Videogame Set Piece: Difference between revisions
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This involves [[Scripted Event|an occurrence]] (triggered by an internal clock or the player reaching a certain checkpoint) that is not part of the game's typical gameplay/engine mechanics. For example, there is a moment in ''[[Half Life]] 2'' in which the player is racing down a river on a motorboat, only for a massive chimney on a nearby factory to be struck by a missile, causing it to fall over, directly in the path of the player. If he or she has quick enough reactions, the player can then steer towards the middle of the chimney where there is a big enough gap to squeeze through. Alternatively, a setpiece can be something small and non-game-changing, such as seeing a monster scuttle past a window in ''[[Resident Evil]] 2'', or having a fan loudly slam shut without warning in ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R.]]''.
The setpiece stands out from other [[Scripted Event
As well as providing the player with some variety in their gaming, the setpiece also helps make the game world seem more 'real', by breaking the established rules set up by the game engine. In pre-setpiece games such as ''Doom'', the player could quickly learn how monsters acted and what the limitations of the game world were. Setpieces do away with these limitations - for example, the player cannot assume that a monster will not break down a locked door, or that an empty corridor is completely safe. Thus, the gamer can believe that he or she is in a real world rather than an artificial level.
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* ''[[Free Space]]'' is a space-sim chockful of these, including one where the ship you were supposed to be escorting gets blown up (to prove how powerful the new alien enemies are.) but launches an escape pod and you're supposed to protect that. Gets dumb when the ship makes it into the jump portal and sits there for a few minutes waiting to die.
** Most space sims were prone to this sort of thing as a result of the unpredictability of 3D movement and AI limitations. If your objectives are supposed to change mid-flight, you can be sure that ''something'' stupid may very well happen to mess things up. If you're lucky, the set piece was just for show and you can finish the mission, [[Unwinnable|otherwise]]...
** Using the level editor also reveals that there's two types of asteroid fields: Ones where the rocks just float around (great for dogfights) and those where the field actively hurls rocks towards ships ([[Escort Mission
*** ''Freespace 2'' corrected this by giving capital ships gigantic [[Wave Motion Gun
* ''[[System Shock]] 2'' does this in spades. It's the little things, like {{spoiler|when you turn a corner to come upon the ghosts of two of the crew -- one of whom is about to turn the other into one of the cybernetic monsters you've ''been fighting for the last hour''}}
* A number of these occur in [[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]], being as the game is a survival horror piece. One interesting one, however, occurs early in the game where the player will hear the cry of a necromorph as they go to open a door, and see its shadow run across the wall in front of them. Turning quick enough will show a glimpse, and pursuing the necromorph down the corridor will show you one more glimpse only to find the creature gone, likely into the vents. The interesting part is, this event refuses to be triggered deliberately, say by reloading to before it occurred and approaching the door again.
* ''[[The Suffering]]'' and to a lesser extent, its sequel tries to spice up the set pieces. For example: Checking on security camera video feeds provides vital information on threats up ahead. Or just imagery. But check on the same cameras two seconds later and... fun... things might happen.
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