Celebrating 10 Years of Murder in the Fog | Dead by Daylight 10th Anniversary Dev Interview

Storyline / World Setup

• Dead by Daylight (DBD) is a long-running “horror” universe built around an ongoing premise: killers hunt survivors across changing realms.
• The game continuously expands through:
  • new horror franchises, and
  • original content.

The interview frames the last 10 years as an evolution from a hopeful, limited-scope launch into a game-as-a-service that keeps growing with new characters, maps, and horror icons.

Gameplay Highlights / Key Points

• Ongoing live-service growth: Development decisions are treated like a constant pipeline—ideas enter a backlog and are added over time, so the game evolves rather than “ending.”

• Cross-franchise expansion strategy:

  • Early plans were reportedly more focused on building and finishing the original project.
  • During development, the team realized the concept could expand, shifting toward:
    • horror “archetypes,”
    • new maps, and
    • recognizable characters/franchises.

• Horror “golden age” planning: As horror becomes more mainstream, the team must decide which newer horror properties may become “classic” or “iconic” in the coming years—i.e., selective forecasting.

• Collaborations and IP execution (example: Scooby-Doo):

  • Licensed content isn’t always implemented as a 1:1 character recreation.
  • Sometimes it appears as collections/outfits, translating the source’s identity into DBD’s style.

• Community-led longevity: Player/community feedback is portrayed as a safeguard—helping ensure mistakes aren’t permanent (“nothing irreversible”), enabling continuous refinement.

Strategies / Practical Tips

• No explicit survivor/killer strategy guide is provided (e.g., perk builds or loop routing).
• The closest “strategic” takeaway is the dev philosophy:
  1. Plan for continual iteration: backlog + a long-term content roadmap.
  2. Use community visibility to grow horror, including support for indie horror via publishing.

Key Ideas About Indie Support / Publishing

Behavior/DBD also uses its momentum to publish and spotlight indie horror games, especially titles that are:

• close to completion or nearly done, and
• seeking visibility (described as difficult to obtain).

The goal is partly horror growth: helping smaller developers reach audiences and helping their games find more players.

Notable Fan / Community Stories (Non-Gameplay)

• PAX tattoo moment: A fan showed a tattoo sleeve featuring multiple horror icons (Leatherface, Myers, Jason, Freddy) with a DBD logo in the center, described as reaching “icon” status.

• Army veteran support/community: Stack-Up is mentioned as an organization using DBD with a PTSD-focused coping/community approach—stepping away when needed and leaning on friends for support.

• International fan passion:

  • A fan from Japan flew in specifically for the event via community connections/interpreter help.
  • A couple from Ireland received help when ticket issues/scams threatened their attendance.

End of Interview: Other Mentioned Media

Hooked on You

The interviewer discusses Hooked on You (mentioned as live-streaming the entire game):

• Behavior says it worked with writers/creators to ensure jokes “land,” and that character bits fit DBD’s non-canon/bit-by-bit canon approach.
• The interview emphasizes staying playful even when working with IP.

Gamers / Sources Featured

• Matthew Cote (interview subject)
• Dave Richard (interview subject)
• “Horror ASMR” / Abe (introduced at the start; “My name is Abe”)
• Dead Meat (referenced by the interviewer as covering horror movies)
• Hooked on You (referenced by the interviewer; live-streamed the game)
• Stack-Up (organization mentioned)
• PAX (event mentioned; no specific individual gamer)