History Main / NoticeThis

** Downplayed with ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard: While the game does use yellow, it's downplayed in that boxes and crates has splashes of yellow paint on them. ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'' does the same thing with boxes crates, and boards having splashes of yellow paint on them, and both games' instances were showing what item is hiding in the boxes.

*** Word Walls (from which you learn [[MakeMeWannaShout Dragon Shouts]]), begin glowing bright blue and you hear a chorus vocalizing as you get closer. The rest of your vision also darkens considerably, effectively making the word the only thing you can see. This is very handy, since the Word Walls otherwise don't look that special, and there are a few similar structures that don't do anything.

%%* The old, old eight-bit game ''VideoGame/TheLastNinja'' on the UsefulNotes/{{Commodore 64}} had this trope. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.

* Collectible items in ''VideoGame/IWasATeenageExocolonist'' glow the same way as random event spots outside the colony, but [[YouHaveResearchedBreathing your Perception skill must be at least 33 in order to unlock this perk.]]

* The ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series games have the habit of showing the name of ''every single usable item'' on the ground. ''VideoGame/DiabloI'' didn't do this, and items on the floor were otherwise unremarkable and only highlighted when the mouse hovered over them. Now imagine rings and amulets, which have a "on-floor" graphic that's a blue ring a couple of pixels across. On a blue floor. In a dark dungeon. While the unofficial expansion added a spell which highlighted every lost item on the floor, and there ''was'' a built-in zoom function in the game, cooperative multiplay could (and often did) degenerate into the equivalent of searching for a dropped contact lens whenever that distinctive "ding!" was heard.

* The first 3 ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' games have the items hover and spin. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' has items appear mostly realistically, but items, weapons and people are highlighted when using the Solid-Eye.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWonder'' The rays return, this time highlighting hidden coins and Wonder Flowers.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

* Making the [[PowerGlows item]] [[ShinySense glow]], or be [[DramaticSpotlight illuminated by a beam of light in an otherwise dark room]].

* ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'' features an item called the Oculus of the Lost, which swivels to stare at a collectible (Bound Serpent, Legend, Vista, Plug Jump) that the player missed when they get within a particular (fairly large) range. It requires active purchase and equipping by the player (literal purchase, as it's only available as part of a DLC pack), though.

** Done as a result of something being DummiedOut, and possibly left in to [[TrollingCreator mess with the player]], in ''VideoGame/SilentHill''. The camera will fixate on the wheel of a boat and Harry will even stare at it. Try as you might though, the wheel does nothing and the boat can't be operated. There is absolutely nothing of note or value on the boat; not even a health drink or box of bullets.

** In the later games, items (And save points in the first three) will gleam when you shine the flashlight at them.

* Making the [[PowerGlows item]] [[ShinySense glow]], or be illuminated by a beam of light in an otherwise dark room.

* ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted'' flashes the screen and pans the camera towards the fuzz every time you're spotted. ''Carbon'' also has scout teammates that highlight the course's shortcuts by taking them while leaving glowing tire marks. And even if you miss THAT, the path is also marked on your minimap. But then again, that's the whole point of a scout teammate.

* During a car chase in ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', Benie the Cab orders Eddie and Roger to pull the lever. They panic and ask which lever of his dash to pull, causing a large sign to pop up pointing to the lever in question that reads, "THIS LEVER, STUPID", while the round ball on the lever blinks.

** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', sifting through wreckage to find a syringe full of Med-X among empty syringes or plasma rifle ammunition among shot glasses in the game's (many) ruins can be tough... but the ''Operation: Anchorage'' downloadable content expansion lets you into a military simulation where anything you'd want to pick up pulses with a bright red glow.

* In the various LEGO games, any objects that can be collected, destroyed, or otherwise interacted with are appropriately made of LEGO pieces, while the rest of the background is a standard non-LEGO environment.

[[folder:Adventure Game]]
* ''VideoGame/NinetySix'': Anything Niles and Elise can pick up are indicated by a twinkle. [[spoiler:Meanwhile, the gun found in the gas station owner's house has a glowing aura.]]
* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': Using the [[EverythingSensor Grom System]] will indicate any interactive object with yellow tracing.
* ''VideoGame/BeyondTheEdgeOfOwlsgard'': Setting the game to "modern mode" causes certain obscure collectibles to noticeably sparkle, giving the player a more obvious cue that they should pick them up.
* It requires active purchase and equipping by the player (literal purchase, as it's only available as part of a DLC pack), but ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'' features an item called the Oculus of the Lost, which swivels to stare at a collectible (Bound Serpent, Legend, Vista, Plug Jump) that the player missed when they get within a particular (fairly large) range.

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' features the Imp familiar suddenly taking interest in two breakable walls/pushable levers. "What does THIS switch do?!" The hundreds of other secrets in the castle don't seem to catch his interest.

* In ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', any item you can pick up but is not visible right away is marked with [[EverythingsBetterWithSparkles sparkles]].

* ''VideoGame/TheConvenienceStore'': Things you can interact with are indicated by a little yellow circle/icon.

* Used heavily in ''VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition'': items you can pick up are highlighted with blue sparkles, PlotCoupons with red.

* The ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' games mark interactive parts of the stage and scenery with a shiny blinking point of light. It's small so as to not get in the way, but it's definitely noticeable.
* In ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'', Manny will look at any object you can interact with.
** ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'', which uses the same engine, adds a line of sight to make it easier to determine what Guybrush is looking at, something players often wish they'd had in ''VideoGame/GrimFandango''.
* Some ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'' games will mark your next MacGuffin or checkpoint with a pillar of light that goes all the way to the sky. Notice This, indeed.
* ''VideoGame/LANoire'' features a detective mechanic whereby Cole Phelps examines crime scenes for clues. When you navigate him close enough to items that can be picked up and given a closer look (some of which turn out to be {{Red Herring}}s), the controller vibrates, and a two-note piano chime plays on the soundtrack. This effect can be disabled. It can also be enhanced, as the player has the option of spending earned "Intuition Points" to highlight the locations of all of the important crime scene clues in the map section of the {{HUD}}.

* In ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' things you can interact with are outlined in a messy doodle-like texture and have an arrow pointing to them, even from a distance, allowing the player to easily see what can be fiddled with in a given scene. [[VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm The prequel]] and [[VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2 the sequel]] also use similar effects.

* In ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'', things such as pipes, boxes usable as springboards, and ramps are highlighted in bright red, called "Runner Vision". It also highlights doors in red that you can go through, and guards you have to pass (instead of avoid). It does not, however, change the color of all doors, some of which are red by default and ''cannot'' be opened. And on Hard mode and time trials, Runner Vision is disabled.
* ''VideoGame/MissingChildren'': Things you can interact with have a white arrow icon over them.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Pickory}}'', one of the "secret" items has giant arrows pointing to it that say SECRET HERE.

** This trope is the only way to find Deep Arrowheads. You can only dig them up when the Dowsing Rod is out and the higher the sound it makes, the easier it is to pull one up. If your computer is good enough to run it on the highest settings, there's also a distortion effect around the tip of the Dowsing Rod that increases along with the sound. When it's making things nigh-impossible to see, you're right on top of one.
* ''VideoGame/TheRadioStation'': Objects that can be interacted with have yellow question marks above them.
* ''VideoGame/{{Riven}}'' uses Moiety daggers to get the players attention, particularly in two scenarios.
** The first one has you arrive at a wooden door sealed with a padlock. There are no keys to be picked up in the game. However, a dagger is visible on the ground. You click it, and- [[spoiler:surprise! You could just crawl under the door!]]
** The second one has a gigantic dagger engrained in a rock in the jungle. This, combined with the fact that your view is centered towards it instead of 90 degrees off the path, [[spoiler:leads you to discover a path towards it that nets you another animal eyeball.]]

* In ''VideoGame/ShadowComplex'', the flashlight will make destructible things glow different colors according to what can destroy them.
* Every {{Creator/Sierra}} adventure game ever. The most memorable example being: at the beginning of ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow,'' you can see Alexander's tiny signet ring in the sand only because it's '''really''' sparkly and animated.
** The ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest'' series is less forgiving, requiring you to (for example) figure out that that mess of pixels is actually a ''footprint'' and act accordingly.
** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIQuestForTheCrown'' requires using the "LOOK" command a lot to figure out what is usable and what is not.
** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder'' uses the "sparkly" method several times (a coin on the street, a locket in a giant bird's nest etc.). It's one of the incredibly few times the game is somewhat forgiving (of course, missing them anyway will ultimately result in you being stuck forever and the game being Unwinnable).
** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIIThePrincelessBride'' has your cursor (which looks like a magic wand) sparkle when it's hovering over an object the player character can interact with.

* In ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'', items like ammo and medkits are noticeably shinier than the environment around them. Particularly important items are highlighted in glowing gold, with a "sparkly" tinkle-bell sound when the player gets close. The player can turn the shininess off for added difficulty and immersion.
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' rely on several of these techniques to guide players through the setting and allow them to interact with the cluttered environment.
** All items that can be picked up have an indicator rising up about three feet from its point of origin, all ColorCodedForYourConvenience: health items are red, money is yellow, ammunition is a lightly pulsing gray, and equipment ranges from [[ShopFodder white]] to [[RareRandomDrop orange]].
** All mission-related objects (but not enemies) that can be interacted with either glow green, have a prominent diamond displayed over them on the HUD, or have a unique cyan indicator projecting from them.

* In ''[[Franchise/DieHard Die Hard Vendetta]]'', a little-known FPS, any new objects picked up will have a "You have the [object name]" message.

** While playtesting ''Episode Two'', the developers realised that players kept losing their car. To help players notice it they made the car's hazard lights flash when the player leaves the car and eventually resorted to adding a compass that points to the car to the player's HUD.

* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead''

* According to ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'''s in-game commentary, the developers tried to design a level that required the player to reuse one of the Weighted Storage Cubes. But players kept leaving it behind, not realizing they would need it for later. So the developers gave it a different texture, had [=GLaDOS=] tell the player they needed it, and the CompanionCube was born.
** ''Portal'' includes many instances of this trope. Another example is the level where the player first acquires the Aperture Science Hand-Held Portal Device. Chell is forced to wait in front of a closed door next to a window through which the portal gun can be seen (and heard via [[CutscenePowerToTheMax its self-charging noise]]), to ensure that it's noticed. The excuse is that [=GLaDOS=] needs to acquaint Chell with the possible side-effects of the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill.
** The developers also said on the commentary about the portal gun that they had to find a way to tell players what portals do without straight out telling them. They say that they added in a few levels before you acquire the gun, in order for players to grasp the concept of "go in one, walk out the other", seeing as how many of the test players found themselves believing that the portals sent them to different versions of a room or "auto warped" you somewhere. In actuality, the portals work on a basis of "what goes in must come out".
*** The commentary also notes how, when playing the "falling rooms" (where you must use falling to get flung forward), most test players thought that going through a portal while falling would cause you to go back to normal speed. For this reason, they added in the advice that [=GLaDOS=] gives.
--> "Momentum, a function of mass and velocity, is conserved between portals. In layman's terms: speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out."
** ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' has a part in the final confrontation in which the player has to fire a portal onto [[spoiler:the surface of the Moon, which as just been revealed in the night sky thanks to the roof of the room getting a hole in it]]. The developers on the commentary noted how players would either not realize that there was a hole in the roof, or if they did, they didn't think of shooting the portal gun. For this reason, they made the camera automatically turn itself upwards towards the hole to give an indication to players that it was meant to be used for something. They however also faced another problem: due to how players had become used to instantly appearing portals, they still expected the portal to appear instantly, even though [[spoiler:due to the speed of light and how far the moon is away from the Earth]] it would take at least a few seconds before it appears. Many test players ended up thinking that the portal could not be placed as it did not appear instantly. So the developers ended up locking the player's view once they had successfully made the shot to solve this problem.

* Reality Bytes' all-but-unknown shooter ''VideoGame/SensoryOverload'' had a text window that would announce nearby objects as you walked past, punctuated with an audible "Wow!"
* Items in ''VideoGame/SeriousSam 3: BFE'' glow with a colour dependant on what they are: armour glows blue, health items red, ammo yellow and weapons green. The further away the player is, the more noticable the glow.

* The fundamental reason for the cartoony art style of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is to make the classes, teams and weapons as distinctive from each other (and from the background) as possible. In a realistic game, like say, ''Counter-Strike'', you can't easily distinguish one soldier from the other, because soldiers wear uniforms and uniforms are well... uniform. The cartoony style gives [=TF2=] the freedom to do whatever they want to let you know about important events and objects at a glance. It also lets them get away with outrageous humour and politically incorrect characters.

* This happens in the UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}} port of ''VideoGame/BrainDead13'' when the move guide allows the player to quickly press the appropriate button as soon as it lights up in certain areas, helping you to guide Lance in the right direction, as long as the move guide is turned on. However, it still counts as a GuideDangIt if you press a lit button that turns out to be a wrong move, especially in TheMaze and in certain boss battles that make the game UnwinnableByDesign if you run away from them.

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Oddworld}} Abe's Oddysee]]'', secret passages were marked with small falling rocks. These were often [[GuideDangIt hidden]] [[DepthPerplexion behind foreground objects]]. ''Abe's Exoddus'' made it much simpler, by having giant piles of bright green [=SoulStorm=] Brew bottles next to every secret passage.
* In the Wii ''VideoGame/ABoyAndHisBlob,'' any pathway covered in fireflies (Or their Bloblonian equivalent, fluttery rainbow... [[BuffySpeak thingamabobs]]) is very, very likely to have a treasure chest at the end.

* In ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' you have to find Cornifer the mapmaker in each area to get the area's map, but this can be difficult without...well...a map. To make things easier, a patch made it so that you can hear him humming when in the same room, and added a trail of papers a short distance away from him.

* In ''VideoGame/MegaManAndBass'', some of the [=CDs=] are hidden underground and must be uncovered with the Rush Search. If the player is playing as Mega Man and has the CD Finder item, stars will briefly appear to indicate where they are located.

* ''VideoGame/RedFactionGuerrilla'' highlights scrap with a prominent shine that moves in a synchronised wave from left to right. The effect can be jarring: target arrows look like HUD symbols, but this is "in-world". Fallen guns are also highlighted this way.

** 2022's entry to the meta-franchise, ''VideoGame/EldenRing'', also adds a big shiny orange light that turns on to tell you where to stand in order to get a CriticalHit on a stance-broken opponent.

* Some games have the habit of showing the name of ''every single usable item'' on the ground. Players of the ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series will know how annoying this gets when you kill a particularly generous boss.
** The first Diablo didn't do this, and items on the floor were otherwise unremarkable and only highlighted when the mouse hovered over them. Now imagine rings and amulets, which have a "on-floor" graphic that's a blue ring a couple of pixels across. On a blue floor. In a dark dungeon. While the unofficial expansion added a spell which highlighted every lost item on the floor, and there ''was'' a built-in zoom function in the game, cooperative multiplay could (and often did) degenerate into the equivalent of searching for a dropped contact lens whenever that distinctive "ding!" was heard.
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': When a player character walks by a hidden object, such as the site of a buried [[InexplicableTreasureChests chest]], and has a high enough Wits score to detect it, a distinctive sound effect plays and the object glows for a few seconds.

*** In an audio version of this trope, when you are near a Nirnroot, you will hear a little tinkling sound, like faint bells. It gets louder the closer you get to it.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':

* ''VideoGame/FableII'' has a golden trail of light that [[NowWhereWasIGoingAgain leads you to most of your objectives,]] and when you get there, highlights them in a big shiny circle. Plus, there's your [[FairyCompanion ever-helpful dog]], who points at treasure chests and spots to dig.
** Unfortunately, the glowing path sometimes takes a while to load, making you think you just left the area you were supposed to find in a previous screen, backtracking, and then finding out the game is just having trouble figuring out what it's really trying to do.
** The first ''VideoGame/{{Fable|I}}'' also has items you can examine glow blue when you get near them, and people important for sidequests appear as green dots on the mini-map (and glow green when you get near them).

** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' doesn't normally do this, and sifting through wreckage to find a syringe full of Med-X among empty syringes or plasma rifle ammunition among shot glasses in the game's (many) ruins can be tough... but the ''Operation: Anchorage'' downloadable content expansion lets you into a military simulation where this is used to the point of being lampshaded, with anything in the simulation you'd want to pick up ''pulsing with a bright red glow.''

* In the DS remake of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV,'' Augments appear as golden sparkles on the ground.
** Those same sparklies appear to mark items hidden on the ground in the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' remake, but only if you zoom the camera in really close.
** Also present in the DS titles of Creator/SquareEnix's other flagship series: ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''. Certain items hidden and marked in this way were originally marked on the NES or SNES by way of signs pointing to them or dogs guarding their spots; these original hints still remain in the DS versions.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' uses this by having an icon "!" appear over the character's head whenever he approaches a treasure or trigger. This is immensely helpful to the player when the character is "off in the distance" where perspective makes everything ridiculously small, or when triggers are part of the natural landscape, or when chests blend in with the environment.
** It tried to keep things interesting by making a number of those "!" just pointing out signs or notes. But if you didn't see something tacked on a wall, it's a fair bet there's an item there.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' had the "!" icon and a ding noise as well, which was handy for chests you might've missed because the camera angle was wrong or they were behind a tree. It also had items lying on the ground glint if you were nearby.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' uses this during bossfights. The game has a standard set of "markers" that indicate what an attack will do, and it reuses them constantly so players dont have to relearn and memorize every single attack of every singe boss in the game. A small selection of these includes:
** Circle of arrows pointing inwards floating above a players head: Other players need to stack on the marked player as the damage that will be delt is divided evenly between all stacked players.
** Blue arrows pointing outwards floating above a players head: Get as far away from this player as possible.
** Giant glowing eye superimposed over the boss while attack is charging: Can be avoided if the players turns their character so they are facing directly away from the boss.
** Red and black "hazard stripes" circling around a character: Tank buster attack, deals massive damage that will kill most players in one hit and do a lot of damage to those designed to take it.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'':

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' and ''Franchise/MassEffect'' all put floating icons over items, [=NPCs=] and enemies.
** From ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' onwards, ammunition reloads very thoughtfully glint and shimmer. Especially handy in the second half of Jack's recruitment mission, since the emergency lighting has dyed ''everything'' red and the crimson disposable heat sinks otherwise don't show up very well.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda:'' Plot-relevant systems and planets give off a small pulse on the Galaxy Map, which can be helpful if the names don't pop up (which has been known to happen).

** Items found on the ground use a Poké Ball sprite (usually called an item ball), but quite a few items aren't represented at all, or are found in scenery. Some of the latter cases are easy to spot (such as being located under a rock in a cave or within a patch of tall grass on a square without tall grass in outdoor areas), while the rest rely on an item specifically for finding them, called the Itemfinder [[DubNameChange in the first three generations' English translations]] and the Dowsing Machine in the Japanese versions and the English translations of Generation IV and on. The Poké Ball models in ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'' also emit a pillar of light.

* In a particularly ludicrous example from ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia,'' while in the Valuan sewers, if you investigate a certain patch of wall, Vyse will wonder if there's something about this bit of wall that's different from the rest, before dismissing it as his imagination. The "nothing" he dismisses? A patch of wall whose coloration is not unlike that of a patch of wall that has had the picture removed for the first time in a decade. Not long after, Vyse learns what the player has known since they first laid eyes on the wall: there's a secret passage behind it.
* ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'' marks the location of hidden rings and P-crystals with [[EverythingsBetterWithSparkles blue sparkles]].

* ''[[TabletopGame/{{Traveller}} MegaTraveller]] 2: Quest for the Ancients''. When you entered an area, the NPC characters worth interacting with were colored differently from the filler characters.

* ''VideoGame/UnhappyEverAfter'': Items and quests are indicated by a little sparkle.

** ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'' does things similarly, with quest objects having their own (overly obvious) sparkle as well.
** This has become fairly standard for [=MMOs=], now. Some shine like [=WoW=] and [=LotRO=], others shine or glow like ''Star Wars: The Old Republic'' or ''DC Universe Online''.

* In ''FUEL'', whose whole premise was its huge open world, interesting objects like car wrecks were often many kilometres away behind the horizon. How does the game point them out? With smoke signals where possible, with a ''giant red laser beam from the sky'' where not.

* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'', all flags, city guards and (after you get the throwing knives) random thugs that you can pickpocket are highlighted with Animus-powered MatrixRainingCode to show that they're important.
** In addition there's the "Eagle Vision" mechanic in which you can switch to first-person-mode, and targets, guards, friendlies, and regular people will glow specific colors for a while. This is very handy when trying to find a specific target in a crowd of people who all look exactly the same.

* The old, old eight-bit game ''VideoGame/TheLastNinja'' on the UsefulNotes/{{Commodore 64}} had this trope.
** In ''Last Ninja 2'', if you find a map, from now on all collectible items will blink the first time you enter a screen.

* In ''VideoGame/ThiefDeadlyShadows'', lootable items glint and sparkle subtly every few seconds to differentiate them from normal stage props. In essence, the message is, "Steal me."
** The previous ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' games had differences in colors to signify value. For example, a white plate has no value and can only be picked up, not stolen. A decorated gold-colored plate is likely of some value. Deadly Shadows was disliked quite a bit by fans of the previous games for, among other things, this mechanic.

* The matchstick mechanic in ''VideoGame/EnigmaAnIllusionNamedFamily'' revolves around this. Lighting matches causes important items to sparkle, making them easier to find. However, you only have a limited amount of matches to work with. While everything can still be investigated without having to spend matches, it cuts down the chances of accidentally making noise and attracting the killer's attention.
* Items in ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' faintly glow, and your character will turn their head to look at them when they stand/walk nearby.
* Objects in most of the ''VideoGame/FatalFrame'' series appear as shimmering dots of light that must be picked up, in order to learn what they are. Until ''VideoGame/FatalFrameMaidenOfBlackWater'', where healing items are shown in their actual form.

* ''VideoGame/Onryo2020'': Items you can interact with have a white marker above them.
** Items you can pick up spin in place.
* ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'' has an interesting and very subtle take on this - early in the game the main character "notices something", as noted in a small dialogue box... and a barely-perceptible flicker appears where that "something" is. If you don't know the flicker is there, you might not even realize why you're going in that direction.

** Earlier games have important items stand out through [[EverythingsBetterWithSparkles sparkles]]. This is explained in the official books that they are well-used and thus cleaned items that show up against the filthy-un-used corridors, battle debris or blood-smeared walls.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1:'' Rooms on the map change colour when you've cleared them out. Sometimes it's enough just to know that ''something'' is still in there.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' Corpus storage containers shine, Grineer storage containers have two glowing lights and modules give off blue sparks.
** There is also the Waypoint function, which makes a certain spot in the map noticeable from miles away, sometimes pointing to modules or enemies.

* ''VideoGame/TheBathhouse'': Any/all items/areas you can interact with have a black circle with a white arrow pointing down in it hovering over the item/area in question.

* Fruits. When they are ready to be eaten, they typically turn a color that stands out of the ubiquitous greenness, so that fruit-eating animals can spot them quickly.
* The same goes for flowers, whose bright coloration serves to attract pollinators and guide them to the center of the flower, where the nectar and the pollen is.
** And it’s not just color. One species pollinated by bats does this by sound: the Cuban vine ''Marcgravia evenia'' shapes its leaves like satellite dishes. Bat echolocation ("biosonar") picks these out from other flora.
* Venomous/poisonous animals are often brightly colored to warn off predators (something that otherwise harmless animals take advantage of).

* This is the reason rabbits thump their feet when scared. One of course, is to warn other rabbits in the vicinity that a potential threat is nearby. The other is to let the predator know they know it is there: most predators of rabbits are ambush predators not actually capable of outrunning or outmaneuvering a rabbit, and if the predator knows its cover is blown it's not as likely to bother giving chase.

* Commonly used with human-made items as well - this is, for example, why road construction workers wear bright orange vests with lots of reflectors.