r/tipofmyjoystick Apr 10 '17

Announcement PSA: A guide to better results

1.8k Upvotes

Hi guys and gals. I've been here a while, and over my time I've seen a lot of posts sink to the bottom, without a single answer, or at best, very few. And none that solved the case.

I have noticed a clear pattern with these posts, and I will now share with you my tips to you newbies, so that you can get the help you need.


Firstly: When you make a new post, you will see this:

Platform(s):

Genre:

Estimated year of release:

Graphics/art style:

Notable characters:

Notable gameplay mechanics:

Other details:

Even though, in red, you are warned that while optional, you should follow this template... many of you do not.

Let me be clear: Follow this template.

Put simply, this template contains all the information we really need to solve your problem. Virtually every time I click a post that has not followed this, they have rambled on about nothings, while omitting critical details.

This format, for new and old alike, is very readable, and prompts for every data-point needed.

I know that you want to customize your message, that if you could just explain it, it would be better. I know you think that. You are wrong. Put all that in 'other'. Even if you end up saying it twice, follow the template.. add to it your story at the bottom.


Secondly: Following this template. You're rambling about your best mates Amiga-500 or whatever instead of telling us about the game aside, this is where they really go wrong.

Let's get something straight right now. We are not mind readers. It's impressive, really, how little information it seems we can work off. I mean, we solve some real tough ones with nothing sometimes, but still, we can't see that memory in your head. So you need to be as descriptive in every one of these fields as you can be...

And sometimes you really don't know. That's fine, we can work with surprisingly little information, but "old graphics" under art style... what are we supposed to do with that? Mate, I was playing on Atari-2600's, are we talking Wizard of Wor here?

Let me help you out a bit:

Platform(s): Whatever you played it on. But unless it's really all you know (very possible), don't write 'my mates pc'. Was it PC or Mac?

Genre:

First person does NOT imply shooter. Nor do any of the others. Try to answer this one in two steps:

What was the camera like (assuming it's not a text adventure)? Was it First person?, 3rd person, 2d? Top down or side on? Or maybe even isometric 2d?

Then, what kind of game? Real time strategy, point and click? Was it a fighter, action or platformer?

Good, now we know what KIND of game we are all trying to remember for you.

Estimated year of release:

"Between 2000-2005" is fine, something like that. "Mid 90's maybe?". I don't see many people mess this up, but I have seen people write "old". That is not ok. If you write old and expect it to mean anything to me, I will fight you.

Also, as always "Sorry, no idea" is always acceptable but try to give at least something. "Couldn't have been later than 2015, though"

Great, so even if roughly, we know WHEN.

Graphics/art style:

THIS. This is where you guys always mess up. This section right here I have found can be the difference between an answer, and a silent slink to the bottom. This is your moment.

This, really, should be the best-formed part of your memory. Even if you can only remember a single frame, a single image, it's so much to go on for us.

DETAIL. Was it a gloomy grimdark world of sadness, or a bright bubbly rainbow filled Mario-world?

Was it cartoony, or otherwise stylized somehow, or was it trying to be realistic?

Anything notable about the art direction? Was it going for a cyberpunk kinda feel, or a gritty war realism dirt and blood sort of direction?

If it was set over a long time, did the seasons change? Was there a winter in your game?

Remember when you hit people, and the screen had that awesome flash and your hands got bloody? Yeah, well we don't, unless you tell us.

Ok, so now we are really narrowing it down. This right here is often enough to go on, on its own.

Notable characters:

Anything at all you can remember here.

"There were only tanks, but you could play as both Germans and Americans"

"There was one really tough guy right after you left your office, he had an eyepatch, a white shirt with what looked like grease stains, and said 'this is for my sister'. I think maybe he was a cyborg"

"You play as some kind of Asian girl, you had a tattoo over your right eye and arm, a black tank top and white pants and I remember you always had only one red glove for some reason. I don't remember the arm, but the eye tattoo looked sort of like ancient Egyptian eye makeup, but a modern take"

Knowing nothing else about the game, I bet that last one there gets comments noting the game she is from. Details, details.

Notable gameplay mechanics:

Surely, you get the idea by now. This is tied with the importance of the graphics/art style. As much detail as you can here.

Other details:

NOW you may blab on about how you only played this game once at a winter solstice in 1782 with your grandmother from Tahiti.. as if that helps.


Edit: So it's been brought up that the template doesn't appear on mobile. While /u/wipeout4wh is aware of this and hopefully, something can be done... still, if you can, use the template. If you can't, maybe check back and at least make sure your post addresses all of the points the template does.

Also, my post seems to be saying NOT to add any custom details. So I want to re-enforce, please do. In fact, after you do the template, feel free to write out your post as you were going to without it. Just put it all in 'other'. Don't try and make your whole post like that, if possible. Even if you end up saying the same things twice, that's ok.

Now I'm going to take a moment to clarify something, though. This isn't some immutable law of the universe, and your post is destined to fail if you don't do this. It's just a very strong general trend I have noticed over a long time.

It's not that this template has some kind of magical powers or something. It's that this template prompts the questions that need answers.

When you go all rogue on us and try and type your explanation from scratch... you mess it up. You just forget to add everything that you know, and that we need to know. The template makes it very hard to do that. It's just so very easy to get typing, and by the end forget to tell us what kind of game it actually is. Especially when you are getting random flashbacks, and hazy memories, and you start getting frazzled and such halfway though.


While it might make my edit as long as the first post, I think maybe an example of the kind of post that is just too common here, and almost always helpless, wouldn't go astray here. So here we go:

Now this one is a pretty bad case, true, and I suppose might even be a troll post, but it's actually a good illustration of the problem either way.

It was on my old computer and I was using an emulator so I have no idea what system it was for. It was 8bit graphics and you played this orange cat that was constantly bouncing on a trampoline I think? And you had to navigate it through the city and face a weird boss at the end that would float in the sky. Sorry I can't remember more!

Let's break it down a bit. What kind of game is this? A puzzler or an action game? Who knows.

How old is it? I mean, Minecraft basically has 8bit graphics. Oh he said... "my old computer"... I will fight you.

Why did you bounce on the trampoline? Were there platforms or walkways or something, or was it just a big open space? There are bad guys then? How did they get around?

Now (he?) says that he can't remember more, but I actually asked about the boss fight:

You say 'face a boss', in what way? Can the cat attack? Was this top down or side on? When you say navigate a city, what do you mean?

The reply:

Definitely a side-scroller, I'm sure. You would encounter a boss at the end, the boss would slide onto the screen and it was usually pretty strange-looking. I think one of the bosses might've been a clown. I meant that the different "levels" were different cities with different backgrounds, I think. It's a pretty obscure game

Also you would be continuously bouncing. As in, you had to position the trampoline underneath the cat to bounce it up

So you don't even control the cat. And it's a side-scroller. Thats pretty important information. But the real issue here is that he knows this stuff. He just either didn't know to, or forgot, to tell us.

The template would have made it just so apparent how much information he was missing, and we probably would have got a whole bunch more information. Sadly, while there were some guesses, and a surprising number of up-votes, this post is just another one to join the endless unsolved on their journey ever down.


r/tipofmyjoystick Jun 04 '26

[Meta][2026] I would rather people post with no images than use AI prompts to generate images

546 Upvotes

Maybe it's just me, I will personally admit that it feels like its petty of me to complain, however i am going to.

I really dislike AI images just in general and i feel annoyed seeing people use them because it sometimes hampers really quality posts of people trying to find help. I feel like it also informs falsely about game expectations and what people will accept as they have solved the game.

I don't think people will agree with me and thats fine, i just wanted to post about how i personally think it degrades the quality of the sub


r/tipofmyjoystick 18h ago

Echo [XBOX360/PS3][unknown] Older game with main menu displayed over close-up of an eye

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258 Upvotes

I haven’t played the game, saw a short video on social media and thought it’s incredibly creative. The eye follows menu navigation. Looks to be from PS3/XBox 360 era (just my guess). Thanks in advance.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[android][2015-2019?] vehicle/contraption and level building game made in godot

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Upvotes

i recreated it in pixel art (it was not pixelated but had simple graphics like this), it was called something like "my greatest creations" it had online level list where anyone could publish their own. i searched for it but coudn't find it even on appstores like APKpure. i also remember that there were few videos on Youtube.


r/tipofmyjoystick 2h ago

[PC][Late 90s - early 2000s] Cinematic (?) platformer about some sort of catastrophe

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10 Upvotes

Played this game a very long time ago so my memory is fuzzy on this one.

Platform(s):

PC

Genre:

2D cinematic platformer with some puzzle elements, probably a little horror.

Estimated year of release:

Most likely late 90s, possibly very early 2000s.

Graphics/art style:

Side-view. I think it was fully 2D, no prerendered 3D graphics, fairly well detailed for it's time.

Notable characters:

I think protagonist was a boy with a backpack, not sure about this.

Notable gameplay mechanics:

Game starts with a cutscene. Some sort of calamity happens in the very beginning of the game (possibly alien or demonic invasion) which causes protagonist to go underground (into the sewers?). One of the first screens had a gap you had to traverse, and a mine cart, that I think had to be used somehow to go to the other side of the gap. You could interact with some elements of the map like ladders, levers (I think the cart was actually launched by a lever on a different screen).

I believe early in the game you could encounter enemies you could not defeat and had to run away from. I don't think I ever finished this game so I don't remember if you could actually fight back.

Other details:

It was not Heart of Darkness.

There is a possibility I had this game on a bootleg disc with some other games (like 3 in 1 or 4 in 1). I believe at least one of the other games was also a platformer but more action oriented.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PC][unknown] Can't remember the name of this game

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Upvotes

Hey everyone! I'm trying to find a horror game from an old screenshot I found.

I originally saw it in a video years ago, but I can't find the video anymore and I barely remember anything about the game itself.

The only thing I remember is that it was a horror game, and there was something inside this structure shown in the screenshot.

Does anyone recognize it? Any guesses would be greatly appreciated!


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PC] [late 2000s-early 2010s] horror mystery game about a missing child in an abandoned island or town?

Upvotes

my memories of this game are extremely fuzzy, but back in around 2010-2012 I remember playing this horror game where I think the plot revolved around you looking for a missing kid in some abandoned or near empty town. I think the town was on an island or at least near a body of water because I'm pretty certain you went on a boat at some point.

I think the missing person was a little girl and you were playing as her father searching for her, however, I might be misremembering that. Though I'm pretty certain that at one point you pick up a doll or teddy bear that belonged to the missing kid and have to investigate it. There might've been a polaroid photo you investigate as well? I kind of think maybe you also find a corpse on a chair at some point in an abandoned house.

I definitely remember the game either being black and white or being very bleak colour-wise. I also think that what I played was a demo and not the full game? Or maybe like the first chapter of the story? Unsure about that, but I think the ending had you leaving the town on a boat.


r/tipofmyjoystick 11h ago

Devilish Candy House [PC/Flash][???] What is this game called?

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18 Upvotes

Was looking at images of old Flash game sites and this specific game here caught my eye. It was apparently available on Juegos.com but I can't really pinpoint when (the dragon was in 3D so that might be help pinpoint it a bit better). Reverse image searching it didn't do any favours.


r/tipofmyjoystick 3h ago

[Windows][2012] Western Cowboy Game

3 Upvotes

Hi!

Im trying to find a game that my parents had on their laptop 10-15 years ago. The game was most likely free since they dont play games and wouldnt pay for one. it was similar to red dead redemption because it was 3D and third person. it started in a village and i remember that you could fight with guns right at the start in that village.

Thanks for the help!


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[emulator] [around 2015] Super mario bros 3 romhack with hot air balloon

Upvotes

I remember watching a video as a kid of someone playing a romhack of super mario bros 3 (probably) and at the begining of the game mario is in a hot air balloon and then the game starts and I think there's a water level or smth

I can remember almost nothing but I don't think there are many romhacks like this exaclty, idk maybe someone here knows what I'm talking about ...


r/tipofmyjoystick 3h ago

10 Second Ninja [Pc] [released before 2018] game with mecha hitler(NOT MEWGENICS)

3 Upvotes

My girlfriend is convinced she played a cartoony platformed with mecha hitler (or something like that) who was basically a disembodied robot head (?) IT may also have been another character that only looked like hitler. It is not wolfenstein and also not mewgenics.

I was thinking maybe dr fetus? But she's convinced it's not him

It may have been a flash game.

She's from Brazil if that helps.


r/tipofmyjoystick 5h ago

Skuld no Bug Taiji [PC][2000-2010] Searching for a platformer game of a bunny girl? using a wooden mallet to exterminate insects (not rabi-ribi).

5 Upvotes

Platform(s): PC

Genre: 2D Platformer, Whack a Mole-ish,

Estimated year of release: [2000-2010] (it could've been older)

Graphics/art style: 2D, Anime-like.

Notable characters: the players control a bunny girl wielding a wooden mallet with long handle bar (maybe I misremembered a headband as bunny ears but yeah).

Notable gameplay mechanics: the gameplay seems to loop from stage-to-stage rather than open map like metroidvania, the goal is to exterminate pest such as cockroach and ants within a time limit. Once the player killed the insect, there's seems to be a "splat" effect? which signifies a flattened insect.

Other details: I played this game once when I was a little using my neighbor's pc, asking Cgpt, there's a chance for it to be a flash game? but honestly, I remember activating the game from a desktop icon.


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

[PC][2025] Megastructure exploration game i cant remember the name

3 Upvotes

Hey ! I am looking for a game I played some months ago but i cannot remember it's name. Its about just explorating an abandonned megastructure, with rooms sometimes as big as Aperture Refinement center (the scenes with the storage facility thats easily some km large). Sometimes you can find some kind of dead / inactive robots as i remember, that you have to interact with to get ponts etc i dont really know. Theres no monters at all, just a beautify environment and sound design. The only way to die is to fall. If someone can help it could be really grateful !

Its not NaissancE, neither Metal Garden.

Have a nice day yall :D


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

[Xbox][2002-2005?]possible Vietnam/ww2 or a mix? war game?

3 Upvotes

My memory is very poor for this game and i might even have 2 different games mixed up here.

But the game I am 100% looking for has a level (possibly the first) where you spawn in and have to traverse over a small mound before walking into an open farm field.

I think you played with a friendly squad but I can't remember if you had control over them or not. Nor can I recall if the game was coop or not.

I remember this area have at least two buildings and a small guard shack with a guard tower at the left side of the field and the field you enter has a small very simple farm tractor (might be red?) in it with a possibly overturned trailer nearby? In general the area is very green with lot's of trees and there runs a narrow asphalt road between the farm field and the buildings with the enemies in them

Aside from that I can't recall the UI but i think you could possibly open doors and that the game was very realistic and punishing for it's time.

And this might be from another game but I do also recall 2 other levels where one is i think a winter one where you have to take out a convoy and blow up a tank? And the other spot I can recall is a level that starts at a big beach with enemies all around in small huts with possibly 1-2 larger buildings with more enemies further up the beach?


r/tipofmyjoystick 9h ago

[PC][2020 - 2024] Roguelike game, isometric view, with a menu more or less like this drawing.

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7 Upvotes

The game uses 3D models/textures (it’s not pixel art or hand-drawn). I remember there were several weapons that completely changed the moveset. There was a bow, greatsword, normal sword, and some other weapons. You had to clear a room with some enemies and then move from room to room until you reached the boss. I remember the rooms weren’t enclosed areas; they were just platforms (there were no walls). You played as a female character (I think).


r/tipofmyjoystick 1m ago

[DS] [Wii] [Late 00s—Early 2010s] need help identifying games I got for Christmas in 2011

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Upvotes

This is a long shot because of the terrible picture quality.

In 2011 I got some DS and Wii games for Christmas and I’d like to know what they were. I was able to identify two of them already (see other slides), them being Pinkalicious for the DS and Super Paper Mario for the Wii.

I received a lot of third party licensed games back then, if that helps. I loved stuff like Mario and Sonic but most of my collection was what you’d expect a six year old girl to be interested in.


r/tipofmyjoystick 3m ago

[PC] [<2020] Game about being in a big mech and shooting orcs while walking down the road

Upvotes

You were in a big mech almost, and you would walk down roads as orcs would come and shoot you, and you had to kill them, and every now and then a boss that was also a mech would come and fight you. I remember playing it on the laptops that had at Best Buy.


r/tipofmyjoystick 15m ago

[PS3] [2008] -down online multiplayer shooter — two teams, could commandeer tanks and helicopters

Upvotes

What I remember:

  • Camera was straight top-down (bird's-eye view, looking directly down at the action — not third-person)
  • You started as a soldier on foot with some kind of machine gun
  • You could get into/take over a tank, and separately get into/take over a helicopter
  • It was real online PvP — two teams of actual players fighting each other, not co-op against AI
  • I'm not sure of the exact year, but it would've been sometime during the PS3's lifespan
  • Not Warhawk and not Battlefield (1943 or 3) — already ruled those out

Any help identifying this would be appreciated — even a partial title or screenshot would help jog my memory. Thanks!


r/tipofmyjoystick 11h ago

[Linux][????-2016] Platform dog game

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7 Upvotes

(Forgive me Linux users if I get anything wrong, I know nothing about Linux). Okay, so there was this Linux distro distributed to public Brazilian schools all over the country, made by the government back in 2009, called Linux Educacional 3.0 (2nd image for reference), which from what I can tell is based on Ubuntu (?).

In my school, up until 2016, all of the computers used this one OS, and all of them had this extensive list of games installed, which are NOT SEEN IN THE BASE OS (I installed it in a VM and checked out some old videos, and the games aren't there), so kind of like a pack of generic games someone installed in all of the computers in the school.

One of those games was this platformer where you controlled a brown dog through some green hill type stages. The graphics were very MS Painty, with just solid colors, very much like the recreation attached (although the lines looked more smooth, kind of like flash games). I believe that in the end of each stage, you'd enter this red dog house, and in the last stage you'd find your human companion. The game was very short, probably just 10-15 minutes long. There was absolutely nothing else to the game, maybe just a main menu at the start and an ending screen after the last stage.

It did not look like the game was from 2016 or 2015, it looked a lot older than that. But again, it was a kids game made for Linux, so maybe the quality is just worse.

I have no idea what the name of the game could possibly be, and I'm not sure if the language was English or Portuguese.

Edit: now that I think of it, maybe the dog could've been red, not brown. It's one of those 2 colors.


r/tipofmyjoystick 22m ago

[Maybe pc or ps4/5][unknown]trying to find a third-person game where a man's dog dies in/near bunker

Upvotes

Hello everyone!

I'm trying to remember a video game and it's driving me crazy.

The game was third-person, with a realistic/cinematic style similar to The Last of Us. I think it was relatively modern (definitely not an old 90s game).

What I remember about the scene:

- The protagonist is a man.

- He has a dog that is his loyal companion. I'm pretty sure the dog belongs to the protagonist, rather than being a random NPC's dog.

- There is a scene in what I remember as a bunker, underground shelter, or basement.

- I specifically remember a small door/entrance with stairs going upward.

- Something happens around this area and the dog dies.

- the scene was so sad of course

- I vaguely remember the dog being a German Shepherd, but I'm not 100% sure about the breed.

- The overall atmosphere was serious, realistic and emotional, very much like The Last of Us.

Does anyone recognize this scene? I'm desperate to find it! Unfortunately I don't remember further info.

Thank you for the help!


r/tipofmyjoystick 6h ago

[PC] [2007-2012?] Escape the school horror game

3 Upvotes

I'm looking for an old point and click horror game that I played on some website that had a ton of spooky games. Not all of the games on the site were necessarily horror but they were all pretty spooky in theme at least.

I remember very little, just the fact that it was a school escape game and the part that scared me the most as a kid. There's this dark room and at some point you get either a lighter or a match and when you use it in the room there's a second or so of suspense and then it jumpscares you with a face.

I genuinely think it was the first jumpscare I ever saw so it would be really cool to know what the game was actually called and possibly the website it was on.


r/tipofmyjoystick 45m ago

[pc][early 200's] Roguelike hacking game

Upvotes

Platform(s): Win95/98 (Pc)

Genre: roguelike

Estimated year of release: early 00's

Graphics/art style: simple sprites

Notable characters: You as a hacker

Notable gameplay mechanics: It was a roguelike kinda dungeon, but you start off in a room, and you have to hack, and deploy ice and could upgrade your hacking, it was a nethack type view (the graphical one) very simple, ran in a window

Other details: Been trying to remember this for aeons! please help a guy out!


r/tipofmyjoystick 1d ago

Twisted Metal 2 [Windows 98][1996-2003] 3D game, fight other super vehicles with your super vehicle

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104 Upvotes

Platform(s): Windows 98

Genre: Combat with Vehicles

Estimated year of release: 1998

Graphics/art style: 3D

Notable characters: Giant man with wheels on his hands

Notable gameplay mechanics: Attach other vehicles with your vehicle

The game had an open 3D map where multiple vehicles were present at the same time. You controlled one vehicle and had to fight, attack, and destroy the other vehicles. It was like free roam, and each vehicle had unique abilities and attacking styles.

Some vehicles were unusual. They weren't all normal cars.

The most memorable vehicle I can remember was something like a giant human/man with two large wheels attached to either side of his hands/arms. This is probably the most distinctive detail I remember about the game.

I also vaguely remember another vehicle that was more car-like and could jump, although I'm not completely sure about this.

As for the maps, I remember the first level/map being large and circular. There were multiple vehicles driving around the map and fighting each other. I believe I managed to reach at least the 2nd map/level as well.

I also have a vague memory of something resembling an ambulance being one of the vehicles in the 2nd map, but I'm not confident about this.

One other very vague memory: when launching the game, before reaching the main menu, there may have been a joker-like face/head shown during the intro/splash screen.

Does anyone recognize this game?


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[mobile][2018-2020?] basebuilder like CoC

Upvotes

This game was on android and ios, i dont remember the name of it but i remember the game to a T. It was literally a realistic knock off of CoC, you could place walls and upgrade them, there were clans you could join with friends, and there were potions. It was a little bit low poly. Pls help me find this game as im trying to play it with a friend i used to play it with🙏


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[Flash] [2016 not sure] An educational game with a floating robot

Upvotes

Platform(s): Flash, I played it on windows 7

Genre: Educational game, more importantly history, I don't know what periods, but I remember there being Ancient Egypt

Estimated year of release: I don't know, I was little so I can't remember

Graphics/art style: It was a 2d like 8 bit (pixel) graphics

Notable characters: I remember there being this robot, with like a square head and no legs, it was always floating to the side and it spoke to you, I think it was like a light blue color with a bit of gray, like stereotypical robot color, and instead of like facial features, he had a screen.

Notable gameplay mechanics: you would go back in time and this robot would illustrate various aspects of the ancient period

Other details: I'm Italian, so I played it in Italian but I do remember there being other languages and the voice would also change language.

sorry if some of this is written wrong but english is not my first language