game sound dokumentation

Dead by Daylight is an asymmetric multiplayer horror game in which a group of four survivors have to escape from a vicious killer by completing multiple tasks in a spectacle orchestrated by an extradimensional and all-powerful entity. Survivors cannot fight back and have to rely on stealth and efficient movement to get around the Killer. Both sides are aided by a variety of equippable perks and items that add and change their abilities and allow players to choose from a wide variety of playstyles.

Dead by Daylight’s soundscape has two primary purposes - on one hand it is a vital source of gameplay information for both killers and survivors, while on the other hand it aids in creating a tense horror atmosphere throughout the game. To marry these two purposes, most sound effects in the game are short, snappy and sharp, conveying a consistent sense of urgency or discomfort. The game features little to no dialogue, limited to an occasional voice line by specific killers, with the voice over being focussed on nonverbal sounds such as grunts or screams of pain.

Both the environmental soundscape and the player sounds remain consistent with the game’s overall horror theming, with even non-diegetic sounds closely resembling classic horror movie stingers. This is also reflected in the UI, where most interactions are accompanied by growling, squelching sounds that often linger briefly beyond the interaction. During gameplay, interactions with different materials also affect the soundscape - for example, a killer’s attack missing and hitting a wooden wall sounds notably different to the attack hitting an old metal container. The game sound is consistent and coherent with what is happening on screen.

Dead by Daylight makes great use of sound to convey important in-game information. This reflects in the corresponding soundbytes, which are usually very clear-cut and leave little room for interpretation. Beyond interaction feedback, the game also informs the player about their game state through sound - for example, an injured survivor’s movement is accompanied by frequent grunts of pain and breathing through clenched teeth, while a player affected by the Doctor’s madness ability hears a constant static buzzing. Sound is also used to inform survivors about a nearby killer, with a frantic heartbeat that gets both faster and louder the closer in proximity they are to the killer.

When certain important events occur in game such as the completion of a generator or the death of a survivor, the corresponding sound briefly drowns out most other game sounds for all players to emphasize this pivotal shift in the match dynamics. If the triggering event is based on a specific location, the sound is also directional, which aids the killer in locating survivors and vice versa.