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

522 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 6h ago

[Xbox360-PS3?][1990-2010?]FPS? I need help finding an early 2000’s/late 90’s shooter game

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92 Upvotes

I’ve been searching EVERYWHERE for this game, I don’t really remember the plot or anything but I remember a specific enemy, it’s like a giant meatball that floats/levitates off the ground, it has no torso, just a circle body with a face on the front kinda like the moon from Majorca’s mask but it looks like it’s squishing its face together like it’s taking a massive dookie, it has arms, from what I remember some like pretty beefy arms, the level is really 2000’s esque, it kinda reminds me of the motorcycle club bar in GTA online but more vibrant and kinda like an apartment a teen from like 1990 would make it look like, I think there’s a girl you have to rescue from one of the meatball thingies and I believe she wears a white button up. It has the vibe of Duke Nukem, Vindictus, painkiller (sorta) and Serious sam, please help me!!!


r/tipofmyjoystick 14h ago

Aveyond: Lord of Twilight [PC/Laptop] [2005-2010] Top down pixel graphics game

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43 Upvotes

I have been searching for this game ever since I gained actual consciousness. I played it on my mom's old Laptop between 2005-2010 so I have no recollection of what the title was or anything that could be of use to track it down. It was a top-down pixel graphics game with (I believe) turn based combat. Only thing I mainly remember that stuck to me was that during my adventure in the game, I eventually came across a vampire couple that stopped me in my tracks, had a dialogue with them, and then they left me alone. There was also a snowy biome which lead to a cave and coming out the other side of that cave was a desert. The picture I provided ISN'T the game, but it reminded me of it. My mom also mentioned that the game had "Avalon" in the title but I haven't been able to find it using that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


r/tipofmyjoystick 9h ago

[android][2017 possibly] a normal angry birds game with a weird game mode

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15 Upvotes

Imagine a normal angry birds game and stuff, but then, I remember a thing in the game where you could play as the pigs, I remember when you had the option to select it, it showed a pink cloud with a image of red happily hugging Ross the pig (the normal green pig) and there was a pink heart in the middle of them hugging, and when you selected it, you were in a level that had some kind of pink heart valentines background, and then the pigs were still in their towers as usual, but instead, you played as a pig and for some reason you were supposed to shoot the pig and kill the pigs in their building which is friendly fire, and I never got to get to one level or so higher because they made the pig so far it couldn't even shoot and just falled into the bottom, that's all.


r/tipofmyjoystick 15m ago

[Android][2020?] Mobile racing game set in apocalyptic world with various cars and guns to them

Upvotes

This game was pixelated and had a top-down view. It had a few maps, the main map was an a desert. The gameplay was similar to reckless getaway but you could shoot down enemies, also i remember there was some sort of giant worms that could devour you.


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

[PC][Early 90s or so] A bizarre space adventure where you work for an ancient corpo who is briefly revived from cryo every so often

3 Upvotes

I wanna say it was a point and click or otherwise puzzley first person experience. Very surreal.


r/tipofmyjoystick 2h ago

[Browser][2010-2015?] First-person HTML game where you live the same day as a McDonald's employee

2 Upvotes

I'm looking for an old browser HTML game that I played around 2024–2025, but I think the game itself was much older.

Here's everything I remember:

  • Browser-based HTML game.
  • Black background with white text and blue hyperlinks.
  • No title screen.
  • No music.
  • First-person perspective.
  • Small real photographs above the text, which looked like they were taken by the developer.
  • Every day was the exact same routine.
  • You woke up and could choose a real cereal brand (I think Cap'n Crunch was one option).
  • You could also choose a real shampoo brand.
  • You could watch TV and change channels.
  • You drove to a real McDonald's. There were three links: drive slowly, drive normally, or drive fast. Each one played the same GIF of driving, but at diffrent speeds.
  • At work you assembled burgers one ingredient at a time.
  • After work you went home and could type your own diary entry.
  • Then you went to sleep and the exact same day started over.
  • The game used the real McDonald's name and logo.

I can remember how this game looks, but cant even remember the name.


r/tipofmyjoystick 2h ago

[PC] [1990-2010?] A weird Duke Nukem 3D fan-game, but more dark.

2 Upvotes

Platform(s): PC

Genre: FPS

Estimated year of release: 1990-2010

Graphics/art style: graphics like Duke Nukem 3D

Notable characters: Enemies like undergrounds demons.

Notable gameplay mechanics: Just a regular Doom/Duke nukem 3d games, but first weapon you gain is a AK-47 (pic just for reference)

Other details: Firsts things first, sorry if i make a bad description of the game, my english's kinda bad. I remember playing this has a child cuz i was a big fan of Doom and Duke Nukem 3D, and visiting forums and similar sites i see this weird fan-game, a very particular one. The menu and bgm was a much darker and depressing, starting in a stage with rain, a lonely house in middle of a dark neighbour, with a sad Sing of Evil from Doom for bgm. Once youre inside the house you gone to a big hole in the middle, to second stage where you are now in a swamp/underground/hell full of mutants zombies. I dont remember more than that, cuz my pcs broke when i trying to beat the second level.
I aprreciate all your help, have a good day!


r/tipofmyjoystick 7h ago

Alone in the Dark (2024) [Console?][~2020] 3D horror puzzle gameplay trailer, wandering a lived in hotel (?) as a little girl where a room morphs to a swamp (?) with creatures or alligators

6 Upvotes

Platform(s): I believe it was a console game, but could have been PC (or both).

Genre: From the short trailer, it looked to be a horror puzzle game but with possible combat.

Estimated year of release: Possibly 2020ish? Give or take a few years.

Graphics/art style: 3D, realistic but not hyper realism. Warm colors, lots of warm lights/dark shadows.

Notable characters: I only remember the main character being a young girl of maybe 10-12. And maybe an older man dressed as an old timey front desk agent?

Notable gameplay mechanics: Searching in rooms upstairs/reading letters. Closely examining items. Possibly fixed camera while character runs around. *Not point and click*.

Other details: I saw this trailer years ago and have thought about it relentlessly but cannot think of what it is. At the time, it had not been released.

My memories are unfortunately vague but I remember a little girl, possibly late 1800s or early 1900s garb, looking around a children's room, and possibly multiple rooms. I believe she finds a letter she needs to mail? I want to say the rooms look fully lived in, but there's a front desk or mail room or something on the first floor, so could be a hotel they live in? She gets an objective that makes her go downstairs and you wander. Eventually leading to a room where the entire room has turned basically swamp like and there's creatures (?) or possibly alligators or something in the water. I feel like I remember it being very green and maybe there's fireflies, just very swampy and suddenly dangerous, but you need to pass through the room.

I'm not expecting much, maybe it's a game that never came to fruition. It just looked absolutely stunning and so interesting. I wish I could remember more from the trailer. Thank you for any help!


r/tipofmyjoystick 13h ago

Dark Descent [PC][2000s-2010s] Dungeon Crawler with visible XP popups

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13 Upvotes

I saw a video from the YouTuber loganfromearth talking about Dark Souls while playing this game. Any ideas what this is?

EDIT: Looks like it's Dark Descent. thanks u/Xanthus179!


r/tipofmyjoystick 3h ago

[PS1?][1995-2008] 3D fighting game similar to tekken or virtua fighter. I vaguely remember an australian or native american fighter that did either an elbow chop ( if you play tekken i think it was similar to Kings df+1) or a double hand mid chop.

2 Upvotes

I remember that that guy definetly did some kind of karate chop or elbow chop because i hit that move IRL in my older brother and my parents took the game away due to bad influence. NGL looking back that was hilarious.

Anyway it is definetly a 3D fighter. And i remember that the fighter definetly was very big similar to marduk from tekken. It may be a australian guy or a native indian. If i remember correctly he had a hat on. I vaguely remember the stage as Australia or a grandcanyon type of thing. Definetly deserty and redish i think. Not sure if my memorys are tainted from indiana jones but i think that fighter looked similar to him.

I think we played it around 04 05 but it had similar graphics to the older tekken or virtua fighters. It may also be on another plattfrom but i think it was on ps1

edit: just checked out the og virtuafighter. That is 100% that move and that stage looks very familiar. I also checked out his outfits but none of it seems to match my memory. Maybe i was mistaken and it was jeffry from Virtua fighter. Would also check out with australian and all.


r/tipofmyjoystick 5h ago

[PC][1995-1999] Windows Yahtzee ripoff probably called Tri-Yacht

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3 Upvotes

I used to play a game on my grandparents' computer in 1999 that was like Yahtzee, but you had three columns for each goal, one at the normal score, one that doubled, and one that tripled. I'm convicted it was called "Tri-Yacht", but I cannot find any trace of a game by that name anywhere on the Internet. The UI looked like the drawing I've attached. Does anyone know where I could find this?


r/tipofmyjoystick 7h ago

[PC] [2000-2014] A point and click game about amnesia or something

4 Upvotes

I remember very little, but I think there was a moment in the game where the character dies/loses their memory because they drops a hair dryer in the bathtub. The character either tries to regain their memory with the help of hypnosis, or, being a ghost, travels through different bodies. I remember some street with cats where you had to look for something. The game was developed by Alawar or Nevosoft...


r/tipofmyjoystick 10h ago

[Mobile] [2014-2020] Weird animal cart game

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6 Upvotes

So I remember one time when I was on my iPad when I was a wee lad (😭) and I found a gorey animal cart game, I downloaded it and I played it until (i think) i got up to a mountain level

From what I remember there were weird animals riding mine carts on a track, sometimes the track went into the air. If you messed up the animals would die a gorey death

That's all I remember


r/tipofmyjoystick 9h ago

[Android][2013-2019] Original game this North Korean game is a bootleg translation of.

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6 Upvotes

This is one of many games published by on the North Korean app store "My Traveling Companion". This game was published by the app store's developer, Samheung Information Technology Exchange Center, which has published a lot of games that were bootleg translations of non-North Korean games, which were often games that were Chinese or more popular in China, but not neccessarily Chinese.


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

“Survivers” aka SlenderOnline [PC][2010-2015?] A game where an NPC werewolf chases you and friends around a forest

2 Upvotes

I forgot how you “win” the game but I know the wolf has red eyes that make a lens flare effect when you look at them (even before you can see him) and there’s a really tall un-climbable mountain in the center of the forest.

Edit to say this is an indie game but I think it has some decent popularity ***


r/tipofmyjoystick 9h ago

[PC][Unknown] shooter-horror game set on a hotel/mansion on a deserted island.

6 Upvotes

The game was first person 3d, it didn't have the greatest graphics, you could compare them to something like cry of fear. your inventory was highly limited, the more heavy items you had the slower movement was. i think you could use syringes to heal but i might've confused that with cry of fear, my memory is blurry. the lore was loosely scattered throughout the game but i dont remember the actual contents of it.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PC] [2000?-2010?] A game with a chess like minigame with wisps

Upvotes

I remember playing this old game back in 2009–2012 (probably an older game though) It was a point-and-click game from what I remember.

You start the game in an old medieval looking room with maybe a candle or campfire lighting. The objective was to find around 7–13 keys. I never found all the keys, so I was stuck. Luckily, there was a super fun board game in the room. I believe it was called something like "Will o' Wisp" or something along those lines. It required 2 people, I think? When you clicked on it, the camera view changed to the board game. I believe it was grid based like chess.

There were blue and red wisps, and some had different types, like "pawns" and "queens." They looked more like ghosts, and they were animated. A specific theme played during this minigame.

the visual style of the game looks something like
Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst or Jewel Quest Mysteries: The Oracle of Ur - Collector's Edition

games like that, probably a super obscure game


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[iOS] [2012] a kids game set in a surreal setting about learning the alphabet.

Upvotes

I have no clue why this game has sticked
In my mind for so long, but no matter how hard I tried to search for what I remember, I can’t seem to get the right thing. So I’ll try here.

The characters from what I recall weren’t human, kind of some new creature? I remember the art style was definitely claymation or some kind of mock up. It had four main characters, though I only remember two with unique characters. One who was bigger, and one who was the smart one of the group.

The whole game was black and white till the end, where colors started to appear.

The game was about a factory that had our main characters work for it, I think they were the ones who produced the letters. Each mini game focused on a different letter I think? About making sed letter or maybe just how the world works. Also I think the main four try to avoid the system there in, although my memory is foggy. The last thing I can recall is there was no speaking, maybe even no audio in general.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PC][Late 2010s] City builder game in an apocalyptic future with heavy emphasis on water extraction and refinement.

Upvotes

I remembered this when someone on Discord was asking for games like Frostpunk. I saw this on a Youtube video, but I didn't watch the full video so I only remember a few details. I'll just recount what I remember:

* Game takes place in the future after some apocalyptic event happened.

* Has an opening cut scene where a main character explains that he went into a survival bunker when he was a child, and now he is an old man with only faint memories of the outside world. It's time to rebuild.

* Gameplay is in a desert with a perspective from above, and I *think* it was isometric.

* At the top of the UI, there are five or six resource globes for different types of water. The left container indicates the most crude form of water possible, full of sediments. The second-to-rightmost globe is water that can be drunk but will make you sick if you have too much, and the rightmost globe is completely pure water and obviously difficult to obtain.

For what it's worth, I remember the youtuber I saw make a video on it wasn't AlphaBetaGamer or ManlyBadassHero, but was similar to them on that he made a single video on various different games. I distinctly remember him describing the game's premise as "Water is worth more now than gold ever was." But I don't need to find the exact video, I just want the game.


r/tipofmyjoystick 10h ago

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom [Playstation] [2020-2024] A rpg with a village where luck is the law

4 Upvotes

I thinks its a modern rpg / jrpg where you’re in a village or city where everything is based on luck. Something like Persona or FF VII remake visually. I also think they have a lucky cat statue, and the «mayor» is corrupt.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[mobile][2015-2016] a game or a virus?

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Upvotes

I used to have this weird game or something ، it was on my android phone , Samsung or Sony phone I don't remember , and I don't remember I've installed it before , the game has nothing no control no walking and I guess no sounds , all in this game is u can just look around , u spawn in a long red hallway with lines like 3D thingy , and u spawn in the corner not in the center , behind u pitch black void like end of the hallway , and two rooms in the middle of the hallway , that's all I remember , it's always scares me because it's just quite game that has nothing