10 Video Game Design Rules You Can Never Unsee

4. Blatantly Obvious Set-Piece Triggers

Scripted events are the cornerstone of most AAA video games, whereby crossing an invisible line in the game's environment at the right time under the right conditions will trigger a new gameplay sequence for players to contend with.

The nature of gameplay scripting means that players can stand an inch away from that trigger line for hours without anything happening, only for all hell to break loose once they move a toe past it.

Perhaps the most famous example of a blatant scripted event is the pant-filling moment when the zombie dog crashes through the mansion window in Resident Evil.

There's a very specific boundary in the environment that needs to be crossed for the dog to make its entrance, and without crossing it, you can just chill out in the well-lit hallway to your heart's content while the dog presumably hangs out until summoned by the game's logic.