Being dead sucks

[Kenpari]

I think the mechanic of revival is cool and don't think death is a bad mechanic to have, but it's really boring being dead for so long. Revivals are so expensive I spent 20 minutes dead having to watch my friends scrounge around not being able to make enough money to bring me back, plus they were pushing the cart out of crystals, making it even slower.

Maybe if revivals were a little cheaper it would be more fun. Definitely also need a fix for not being able to switch spectated characters, I couldn't imagine being dead for more than 5 minutes staring at a blank landscape because you can't spectate your friends.

[Eldwin]

Needs a mechanic like drawing on the chalkboard or lighting things up (at a cooldown of course)

[The Weather Man]

A possible solution that'd add some interest here might be to allow players to draw resurrection circles on any flat surface, especially inside dungeons. Which would more or less nullify very long waits as long as you had chalk.

You'd gain some really cool gameplay stories out of it too, imagining the tension of trying to draw a full circle while still hiding from the monster that killed your buddy a minute prior; or doing it in the dark.

There might also be a bit of skill based gameplay in learning to draw them correctly without a guide, even some horror elements for what happens if you try to use one that was drawn 'wrong' (perhaps a monster type, like a zombie?).

Though a change like that might demote things like spike traps to 'annoyance' if you can just immediately fix people, which might not be great. A balance could be to invoke danger whenever performed away from safe areas, so there's some risk to the reward of immediately spawning someone.

[desperatemeasuresgames]

That's 100% a bug where you can't spectate your friends and I'm on the fix for that today!
I also agree on the boring nature of being dead but it will be a fine line to balance as of course there's stakes to being alive and it ramps up the intensity of not wanting to be dead.
However I absolutely think there's plenty of room to improve it - will require some consideration though! I really like the idea of the chalk being drawn anywhere - there's just a bit of a technical hurdle programming wise to allow that to happen. I think it's possible, just might take a fair bit of time to implement

[The Weather Man]

Relating to drawing anywhere: You might be able find good reference material in VR games, I know there's a few line-recognition tech pieces found in wizard themed games which track the path of your hands. The 2002 game arx fatalis likely has the tech piece you'd be investigating, if they ever did any dev blogs or breakdowns.

[ob64]

If it does become possible to draw the resurrection symbol anywhere, it would be cool to see other "rituals" utilize the system. Perhaps one that can make a temporary wall to block monster (and player) movement, or one that (at a hefty price) could teleport you and your crew back to the wagon.

[Kenpari]

Lots of the ideas ob64 are putting out are really cool. I think these types of breakout features are what could help set the game apart from its contemporaries like Lethal Company. Right now the gameplay loop is simplistic (not bad) and could benefit from some form of variety in unique gameplay features rather than following the same development route as other games.

[Soldier Boy]

I dont think its really that hard to be brought back, the Merchant Stand spawns after every Dungeon and you can go into debt up to 30 coins worth and thats exactly how much it costs to buy a mask to revive a friend if you dont manage to revive them the free way from finding their non decapitated body

[Pankake]

I honestly think the death consequences seem fine imo, Especially once there is save games and people try to do long runs. The tension of not dying is what defines this from Lethal company the most outside of the themed setting and being more open world with travel.

I think keeping it the same will be fine imo as long as there is a balance around the mechanic rather then focusing on changing it.