Triggers

This article is a stub. You can help Journey Wiki by expanding it.

Triggers in video games, activate scripted sequences; pre-defined series of events that occur when triggered by player location or actions that play out in the games engine.

Some scripted sequences are used to play short cut-scenes that the player has little control of.

A certain place or thing that a Wayfarer can hit / activate / walk through, that makes the game react.

Triggers
Details
Level	Image shows a trigger in form of a Banner. When activated, the middle part of the bridge will be built.
Difficulty
Requirements	Triggers are activated by players actions.
Platform

Overview

This article gives information about Journey specific triggers.

For newcomers: an introduction to triggers. Learning where and why things change in the game, can be

• exciting, when a War Machine suddenly does something other than normal
• meditational, if you move very slowly towards a place, to find out where exactly "that thing" happens
• scientific, finding out more about timed triggers will take some patience. There are tricks that need an exact waiting time (up to several minutes) to work, though this belongs to Expert Mode. You can help and expand the Wiki with your findings!
  

For long-term players: a growing list of "well known triggers", which are (ab)used by Expert Mode players. Through playing around with triggers, you can change things, compared to normal gameplay.

The range of tricks, also called Glitches on this Wiki, is wide. From getting to know, where you start dying and don't need to walk anymore, the famous War Machine Capture, to glitches that are known to exist, but specifics unknown.

• Using triggers out of order
• not hitting certain triggers
• a Companion hitting a trigger "for you", see also The ID rule
• timed glitches, like fleeing from a Carpet. You need wait and fly away from the Carpet at the right moment, perfect timing.

Types of triggers

Triggers have many parameters that define their behavior; perhaps the most important distinction is between these types:

• One-off triggers activate certain key events/sequences and can only be triggered once. Example: WM Ambush trigger, once the standing WM was destroyed, the trigger can not be activated again.

• Area triggers cause certain effects while the player is in a certain area (some work the opposite way, enabling certain actions/changes as long as the player is outside the area). Example: music playing in certain distinct areas; recharging in magical goo is also caused by an area trigger.

• Timed triggers. When activated, most triggers will produce an immediate outcome, but in some cases things happen only after a certain amount of time has passed. There are also events defined by a scripted level "timeline" which are not activated by triggers but may appear after a certain time from the start of the level. Examples: a music loop stops, new shooting star is generated etc.
  

How is it triggered?

Chirp

The sound that you can create.

If the visible bubble reaches for example: a Banner, the 4 stones to the side of an Ancient Glyph or a certain Carpet in Pink Desert... the trigger is "hit" / activated.

Touch

Banners, the stones at the Glyphs and some other things can be activated by touching them, as well.

In many cases "the thing" and a certain sound is triggered.

Glowing cloth is also activated through touch. Its active only as long as the touch lasts.

Enter/exit area

Triggers are usually invisible boxes or planes or other geometrical figures placed inside a level. Think of them as a certain point or area, a line that you have to cross etc.

The activation of those triggers can only be recognised through observing the triggered change in the game.

Example image shows the shooting star falling. It is triggered by entering a certain area. You could be in a valley and not looking up, thus not recognising the activation; though you can hear the sound of the falling stars.

Triggers may activate when you enter a marked area (most useful triggers are of this kind) or when you exit it (a good example of this is History Lesson statue and lights turning off).

Timed/delayed events

Some events are triggered as part of a timeline sequence at a predetermined moment (WM ambush sequence in Underground is a good example). Some triggers activate after a delay ("Event After Delay"), or at random ("Fire At Random").

Rarely both timed and manual activations are included. The best example is launching through the vortex at the beginning of the Paradise level: the sequence can be initiated by the player, or by the timeline (if the player won't do anything, the game will shoot them into the vortex automatically).

What is triggered?

Basically everything is triggered somehow, looking from a programming point of view.

Here are some obvious triggers:

Level transition

Activating this trigger forces the game to load a different (the next) level. The trigger is normally in a corridor between levels (not all have a corridor).

Save progress

The game saves into a file at several points. The main saving points are between levels and at the credits.

This means, if you quit a level and restart the game, you will start at the beginning of that level. Tough Paradise is an exception and quitting in this level, makes you start in the Snow (PC versions give you the option to restart Paradise).

The game of course keeps track of things that happen within a level from start to end. Example: how many Carpets were freed in Pink Desert.

Some things might be stored, even when "chapter selecting" or using the quit to title (PC versions only).

Cinematics and in-game sequences

The vision at the end of levels is triggered upon stepping into the light circle (after activating the stones around the statue).

Cutscenes like the Whale in the Tower level, leaving its room and camera zooms. Often cutscenes take away the players control over the Wayfarer or camera, for some seconds.

Camera adjustments

Many areas have "camera hint" triggers which adjust camera position, rotation, scale, or field of view.

Objects

Certain in-game objects can be activated by a trigger. For example: History Lesson Shrine, shooting star, glyph etc.

Creatures

Non-playable characters such as cloth creatures change their behavior. A Carpet may fly away from you or tries to hug you, a War Machine comes to life or a Jellyfish is purring.

Two types of triggers are commonly used:

• Player triggers that affect creature actions (e.g. player touching a carpet)
• Actions triggered when an NPC passes through a trigger (e.g. Ambush is triggered with the carpet enters a small area in front of the WMs)

Music and sound effects

Upon hitting certain triggers, music and sound effects may be turned on or off. Most music triggers are one-off triggers arranged so that in a normal play-through the score develops with each trigger. Activating these out of order can lead to overlapping melodies (commonly abused in Underground and Paradise).

Wind

In the Snow level strong wind appears when the player get inside specific areas like Death March plateau or whistling stones valley.

Surfing

In Sunken City, Paradise and Underground there are instances of forced sliding. See also Surfing, Slides and Drops.

Freezing in Snow

If the player goes into a specific area their Wayfarer will be affected by freezing or will warm up.

For more information see Triggers, In-depth information.

Well-known triggers

The list is probably not complete, but gives an overview about things that causes changes in the game; like music, camera etc.

In the trigger-list below, not every cutscene or forced camera movement will be mentioned. The list should focus on "usable" triggers.

Suggested form to present triggers:

Sort OOB triggers below in-game triggers.

If the list is getting long for a level, should be sorted south-north.

Start with "type of trigger" like WM trigger, music trigger, wind trigger etc. or a descriptive name.

Add a picture that marks the trigger place (add copyright info and Category:Triggers - Images]].

Chapter Select

Title card screen

Camera and music trigger. Activated by going to a specific area.

The trigger "line"/area is not only on this hill. You can experiment to get screenshots, where the title card shows up at a different place.

Only center contains forced player positioning and control disablement finishing with a white fade.

Nick running away

Blue line marks the trigger. OOB side.

NPC and music trigger. Activated by going to a specific area (these are actually two separate triggers close together, so it's possible to trigger music but not Nick).

Broken Bridge

Activation of online mode

Special kind of trigger that starts multiplayer. Activated by jumping down from the first platform. This is called SuppressAutoLobby.

Technically this trigger does the opposite: it prevents connections whilst the player is inside a certain area. The cube doesn't span the entire top area though, and it's possible to connect while sitting on the rock on the far left (west) side of the top platform as shown on the image.

Note: you need to exit the trigger area to regain matchmaking, it extends to the entrance bridge.

Glyph camera

Camera trigger. Activated by going into the cave, camera is slightly movable, but kind of stuck as long as you are in the cave.

The stuck camera is used for the Cave Boost.

This one makes the use of the Headbonkers Cave entrance to OOB a bit complicated. After entering and trying to go up, the camera shows the Glyph and you can not see yourself.

OOB

At the North side of this OOB are several level transition triggers.

This cutout from the level map shows level transition triggers. There are three trigger objects but they are partially below terrain, so only certain parts are usable (this is marked clearly on the latest version of the map).

Pink Desert

• First carpet release - NPC and music trigger. Can be activated by interacting with banner or going to a certain spot.
• Carpet release from broken WM - NPC and music trigger. Can be activated by interacting with banner.
• First carpet lift in factory - NPC trigger. Activated first by interaction with player. Later activated by going to a specific area.
• Investigation/clarifcation: carpet lift triggers. After which point will carpets pick you up even from the bottom? At which places.. Frederick ride - NPC trigger. Carpet Chase

Just to mention it: The disconnect at "around the small tower" is probably related to old tapestry triggers or maybe one of the player did activate one, while the other did not. Shooting star symbol falling? Factory music?

Sunken City

• Several cutscenes: Getting inside tunnel, flying into the rest area, falling down to the pit etc.
• Activating four banners and flyers release. Sometimes some of the banners are already activated/triggered. See Missing banners in rest area.

Sunken City pit. Music trigger at West side wall.

Fall down into the pit

The "dramatic falling music" can be also triggered at the place shown in the image. Further navigation help should be added.

Underground

Triggers in this level are important for War Machine Glitches.

Most WM glitches are related to the OOB in this level because out-of-order activation of triggers is what makes most glitches work.

The following triggers have been identified and can be found on the map (listed in order of appearance south to north, or left to right on the map). All triggers are one-off triggers unless described otherwise.

• Entry area: leaving the area terminates any remaining parts of the intro cut scene. Not very useful.
• Carpet move to 1: causes the guide carpet to slowly wander around towards the C1 marker. This trigger is used in Sad Carpet and Vertical Carpet glitches.
• Carpet call, move to 2: guide carpet chirps once and flies to the C2 marker at normal speed. Fun fact: the sound effect is called "FishComeHere". This trigger is helpful when setting up Sad Carpet / Vertical Carpet glitches so that the carpet doesn't run away.
• Music trigger right after it, changes the music but does nothing else. Can be used as an indicator when approaching carpet triggers.
• Kelp room reveal is responsible for the initial camera adjustments (position, field of view, and zoom) when entering Kelp Room. It can be bypassed on either side through the gaps near wind walls. There are two more regions in Kelp Room that control camera (marked on the map but not annotated).
• Carpet move: causes the carpet to make some noise and move through the Jellyfish Room to the C3 marker. Touching this trigger also changes the music. Fun fact: the area also has special reverberation effect attached to it which is quite noticeable if you're paying attention.
• Music and Lights triggers in the Jellyfish room control the environment in the room. Lights make the wayfarer glow intensely in certain parts of the room. Lights are turned on and off when you enter/leave the marked area but it's not possible to observe from outside.
• Carpet move (Jelly room): similar to the one before it, this trigger causes the carpet to tweet and travel to the next marker. This trigger is used in the Invisible Carpet glitch. The chirp bubbles and sounds in the ambush area are caused by this trigger even if the actual carpet is dead.
• Music changes at the start of the green tunnel as you drop in.
• Ambush setup activates the Ambush sequence; it does a couple of things most important of which is causing the carpet to travel to the Ambush spot in front of the WMs (marked on the map). Note that this doesn't trigger the ambush (WM attack etc.) as such; instead the ambush is triggered when the carpet enters a small invisible cube in front of the WMs. The setup area also slows down the wayfarer's walk. The ambush lasts 15 seconds after which the WM is set to fly to the start of the flyby path. Bypassing the ambush enables Unmotivated WM tricks.
• Corridor scares are activated once but some parts such as blinking of the green light on the corridor WM keeps running afterwards. There is also a subtle camera adjustment in front of the corridor WM.
• WM1 flyby causes the WM to fly behind the window and move to the next room ("Stuck WM1" marker on the map). This trigger causes the WM to straighten and cancel previous animations, so it should be avoided for some of the tricks such as "crooked" WM or Unmotivated WM.
• WM1 act starts the Flyer Eaten sequence. This trigger can be used in various tricks, most notably for crooked WM and Unmotivated WM (especially when combined with saving the Golden Flyers).
• WM1 patrol causes WM1 to fly through the unfriendly tunnels once. Depending on the state of other triggers this can lead to a normal patrol, an Unmotivated WM patrol, or a crooked WM patrol (very funny). This trigger can be skipped easily by climbing/flying through the windows rather than the main passageway.
• Scary sound / WM1 swoop: this trigger overlaps with "WM2 spawn A" but can be triggered independently with enough care. Activating it produces a scary sound effect. It is also apparently programmed to cause WM1 to swoop from the east side but I (@qtzl3000) haven't seen that happen in-game.
• WM2 spawn A activates the scary WM2 spawn sequence.
• WM2 alert causes WM2 to roar angrily and move to a predetermined location (marked as "WM2 after alert"). This trigger can be used for various fun effect such as "scaring off" the WM.
• WM2 spawn B is a shorter version of the spawn sequence which is only activated if spawn A hasn't been triggered.
• WM1,2 patrol activates WM patrol loops in the Unfriendly Tunnels.
• WMs hide stops the patrol loops and causes both WMs to hide outside the Unfriendly Tunnels. This trigger can be used for a variety of tricks.
• WM slide patrol activates short patrol loops in the slide section (both WMs). This trigger is not too useful but can be required to clear the way for some tricks such as Slide Patrol with only one WM. This trigger extends slightly beyond the last wall of the unfriendly tunnels (north side) and can be activated from OOB by touching that wall.
• WM2 long patrol sends WM2 on a different patrol path (as if attempting to intercept the wayfarers, though not really). Activating this trigger causes the one-WM slide patrol but to actually see it the first slide patrol trigger needs to be de-activated beforehand.
• Slide chase triggers: there is a tight sequence of triggers near the end of the slide which control the outcomes of the chase. These triggers are marked 1-7 on the map and have the following functions:
  • Trigger 1: if a WM passes through this trigger, the game sets up the "final attack" triggers of which the most important one is "WM bounce". Getting the WMs to skip this trigger by flying above it is what makes WM captures possible.
  • Trigger 2: this is also a WM-activated trigger; if a WM passes through this trigger, it closes the eye and starts diving towards the statue (more or less).
  • Triggers 3 and 4 (activated by the player) cause the WMs to speed up following the pre-determined attack paths.
  • Trigger 5 turns on the light shield and sends the WMs away ("safe escape", this has some dependency on single-player vs multi-player). Safe escape is disabled if either WM went through Trigger 1 and set up the chase.
  • Trigger 6 disables camera lock and activates the gravestones and lights. It also disables the slide surf zone making it possible to walk back up. Be mindful of the Camera lock area though: trigger 6 can only be activated once, so entering the camera-locked area afterwards will make it impossible to release the camera.
  • Trigger 7 (WMs): WMs hitting this trigger bounce off and fly away. There are two triggers with the same behavior: "WM bounce A" is a wide tall plane that is initially disabled and gets activated by Trigger 1 (bypassing that trigger makes WM captures possible); a smaller "WM bounce B" trigger that is located near the base of the tower is always active, so to capture a WM it has to fly above Trigger 1 and then miss Trigger 7.
  • Trigger 7 (player): The same geometry (plane) also contains a trigger activated when a player rather than a WM touches it; the player trigger disables boundary wind and teleports the WMs from the slide area (if they are there) to the marked spot out of bounds. Activating it out of order allows the wayfarer to fly and walk freely during the final part of the chase. This trigger is used for solo WM captures, typically by navigating to the top of the tower through OOB and then carefully dropping into the rescue area. The trigger is right at the boundary between the sand and the HL platform.
• Remove slide WMs: if the wayfarer has reached the bottom section, any WMs still patrolling the slide area will disappear after hitting this trigger. Depending on network conditions, they'll be either sent to a well-known spot on the east side of the map (where they can be observed), or to a spot below terrain on the west side where they can't be seen. This trigger activates only if both players are in the safe area.
• Level trigger after HL does exactly that; it activates level transition but the trigger itself is only enabled after HL.

Tower

Skipping some Glyphs is used for several Glitches, for example Sideways Whale.

• First glyph activation
• Second glyph
• Third glyph
• Fourth glyph (ravingmadness: i think somewhere is a quote, about that fourth being special somehow? easier to disc there or so..)
• Fifth glyph
• History lesson - There are probably some glitches, related to watching the vision first, as well a music trigger (? ravingmadness: pls confirm or del this). OOB related: the Hidden Glyph in the Tower only glows after watching the vision.

Snow

In this level, there are also some War Machine Glitches possible, quite some still unknown.

• Freezing area - knowledge where to unfreeze is usefull for going Snow OOB.
• WM attack
• Whistling stones - about when wind is triggered? Timed trigger only? Glitch: constant wind!
• Freezing carpet - needs to be chirped at, from each player to be released for both. By skipping from start to the bridge directly (which trigger to skip is important?) you can see Floating carpets at the Carpet home path.
• WM flyover - (Ravingmadness: should be mentioned at WM glitches and then linked here maybe: a companion made a WM attack me at the left turn after freezing carpet path to heater room..)
• Heater room - after leaving it, it can not be activated again. (ravingmadness: i could be wrong, but i think i got it once to activate twice.. o0)
• Getting into the patrol field
• WM triggers (should be expanded)
• Glyph cave
• Entering narrow passage
• Frozen courtyard
  • WM fly-by trigger (Frozen courtyard window, can also be triggered from the other side by going to the Hidden Valley OOB area)
• Windy balcony
• Death march and transition to Paradise (multiple triggers, see level map)
  

Paradise

• Flight through vortex
• Cutscene after coming out of the vortex
• First music transition
• Snow slide and second music transition
• Entering waterfall and third music transition
• Flying above waterfalls and fourth music transition
• Flight towards the mountaintop
• Landing on last walk plateau
• Scarf reduction
• Last walk camera
• Entering the light

Credits

There are no actionable triggers in the Credits levels, only a few ambience, shader control, and particle effect triggers activated depending on camera position.

Level transitions (08_Credits > 10_Matt > 11_Chris > 00_Graveyard) are activated using timeline events.

In-depth information

What may look like "a trigger", might sometimes cause several things.

In game a player might only recognise the direct outcome, but eventually music, flyers and other environment elements may have changed too, all with this "one" trigger.

Video by Rebi on PS3. Length: 10 minutes.

Trivia

Triggers (especially music triggers) may work differently on the PC versions, maybe even between PS3 and PS4.

Having a Companion triggers different sounds / music. (verification for PC version ^{[verification needed]}.

Music is essential to Journey and is carefully integrated with its gameplay. As explained in the Developer Commentary video, having a Companion nearby adds new instruments to the active theme, most notably harp.

• There are many more small triggers that create environment effects, for example the Flower sounds, or pretty much any localised sound effects are activated by stepping into small trigger cubes surrounding an object;
• In Broken Bridge and other areas where bridges or bridge parts can be found, trigger boxes surround the middle part of the bridge (where metal grates are) and cause the sound of the Wayfarer's steps to change as if walking on metal rather than stone.
• Sandfalls etc. are surrounded by triggers that react to the player's proximity with "running sand" sound effects of varying intensity.

Quotes

“	Trigger are likewise friend and enemy. They can cause a disconnect or a reconnect. Triggers in skillful hands, can cause wonderful miraculous things.	„
	~ ravingmadness

“	You could say the wms are triggered when they spot you...	„
	~ DJ Thanos

See also

Beyond normal gameplay, top-topics

Carpet (Glitched) • Carpet Warp • Challenges • Crash Zones • Disco Wayfarer • Disco Zones and other Disco Stuff • Dune settings and PC glitches • Expert Mode • Expert Mode on iOS without Controller • Faceplant (FP) • Faceplant Jump (FPJ) • Fancy Flying • Glitches • Glossary • Guide to arranging a meetup • History Lesson Banner (HL Banner) • How to find Nick • Infinite Flight (IF) on PC • Infinite Flight (IF) on PS4 • Naked Wayfarer • Off-sync • Out of Bounds (OOB) • Peeling Grounds and Sanded Wayfarer • Sky Painting • Steam Infinite Flight Tricks • Surfing, Slides and Drops • The Difficulty Meter • Tricks • War Machine (Glitched) • Wayfarers (Glitched)

Recommended Categories

Browse Categories (bottom of articles) to find more related articles. Below you find the category-tree of Expert Mode.

• Category:Glitches - all about making the game behave differently :)
• Category:Out of Bounds - ever jumped through a wall? Levels are not big enough?
• Category:Fancy Flying - take advantage of game mechanics and reach the stratosphere!
• Category:Glitched_NPCs - Carpets, Wayfarers, Whales, WMs
• Category:Tricks - something rather easy
• Category:Challenges - thats real tough.

Robins Guide for Newcomers . 26 Minutes, full of tips, tricks, dos and don'ts.

Expert Mode

Expert Mode introduction article to everything beyond the most basic gameplay. Expert Mode topics:

Challenges

Fancy Flying

Glitches & OOB

OOB-Levels

Surfing, Slides and Drops

Tricks

Expert Mode Glossary

Black Cloth • Black Sand • Blackness • Breaking the Shrine/HL • Carpet Chase • Carpet Warp • Crash Zones • Dirty robe trick • Disco War Machine / Disco WM • Disco Wayfarer • Disco Zones and other Disco Stuff • Dragonfly War Machine • Faceplant (FP) • Faceplant Jump (FPJ) • Fancy Flying • Ghost • Glossary • Happy War Machine • History Lesson Banner (HL Banner) • How to find Nick • Infinite Flight (IF) on PC • Infinite Flight (IF) on PS4 • Level Cube / Sky Box • Low FPS glitch • Off-sync • Peeling Grounds and Sanded Wayfarer • Sky Painting • Starfields • The ID rule • The Tumbler • Unmotivated War Machine • War Machine Capture (WM capture) • Zen Jump • Zimcloak

Beyond normal gameplay, top-topics

Carpet (Glitched) • Carpet Warp • Challenges • Crash Zones • Disco Wayfarer • Disco Zones and other Disco Stuff • Dune settings and PC glitches • Expert Mode • Expert Mode on iOS without Controller • Faceplant (FP) • Faceplant Jump (FPJ) • Fancy Flying • Glitches • Glossary • Guide to arranging a meetup • History Lesson Banner (HL Banner) • How to find Nick • Infinite Flight (IF) on PC • Infinite Flight (IF) on PS4 • Naked Wayfarer • Off-sync • Out of Bounds (OOB) • Peeling Grounds and Sanded Wayfarer • Sky Painting • Steam Infinite Flight Tricks • Surfing, Slides and Drops • The Difficulty Meter • Tricks • War Machine (Glitched) • Wayfarers (Glitched)

Recommended Categories

Browse Categories (bottom of articles) to find more related articles. Below you find the category-tree of Expert Mode.

• Category:Glitches - all about making the game behave differently :)
• Category:Out of Bounds - ever jumped through a wall? Levels are not big enough?
• Category:Fancy Flying - take advantage of game mechanics and reach the stratosphere!
• Category:Glitched_NPCs - Carpets, Wayfarers, Whales, WMs
• Category:Tricks - something rather easy
• Category:Challenges - thats real tough.

Robins Guide for Newcomers . 26 Minutes, full of tips, tricks, dos and don'ts.

Expert Mode

Expert Mode introduction article to everything beyond the most basic gameplay. Expert Mode topics:

Challenges

Fancy Flying

Glitches & OOB

OOB-Levels

Surfing, Slides and Drops

Tricks

Expert Mode Glossary

Black Cloth • Black Sand • Blackness • Breaking the Shrine/HL • Carpet Chase • Carpet Warp • Crash Zones • Dirty robe trick • Disco War Machine / Disco WM • Disco Wayfarer • Disco Zones and other Disco Stuff • Dragonfly War Machine • Faceplant (FP) • Faceplant Jump (FPJ) • Fancy Flying • Ghost • Glossary • Happy War Machine • History Lesson Banner (HL Banner) • How to find Nick • Infinite Flight (IF) on PC • Infinite Flight (IF) on PS4 • Level Cube / Sky Box • Low FPS glitch • Off-sync • Peeling Grounds and Sanded Wayfarer • Sky Painting • Starfields • The ID rule • The Tumbler • Unmotivated War Machine • War Machine Capture (WM capture) • Zen Jump • Zimcloak