Behaviour Interactive recently held a big Dead by Daylight community AMA, and one of the hottest topics to come out of the responses was word of a new quick-chat system designed to help Survivors easily communicate their intentions and actions on the fly. A long-time request, it’s finally real and will be added to the multiplayer game soon. Seeing how much excitement it garnered, the developer has lifted the veil to show us what it actually looks like, how it will work, and one way that it’s already been adapted in response to the initial player feedback.
Reflecting on the recent Dead by Daylight AMA, Behaviour notes that “some topics really got you talking,” and that the mention of an incoming Survivor chat wheel was right up the top of that list. Now known as the ‘Player Intent’ wheel, it lets you pull up a radial menu of common preset messages that you can send to your fellow Survivors with the press of a button. They’ll appear next to your name, making them clearly visible without getting in the way of anyone’s view. The team adds that it’s planning a cooldown to avoid spam, which will increase if you keep sending a lot of messages in a short timeframe.
The Player Intent wheel has eight slots, but you can customize what appears and where: “We want this comms wheel to suit different players’ specific needs,” Behaviour explains. What options might you be able to choose between? Tell people you’re going for a generator, or attempting an unhook. Call out that you’re being actively chased, or send a more generic cry for help. Let your team know you need healing, order people to split up, or simply send a quick “thanks” to someone who comes to your rescue.
“Of course, one piece of feedback we’ve seen is that a system like this isn’t for everyone,” Behaviour remarks. It’s been discussing this response internally and has already come up with a couple of solutions. If you simply don’t want to engage with the Player Intent system on any level, you’ll be able to disable it from the settings menu. This will prevent you from both sending and receiving messages sent via the wheel.
Alternatively, if you’re generally on board with it but run into a player that’s using it inappropriately or annoying you with spam, you can mute them and it’ll block their Player Intent messages from showing on your side. This works on a player by player basis, so you can keep chatting with the rest of your team who are treating it a little more responsibly.
Behaviour says the system “is meant for everybody who plays Survivor,” but notes that its value will vary depending on how you play. Even if you mostly like to hang out in voice chat with your fellow teammates, it’s still quite handy to have those quick on-screen pings that you can toss out in an instant without having to cut through the current conversation. The studio adds that it is eager to continue polishing the Player Intent wheel based on your thoughts and ideas.
“Just like how your feedback from the AMA helped inform the addition of an opt-out option, we’re dying to know your thoughts,” it concludes. “Even better, it would be massively helpful if you could also share a little about how you play to give context.” Let them know whether you’re a solo player, an SWF fan who comes in with a premade group, or a Killer main, along with your rough experience level in Dead by Daylight. “We’ll be watching your feedback closely as the team continues to work on this system ahead of its release this fall.”
