With Dead by Daylight celebrating its 9th anniversary a few weeks away, the developer’s behavioral interactive unfolds a party favorite that fans have begged to watch for years: 5 nights at Freddy’s. The chapter, based on Scott Cawthon’s legendary Animatronic Horror series, will eventually officially arrive in the daytime on June 17th. It was a year of production collaboration, and we first saw how it was formed.
Passthecontroller was sitting for an interview with Daylight Creative Director Dabricherd and killer designer Jay Songzzo for an interview with Dead ahead of the Public Test Build (PTB) of upcoming chapters, which starts at 12:12pm ET at 9am Pt/12PM. In addition to learning more about how SpringTrap, the new murderer, uses doors, cameras and jump terrorism to terrorize survivors, our chat revealed more details about some of the behaviors of other horror icons.
Fans of the Eager Nintendo Switch 2 are pleased to know that Passthecontroller has confirmed that the startup issues on Day Light By Dave devices will be resolved by the time it launches next week on June 5th. Meanwhile, the team explains why they chose to include this new survivor, but we are Freddy’s Fazbear’s aseed ased by time in us a daw by time.
Passthecontroller: How do you feel towards PTB, how do you feel about how SpringTrap looks like when it comes to how it plays, compared to other previous killers in PTB.
Dave Richard: Of course, he is the main designer of this. I’m excited. I’m confident. I know this is the top requested franchise and killer. It’s been around for years and I’m feeling a bit stressed. There’s a lot of hype and lots of expectations, but the team is authentic and created a very cool five nights in the Freddy Dead experience with daylight metrics.
Jason Guzzo: I mean, I think Dave said that pretty well. I’ve not been acting on DBD since the beginning for 23 years, so I think my stress is a little higher than he does. For him, it’s like, “Oh, this is just part of the flow.” But for me, this is my third murderer. Yes, I’ve done Chucky and Dracula before, and it was amazing to be able to trust FNAF with DBD. I’m really excited about it. It takes almost a year to be a murderer, so it’s really cool to be able to say, “Oh, here’s what we’re doing.”
Just reading some of the details I saw in advance, this doesn’t seem to have expected Freddie’s 5 nights and what the gameplay of the series would be. I didn’t expect to see the doors, the cameras, and even the fear of jumps. Were you discussing other animatronic plays, or were the teams looking?
Richard: Obviously, it’s not something we can easily answer, like all the internal work we have with various partners. There were many, many iterations of what this chapter is and we ended here. It’s great and that’s all I can share.
This is the first time a player has played a spring trap in a video game. This is a sure 5 nights in Freddie’s community is very large. Can you talk about what it’s like to create an original gameplay for this character and create such a limited blueprint to lay the foundation for things?
Guzzo: That’s a great question. Really, as you suggested, gameplay from FNAF is very different to DBD – dramatically different. Really, the goal is “What is your experience with FNAF? What – my favorite words in the world – what is the atmosphere? That’s the word for millennials: “What is the atmosphere?” So, without a joke, I watched about 70 hours of content. The name is not the name, it is the king of FNAF. Everyone knows who it is.
Richard: I scream at Markiplier. Yeah!
Guzzo: (laughs) So I mean, I love him now. I’ve never seen him before, and now I’ve seen a lot of his FNAF’s stuff and I’m subscribing. I’m watching all his new videos and more. It won over me. But no, it was really cool to be able to watch, not just the gameplay. I’ll be honest: I don’t like the fear of jumping as a player. I love horror movies. A horror game with jumping horror… I’m a bit of a baby about it, but it was cool not only to watch the gameplay, but of course, watching the streamer’s reactions and people playing it in the community.
When you see people playing live, you can see the community interacting. Also, you just see how people react… You can make a game like FNAF and you go “Oh, it’s going to be all jumping horror” so people ignore it and they focus on something else. So you can watch someone play, you can watch people play, you can read all the lore – because five nights in Freddie’s lore is crazy – and there was a lot of interactions, “Well, what are people reacting to, how can you adapt it to the context of DBD?”
Everyone has FNAF ideas, so there were a lot of chefs in this kitchen in this chapter. That’s a big thing. Everyone wanted to make sure it was as authentic as possible, but of course, everything went through Scott Corson. So, yeah, I did all of that research, took lots of notes and said, “What we can ruin, what we can do, how we can enhance our dbd with flavor, or atmosphere, and it was really cool to have the fnaf experience.
Richard: When you talk about the presentation and how people responded, I have to go back to the very beginning of that question. I had the opportunity to reveal it was a spring trap in Pax, and there were almost 1,000 people in that room, and they cried out loud enough to sway the floor. It was just…it was just amazing.
It’s a very exciting and huge moment for everyone right now. I ruined it a bit, but could you please explain in more detail what players can expect from SpringTrap on PTB? How does this killer and its new map version do justice for the character?
Richard: Jason, it’s all for you. I just want to go back to your previous question and say really quickly that the tasks the team had were very challenging. To have a single player experience mechanic that allows you to distill that atmosphere and transform into that double that you are a survivor and create that fear, or experience it in a different kind of way in a very different kind of game. Absolutely, we wanted the fear of jumping before we dive into the mechanic of it. That’s part of the atmosphere. I absolutely wanted to create these moments of hunting corridors and surveillance. Then I’m really happy, and Jason, you could explain, but that whole door thing wasn’t an afterthought, but that’s what you came up with after that, it goes through it and it’s absolutely fantastic.
Guzzo: oh. Creative Director, he calls me great lol.
Richard: You can finish the interview now.
Guzzo: (laughs) So he’s mostly a projectile killer. There are two flavors of power types. It has two halves. I try to ramble and do a bit of a connection, but I promise to get to where I need to be in a moment. One thing I wanted to do with this is, as mentioned before, FNAF was like a survivor game, right? In the context of DBD, we play from the perspective of a survivor. You are sitting in the security office, managing the battery, making sure you don’t kill yourself. So I wanted to take a step back and say, “How can I enhance the survivors’ side of the gameplay in this chapter?” Because that’s kind of thing people know from the FNAF.
Obviously, I couldn’t say, “Ahhh, all four of us will be stationary and open, shut the door and manage the battery.” It’s not DBD. What we came across was the idea: “Well, security doors, they’re pretty iconic, and obviously the security office is very iconic.” What we landed was that the security office is this transition space for both survivors and murderers. There is a born door around the map. Each has a camera and a number. So you know which camera is which camera is which, or which door is which camera.
When a survivor interacts with the door, the battery gives a camera view, and a small map of the camera appears in the corner. You can flip through them and see what’s on the other side of the door. If you find a door you like, if it looks safe on the other side, or if you’re trying to save someone, or whatever it is, you can press our input and get a little canned animation almost like a movie. It’s not even pre-rendered, but it’s very handoff. I use it in first person, and when I see your survivor walking around the security office, it’s equivalent to an ultra-short theme park ride. Then the door opens at the other end of the room, you leave, and then you are potentially on the other side of the map. It’s basically teleporting, but it’s very theme.
The trick here is that even a safe space feels like a safe space – not. The killer has no access to the camera, but he can enter the door and look around and teleport him around any of the other doors he likes. He does the same: he gets a movement like he goes through the security office, but if his path crosses the path with the survivors, they feel a little jumped and scared, he grabs them, and he exits the door and carries them. It’s really thematic and the animation is very good. It’s very good. The Annick team killed it. The first thing I said was, “Can we be a grab killer?” There’s a brawl and an M1 killer. There is a microwave killer. Can we do a killer based on grabbing everything? Because DBD glove is essentially a kind of jumping horror. We wanted to lean a bit of it. Obviously, that’s not the only thing you can do – it’s a bit boring – but we leaned over something like that.
The other half of his power is his projectiles. He has a big old fire that he can lob. It’s a very unique arc. That’s not something we’ve ever done as a projectile killer before. It is not built for snipers. It is not designed around snipers. Not balanced around the sniper. It’s really, really awful trick shots and we’ve already got some people pulling away some crazy stuff internally. It was really fun to watch. We wanted to marry these two things door gameplay. One thing we did is if we hit survivors with projectiles, we can chase them and hit the M1. We are basically just skipping a step. Usually they fall and you pick them up, but we do it all in one shot. You go near and bump into a basic attack, SpringTrap grabs x very hard, turn you, you get a scary animation of a nice little jump, he’s carrying you.
x works in several different ways. He can disable the camera and door and get a bit of AoE with material, but that’s all my tangents to explain all the powers. We tried our best to sneak in through these doors with these cameras on both sides of the aisle, look at the security office, and be as authentic as possible when it comes to the survivors’ experience of being still this imposing ac sap. You can’t even call him a man or a robot. He’s a monster, right? We tried to be as authentic as possible to make him feel rather rocky and loud, but we could also show up right behind you and Boo! you know what i mean? (lol).
It would be really interesting to see Spridtrap staying five nights on Freddy’s Into Dead By Daylight itself. When you all came up with the SpringTrap idea, did the team have to take into consideration the next five nights in Freddie’s two films? Did the action bring out elements of that film or the first film when creating a version of that character?
Richard: Great question, and no answer. In fact, for us, we wanted to recreate everything, especially the first title. As you can see, we often die in the daytime. I’m going to the classics. It also creates a bit of nostalgia, making it even more modern, and makes what you need to die in the daytime in today’s flavor. Of course, the film is the first installment and it’s based on a lot of that aspect along with some changes, but we were really focused on the game.
So, at what point in your conversation with Scott Corson, did you say we must win Matthew Lillard here for this?
Richard: It actually came directly from Scott. We discussed the various outfits that you can create for SpringTrap. He actually suggested it, such as, “What is your comfort? We want to respect that. Do you want to create a new outfit like The Blight or want to keep something specific? Do we have the right to this?” We thought, “We have to stick to the game.” He said. That would be great. ” f ** k yeah. Yes, that’s what will happen. Plus, with Matthew Lillard in attendance, I didn’t hang out with him – I’ve got a part of the team, so it’s great to work with him. He did an amazing job bringing this character to life in our game. It’s just amazing.
Guzzo: I mean, he’s an icon, right?
A horror icon from the game, depicting this giant character.
Richard: Yes, I, if you squint your eyes… maybe you’re hairy lol.
Now moving on to another topic, I’ve seen some disappointment that this next chapter doesn’t come with survivors. Can you talk about whether there was a conversation about including survivors and why you ultimately chose not to include this time?
Richard: Yes, absolutely. So, with the early discussion of our plans and how we wanted to tackle this chapter and what we accessed when we started, having a survivor was not the perfect fit we wanted to achieve for many reasons. So, yes, I understand the disappointment like 100%, but in our minds, we were in the first game. It’s the player. That’s you, right?
We know this will evolve into something else in the FNAF timeline, but that’s kind of the vibe we’re aiming for. I want to say… maybe we’ll have the opportunity to do it eventually or do something else. I definitely think it’s really cool, especially the FNAF (who knows it) is vast. It’s a massive franchise, and it’s something we’ve done before and has a big license. After the first release, we created more content. So maybe that’s possible. That would be cool.
Dead by Daylight lets players run freely and hide Freddie Fasbear’s pizza restaurant. Without spoilers, can you talk about some of the map details that I am proud and excited to see players reveal in PTB?
Richard: The map is really amazing. Of course, it’s one of the buildings we faithfully recreated with the death metrics from daylight. It is comparable to the Raccoon Police Station as it exists. It is something the player already lived in in some way and does not necessarily roam that way. It’s so fun to see it in modern fashion and DBD style. We surprised it, and yeah, I’m not messing anything up, but there are plenty of you who know the tips about FNAF lore, cool moments. There’s an extra jump scare there. There are a lot of small surprises like this. As you know, we aim to please this level of detail, and this helps.
In another interview, I mentioned the behavior, which saw how long it took to cause Freddie’s collaboration to happen for so many different reasons. Part of what took a long time was related to desires from both the dead in the daytime team to establish a way to please the fans on both sides. Can you talk about what the process is and which elements have been the longest?
Richard: I can’t, I can’t answer this. I have no knowledge of that. If (game director Mathieu Cote) was here, you could say so. But usually we don’t even talk about the process with our partner.
This is a collaboration that fans have been wanting to see for a long time. What do you think about the receptions so far? And how about giving this to the team in the end, especially to players who want this?
Guzzo: What else can you say besides amazing? Obviously people don’t want to be nervous, but when you’re working hard on something, when you’re putting it out into the world, there’s always a bit of fear. We all know that people on the internet have an opinion, but overall, we are all really excited. We’ve been staring at this for over 40 hours a week for almost a year. We are excited that we don’t even necessarily see how people feel about it. Because you will never be happy for everyone.
As a game designer, I want to approach my design the same way, but I want to give you the tools to play, grasp, and instantly make your moments. That’s a big thing we talk a lot in DBD – from those moments to moment… moments. Those moments when you talk to your friends. Remember, “Oh, when it happened, when this happened.” So, we really wanted to give players the tools that have lots of cool moments and jumping moments and laughs, like I said, just like the extra Survivor gameplay. That’s the best part. When we playtests, I’m sitting and watching people play, they laugh and talk s**t to each other, that’s when I know I’ve personally succeeded. Because as soon as people don’t talk about bugs or anything like that, the bugs come out and they’re laughing and having fun, calling each other’s names and focusing on everyone’s jokes… that’s when the magic happens.
It’s cool to see it internally. And when you put it there, you go to Twitch, YouTube, whatever it is, and people just see those moments on a much bigger scale. Yes, the team is clearly excited. We’ve been waiting for this for 10 years, right? It’s not just the community that is waiting for that. We were waiting to do that. So it’s cool that we can finally do it and we can bring it to the community.
Richard: I was clearly there a little longer on the project and I was talking to another colleague yesterday and they actually asked similar questions. They said, “Well, OK, so you did it. What’s next? Is this the top?” Then I reflected, “Well, almost every chapter we’re doing, the latest and biggest chapters, is the most important thing we’re working on.” We understand that FNAF is huge and highly demanding, and then a new top request will be made. This happens again, as they are original or licensed. We definitely haven’t completed it.
Freddie’s first five nights first appeared as a topic for you.
Richard: For me, I couldn’t target that year exactly, but I didn’t know Markiplier. Actually… this is a long story. I’ll try to shorten it. So I didn’t watch many streamers, and my colleague just said, “Oh, you should watch the video that Markiplier does. He’s really funny.” Of course I watched the FNAF video, but this one really learned a lot about FNAF. I’m really interested in franchises and what I learned about Markiplier. I was enjoying it so much that it sparked this idea. Then it really solidified when the community began to seek it.
So it wasn’t necessarily the case, as those who were staying at Freddie’s cried out. It started after looking at Markiplier organically.
Richard: I have to say this is a very personal view on this issue. Of course, I look around the horrifying things to be inspired by what I am doing with the project. So when I watch Markiplier play, I can’t say, “Yes, this should be in DBD and the power should be like that.” It’s definitely not because it’s very early, but at that point the DBD… what was the word? We were few on the team, and of course, big things like FNAF weren’t necessarily as much as possible, but when it crystallized into what we needed to do, that’s definitely because the community wanted it. yes.
Are there any crossovers you’d like to see members of the Dead by Daylight team happen? There are no restrictions.
Richard: There are a few things Mathieu Cote says he’s already saying. Pennywise is amazing. There are other amazing kings of terror. You can guess either of them, I think. Frankly, I just want to collect all of them.
Guzzo: Dave treats DBD like a Pokemon lol. To be clear, this is not a hint as to what we are working on. To my knowledge, it’s not something that is discussed above me, but my dreams, and perhaps my favorite horror films, are obvious. I want to put things in DBD. I was here for two and a half years and was on the crusades to figure out how to get things to DBD.
There are many potential design issues. It’s an internal thing trying to figure out how to make that character work, but yes, it’s my…I don’t want to say the chapter in my dreams. I was able to do a spring trap with Chucky and Dracula. I don’t know who on this team can talk about having the biggest license on the planet, but at some point I’m on the Crusades.
Richard: It’s really cool. Yes, that would be good. Other things we share all the time too… they may be pretty much kidding, but I think there’s a way to make it work. Christine.
Popular theories that pop up around future chapters include some faded letters about the recent roadmap you published. Have you seen this theory come to mind?
Richard: I haven’t seen it. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Is there anything you would like to add about the upcoming PTB, five nights at Freddy’s, or the future of daytime death?
Richard: Lots of things. Jason, I’ll let you start. It’s your baby.
Guzzo: We love this game. We love franchises. If you love FNAF, we want you to feel welcome to come to DBD and see what we have to offer. I think I’ll be honest: that may not be the chapter you think is. I did my research because it has been requested and loved by the community for a long time.
Richard: And we can only do one.
Guzzo: And we can only do one. Obviously, I wanted to “Ah, this guy, Joesmith123 on Reddit has really good ideas. It may not be the chapter you expected, but “Ah, this is like a big thing. We’re going to sell a billion copies of this DLC, or anything. We wanted to be as authentic as possible. In this chapter, we wanted to make sure that the franchise is authentic, as the survivors have a little extra gameplay, as well as honour the community of that game and even though we might recognize the face when we come to DBD, we wanted to make sure we can get new experiences.
I hope everyone likes it. I really do. I don’t do this because it’s an easy job. I don’t do this because it’s attractive – I can interview Passthecontroller, but I think it’s pretty appealing to me, honestly, in terms of being a game developer – but I do that because I love horror. I have been a horror fan for the rest of my life. Working on a horror game is very literally a dream come true. As mentioned before, I’m a big baby and I really don’t like playing scary games, but I love working on them and I love the genre. I try to watch new horror movies two or three times a week, and my wife has to watch them too. Understand that this comes from a place of love and as much respect as possible. I hope everyone loves it. I think everyone loves playing it as much as I loved working on it. I think that’s the best way I can put it.
Richard: Something good.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor to Passthecontroller. He is best known for his work on sites such as Pitch, Fugitive, Only sp. Be sure to provide him with followers on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@mikecripe).
