc. That’s a question that Survivors can’t wait until the mid-game (when most of the map is revealed) to start answering.
With the props in categories, Survivors are able to reliably find what they’re looking for, but they still have to do the legwork. And with only a few props revealed each turn, the best way to guarantee that you’ll get a prop you need is to go to one that’s already revealed. Thus, the Killer can predict Survivors’ movements by looking at their immediate objectives and play style, and by considering the revealed props in each space.
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At Level 99 Games, we build games in two phases.
Design is where we do the planning and the concept testing. We make sure the rules and the big ideas of the game are just right.
Development is where we fill in the contents of the game and smooth out rough edges in the rules.
Throughout this process, we try to think about the game as a product that people are going to use. One of the interesting features of board games is that they have to be operated by players. In a video game, the platform (a computer, console, or phone) is separate from the player, but in a board game, the player is also in charge of understanding and enforcing all of the game’s rules.
Because of this, one of the most important tasks in design is ensuring accessibility. The game must not be overly complicated, nor should it be difficult to set up, teach, or learn. Furthermore, the game’s components must also follow this rule. It is always good to use fewer components, each with a clear purpose, and to organize them into fewer boxes. It was understood from the very start that the core game rules would need to fit on one page, though the form of that page changed a lot over the course of the design.
This goal is complicated by the aspect of marketing, because much of the value proposition of a board game is tied up in its components. As much as we are willing to pay top dollar for a great novel, movie ticket, or video game, most buyers in our market don’t recognize great board game design alone as being worth the price of admission the way they do in other media. A board game’s price is determined by the size of its box and the components therein more than any other factor.
Thus, we must build ‘the product’—the game as it is on shelves—by balancing the three competing dimensions of accessibility, material cost, and apparent value.
The catch phrase we pitched to Behaviour Interactive was a “Functional Collector’s Item,” and that became a guiding principle in design. Early on in design, we had initial plans for legacy modes and character growth, like what exists in the video game. However, we decided not to pursue these options because anything that would alter the game would go against the idea of the game as a collector’s item.
There’s a certain evil tendency in the tabletop industry to make more and more—even when more is less from a player perspective. Indeed, the prospect of making every DBD chapter into a separate small box was floated and eventually scrapped as an idea. There were similar talks for legacy, fully cooperative, and solo modes.
“Too big to play”, otherwise known as “Kickstarter bloat” is a common problem that plagues modern board games. With Dead by Daylight, we decided that making the best possible game meant making a game of the right size—one box with everything, at a reasonable price, without a ton of modes, variants, and options.
Our rule of thumb for cutting content is pretty strict. If 80% of tables won’t ever use this component/mode/character, then we’re not going to include it. Furthermore, if this component/mode/character doesn’t lead to a fun game experience 95% of the time, we’re not going to include it.
All of these considerations and more came together as we designed not just a game, but the product that would encapsulate it and deliver that game to your tabletop. I’m really proud of the final product the team has put together. It’s a great game, at a great price. But it’s also just the right amount of game–tons of replayability without excessive bloat.
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In April of 2021, our team at Level 99 Games was getting into Dead by Daylight. The All-Kill chapter had just been released, and it was the video game that we talked about at board game nights. The gameplay sounded interesting, and I too got sucked into the game. Between matches, I started writing the first notes on what would become the official Dead by Daylight board game.
That game looks very different than what we would eventually create. The path we took to get there was an interesting one.
In designing a game, the first thing to nail down is the experience you’re going to create. A good place to start is to reverse the question you’re asking: If Dead by Daylight the video game were based on a board game, what kind of game would that be? That’s the game we set out to design.
I imagine that this primordial Dead by Daylight board game must be something like the horror version of Jumanji. Clearly a board game, but one with a dark tone and with somewhat old-fashioned mechanics which are familiar to anyone who has participated in a board game before. It has cards that are weathered and feature simple icons, dice with a slightly odd design, and figures that inspire a bit of unnerving terror.
We also needed to think about who was going to play this game. There are a lot of very large board games out there, and all the best video games especially seem to spawn large board game adaptations.
However, having participated in a few of these big projects from the outside, I felt that playability was more important than spectacle. We wanted a game that could hit the table. Something you could teach, play, and clean-up in under an hour. A game that would become a staple of late October nights, rather than a spectacle that collects dust on the shelf.
So rather than design a gigantic game for a select group of collectors, we set out to build Dead by Daylight™: The Board Game as something the average Dead by Daylight player would be interested in owning and playing with their friends. Furthermore, we wanted it to be something light-to-medium weight in terms of complexity—deep enough for players who enjoy the video game, but approachable even if your only board game experiences are Monopoly and Risk.
Early versions of the game were pitched as “Cooperative Murder Battleship”, in which Survivors and Killers used hidden information and false cues to confuse the other side while they pursued their objectives. After many trials and errors, these prototypes evolved into the final game that you see today.
Here’s a look at how some of the original components measure up to their final counterparts.
As you can see, some things changed quite a bit, while others remained quite a bit the same. Because we had a clear vision of the game’s experience and play style right at the start, many of the groundwork designs were able to carry all the way to production, despite changing mechanics.
]]>Today we're showing off the rulebook for Dead by Daylight™: The Board Game! Come and see how the game is played.
For those who want ALL the details, you can download the rulebook right here. But if you want to just read the highlights and key mechanics from a top-down perspective, here they are!
Asymmetric Sides
One player will play a lone Killer, while the other 2–4 players will play as Survivors.
Each side has a different objective.
If you're the Killer, you want to accumulate 8 sacrifice progress, which you get by sacrificing Survivors on the hooks found throughout the trial grounds.
As a Survivor, you'll need to explore and find generators, then spend time repairing them. Repair 4 generators, then repair the exit gates, and the Survivors win as a team!
Secret Movement
The game's board is divided into zones, and each turn, you will move between zones—either to discover new interactive props as a Survivor, or to hunt down Survivors as the Killer.
All players select their moves for the turn simultaneously, and reveal them one by one as the round progresses. The Killer always goes last, and gets to take two turns—this allows them a lot of leeway to react to the Survivors, and makes the reveal tense until the very last second.
Bloodpoints & Perks
Each character, Killer or Survivor, has a set of special actions they can use called perks. Each of these perks has a cost in Bloodpoints that's needed to activate it. Perks let you bend and break the rules of the game, and ensure that each character plays differently.
Each Killer and Survivor has a standard loadout of 3 perks. You can also use the cards included in the game to customize your build, opening the door to all kinds of new strategies.
Just keep in mind that each perk can only be used once during each round of play, and bloodpoints are a very scarce resource. The best way to replenish them is to hunt for hex totems around the trial grounds.
Interactive Props
The game board contains a random distribution of props. Most actions in the game require characters to interact with props, and these props come in 4 different categories.
Objective Props are generators and exit doors. These are the props that Survivors will use to win the game.
Boldness Props are hooks and hex totems. These are props that the Killer will use to win the game or hinder the Survivors.
Survival Props are crates and lockers. These are tools the Survivors can individually use to protect themselves from the Killer.
Altruism Props are pallets and crows. These are useful to the Survivors as a team, and strategic use of these resources is critical to their victory.
Skill Checks
Skill checks are made using custom dice. A result of 1–4 is a success. A result of 5 is a great success. A result showing a skull is a failure.
Just like in the video game, only Survivors will make skill checks. Skill checks are used to resolve healing, hiding, repairing generators, and attempting to escape while being carried by the Killer.
Furthermore, whenever a Survivor fails a skill check, the Killer gets some extra bloodpoints, which eventually add up to let them use more perks or take bonus turns.
So there's a preview of some of the key mechanics in Dead by Daylight™: The Board Game! Join us on our live chat today at 2:30pm Mountain Time and we'll talk about the design processes and gameplay implications behind some of these mechanics. See you there!
Remember to check out the project and click "notify me on launch" so you can get your copy!
]]>We've worked really hard to make this game affordable and accessible. The base game is just $49, and it contains everything you need to play. It's a great experience for folks who like to break out a game for special occasions, and it's easy to setup, teach, and start playing in just a few minutes.
Inside the base game, you'll find 7 Survivors and 6 Killers, each very different in how they play. There are also two maps included in the base game, each with a different layout which lends itself to a very different experience.
The collector's edition, priced at $99, is designed for both expert gamers and serious Dead by Daylight™ collectors. It has a beautiful display presence, as well as more than twice the content of the base game.
In this box there are 17 Survivors and 16 Killers (17 if you want to count The Twins separately!) and two additional maps. There are also miniatures to represent the Generators and Hooks found in the trial grounds. We'll show off more of the Collector's Edition content soon!
I hope you've enjoyed a quick look inside these boxes! If you want to get a notice on day 1 to reserve your copy, make sure to visit the Kickstarter page and click 'Notify me on launch', or sign up for our own mailing list here and get discounts and special deals on other Level 99 Games!
]]>Since the middle of 2021, our team has been working tirelessly on "Project Crow", which we are excited to announce is Dead by Daylight™: The Board Game. The game will be coming to Kickstarter, and you can visit the KS page right now and click 'remind me' to be there on day 1 when it launches!
More details will be coming out as we prepare for the project, so make sure to check out our social media channels daily for more details.
For today, I'll leave you with the teaser image above, plus a few professionally painted minis from our eminent sculptor, Sergey Popovichev and his team (please note that minis in the game come unpainted, and also there is no fog machine in the box 😜 ). See any of your favorite Killers/Survivors?
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