Scripted Event

Events in video games which are programmed to unfold in the same way each time. Scripted Events are usually triggered by a timer, or by the Player Character crossing a checkpoint; this will ensure that the player is in the correct position to appreciate the event.

Scripted Events can be used to push the story forward without a Cutscene through a scripted scene of dialogue, or to increase the excitement with dramatic events such as explosions, or to scare the player with a sudden entrance of an enemy.

If a particularly dramatic or visually impressive Scripted Event is used only once in a game, then it is a Videogame Set Piece. Scripted Events tend to be used multiple times throughout a game. A series of Scripted Events linked one after another is known as a Scripted Sequence.

A Scripted Event failing to trigger when it should (or at all) can lead to the game becoming Unwinnable. Cause them to trigger when they shouldn't results in Script Breaking. Fun times! (Or not.)

If this also takes place in the middle of a battle sequence (or as an entire battle), it's a Scripted Battle. Can be quite annoying when combined with Trial and Error Gameplay if the events can't be skipped after the first time.


 * Many recent action-military shooter games (especially those based on previous wars) are filled with scripted sequences. Call of Duty 2 featured many set-piece battles and events, from squadmates kicking down doors to carrying a wounded teammate (both impossible for the Player Character).
 * Call of Duty 4 includes achievements for interfering with the scripted events, saving the lives of the NPCs who would otherwise die.
 * Half Life and its sequel make good use of scripted events throughout the games, with scientists being dragged into air vents, marines rappelling through sky lights, aliens teleporting in suddenly and characters having conversations with one another. The games also feature a lot of large-scale Videogame Setpieces.
 * Most of the scripted events might as well just be Cut Scenes, though, since you are almost always stuck in the room they happen in and can't progress until the event ends. Being able to (usually) move around the room or shoot friendly NPCs (which then ends the game, of course) are the only things that makes the events at all different from a regular cutscene.
 * Most mods for the game do have traditional cutscenes, such as Afraid of Monsters and Sweet Half-Life.
 * Resident Evil is famous for its sudden scares from zombie dogs crashing through the windows. At least, it's scary the first couple of times.
 * Sequels varied the scripted scare repertoire to include zombie arms crashing through walls, Licker encounters, and Nemesis encounters.
 * Psychonauts has the guillotine in Waterloo World. When you get close to it, it crashes down and you can't get through. The solution?
 * Also the asylum rats. Good lord, the rats...
 * For those of you not in the know, the upper floors of the asylum level are infested with rats that explode into a cloud of Confusion Gas while doing massive damage, and their ambushes are scripted. If you pay attention, the walls (or equivalent thereof) sometimes have rat graffiti on them. That signifies the checkpoint for a certain appearance of those giant, red-eyed, bloated vermin that will first flip your controls, screw up your psi powers, and make your screen all cloudy and green before killing you very quickly. It actually adds to the Nightmare Fuel.
 * The photographer in Earthbound shows up when the player walks across certain patches of ground for the first time. Say "fuzzy pickles"!
 * Incredibly annoying in the Game Boy Advance game Drill Dozer. To get 100% Completion, the player has to go through levels multiple times with better equipment. In-level plot events play out every time, with no changes--if a character taunts you, they'll taunt you every time, even if they join your side later in the game.
 * Many Escort Missions in World of Warcraft have scripted events to make sure you don't just clean out the escort path beforehand and waltz the guy to safety (even where that would make sense).
 * Battle for Wesnoth's single player mode is full of them.
 * The Midnight Club series, and many other "free-roam" racing games, love to script in large moving obstacles (such as trucks or traffic) during otherwise calm moments. If the player knows one is coming and correctly controls their speed, they can often get the scripted obstacle to take out NPC cars, allowing for easier victories.
 * Most Paradox Interactive games have had scripted events that fire for specific countries at specific dates, although usually with some other qualifiers as well. In the later installments Paradox has moved away from this into scripting highly complex random events instead (where various factors can increase or decrease the chance of a particular event firing). Whether or not this change is good or not is one of the perennial topics of debate on the Paradox boards.
 * Happens very often in the Metal Gear Solid series, although all of them "might" be part of the Gambit Pileup featured in every game...
 * Max Payne uses many. Everytime an enemy lobs a grenade at you as you come round a corner? That was Pre-scripted. The enemy AI doesn't know how to throw grenades, run for cover, or anything else more complex than shooting or jogging.
 * Left 4 Dead has one in the finale of Dead Air. When the survivors leave the safe room, an airplane can be seen in the background making a really tight turn and is low to the ground before it crashes and explodes into fiery bits, causing the survivors to reply in shock and awe. Happens every time the map is played.
 * "Fallout 3", No matter what, you will be captured by the Enclave after retrieving the GECK. Then, Fawkes will be there to help you escape, and lastly, (before Broken Steel) the game will end, weather you started the purifier, or made Lyons do it, you evil bastard.