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

617 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 • • 5h ago

[IOS] [2015] Minecraft type game

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31 Upvotes

Does anyone know where these screenshots are from? It was an IOS Minecraft type game. My fiance and I used to play it before we met each other and I wanted to see if its still running.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 4h ago

[Mobile][2016] What is this mobile game I used to play?

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6 Upvotes

This is pretty vague, and I'm not sure anyone will get it but I used to play a game a lot that I think was an educational puzzle game, I'm pretty sure you were a block sort of creature that looked kind of like the Blooket blocks. The only things I mainly remember about it is there was a level builder than turned the background into a gridded blueprint, and you could place blocks. The only books I remember is that there was Lava and a block that was a cracker that you had to eat through to get to the other side. (The character you could play as was more colorful, but I just did a random color)


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 51m ago

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure [PS1?][Gameboy?] [Early 2000s?] Game where you play as a underwater creatures

• Upvotes

There was a game I used to play at my uncle's house all the time when I was little. It was completely underwater and you played as sea creatures , pretty sure prehistoric like. I don't remember if there was combat, I just know I kept dying in it because I didn't understand it. I'm pretty sure it was exploration based and you could pick your creature, and it didn't save, you just had to start over when you died.

Edit def not Gameboy I meant possibly GameCube


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 11m ago

phantom brave [TOMT][PS2][2000S] Looking for a ps2 era trpg or jrpg game that has a message in a bottle floating towards a beach

• Upvotes

Im looking for a ps2 era video game. I think that it was a jrpg from the style of it. My parents bought me it when i was young so i didnt understand it and didnt play it but now im looking to find out what game it was. From what i can remember it had a message in a bottle as the title screen and then when the game begins the character begins on an island. Really hoping someone else may have played this because it’s bothering me not to remember this. I remember the game being a tactical grid rpg and having similar graphics style to final fantasy tactics, I already looked at that and don’t think it’s it I’m thinking I’m maybe confusing it with the mana series but hoping maybe someone has my answer.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 12m ago

Enter game title here [iPad Game][2010-2015] Pet vet clinic game, sell + take care of animals

• Upvotes

[iPad Game][2010-2015]
Bunch of crates + fish tanks on a wall, people come in and buy animals, use money to buy another animal, cages get dirty to alert you to care necessary towards the animal, tap on the cage and it takes you to another room to clean, care, feed, wash the animals and their cages. Levels would be unlocked opening new areas of different animals, dogs, cats, fish, etc… main room where animals were sold would also get dirty, footprints on the floor, and those must also be cleaned, and you were given coins when cleaning footprints.
A friend of mine has been looking for this game forever and can’t find it.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 19m ago

[SNES OR GBA?] [1994-2004] some kirby break out type of game i remember watching a gameplay of

• Upvotes
attempted redraw

this game looked something like this drawing, i remember the ground maybe being sand? it was more like a mini game then anything. simaller to breakout but slightly diffrent


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 58m ago

[Browser/Flash] [2000s] Three foot ninja type graphic

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• Upvotes

Hi everyone, first post here. I suddenly remembered some memories about a flash game that i have played when i was still using diapers. I remember that the character was still a ninja and nearly looked as same as the 3 Foot ninja 2's main character. I barely remember any more details about the game. It was a side scroller for sure and the character is a ninja(?).


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 1h ago

Dreadnought: Tartarus [Windows?][2026+] Top-down perspective game with a giant capital ship over a city

• Upvotes

Platform(s): Windows, possibly others

Genre: Arcade? Gameplay reminded me of Missile Command in a way

Estimated year of release: 2026 or later

Graphics/art style: High fidelity sci-fi "realism"

Notable characters: Unknown

Notable gameplay mechanics: Defend a massive capital ship from waves of attackers with various weapons

Other details: Saw a trailer or preview of this, and I've seen it plagiarized for Infinite Lagrange-style mobile games on Facebook ads, but I can't recall the real game's name. Gameplay seems to be a modern, high fidelity Missile Command, possibly with roguelike or RPG elements to it in the form of upgrades. The footage I recall showed an isometric perspective of a massive capital ship warping in right over a city. The player has to click on waves of approaching enemies to shoot them down while the capital ship drifts slowly over the city. It's not clear if you're defending or assaulting the city, or if you can control the capital ship beyond clicking to shoot down enemies. Graphics were realistic, full 3d, high fidelity.

Sorry for the lack of detail, I was at work when I saw the brief glimpse of footage I got and I couldn't look into it further.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 5h ago

[TV] [2024] creepy point and click game with some kind of live furniture (?)

5 Upvotes

about maybe two years ago, I remember playing this kinda creepy point and click game that reminded me a bit of Machinarium, but not at all. in one section, it hqd some kind of floating jellyfish that would electrocute the character you played as (a boy with brown hair), and in another it would have these almost benches or tables that were normal in the light, but turned into some kind of dog or beast in the dark. the title could have been something like Creed or Creeds, but I tried to search that up and didn’t find anything


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 4h ago

[PC][Unknown] First-person point and click, woman gets a phone call then goes into a big modern building with elevators

3 Upvotes

Platform(s): PC, I played it on Windows XP around 2009-2014, but it could be older.

Genre: First-person point and click puzzle game with an inventory. Not a hidden object game.

Estimated year of release: no idea

Graphics/art style: still screens you click through, looked realistic (maybe pre-rendered, I'm not sure they were photos). Everything inside was bright, a lot of white.

Notable characters: The main character was a woman and I remember a female voice talking during the game, like to herself. I barely remember seeing any other characters.

Notable gameplay mechanics: You pick stuff up into an inventory bar and use it on things or combine items. You moved up through the building with elevators, a bit like floor by floor.

Other details: this was a long time ago so some of it might be mixed up. I think there was a phone call at the start and then she went to the building (hotel? office? tower?). At some point an alarm went off, the music got tense and metal bars dropped over the doors. I think I needed wire cutters for that. Later I remember unscrewing a vent to get onto the roof. Early on there was something with vases or gems too. It didn't feel like a horror game.

I already checked these and they're not it: Master Thief: Skyscraper Sting, 3 Days: Zoo Mystery, Rhianna Ford & the Da Vinci Letter, Nancy Drew (Treasure in the Royal Tower, The Final Scene, Stay Tuned for Danger), Carol Reed games, The Fall Trilogy Ch. 2, Dark Fall: The Journal, Drawn: The Painted Tower, Traitors Gate.

Thanks for any ideas!


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 2h ago

[Genesis/NES] [1991] Two player time travel/pirate themed side scroller

2 Upvotes

I have a vivid memory of staying over my friends house in the early 90s playing a two player game either on Genesis or NES (or another less popular console around that time) one guy was red and the other was blue. I swear the first level was pirate themed.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 9h ago

[Unknown] [2005-2020] A VN (?) about teens fighting something?

8 Upvotes

My memories are very vague because quite frankly I didn't even get to play this game back in the day. I found numerous videos of this game on YT back then, somehow I think it was a VN with anime style visuals.

Overall vibes were grim, dark, bloody and tragic, lots of deaths and wounds, I think different teen-looking characters were fightning something or someone, maybe kaiju or other big creatures, maybe not. It was a pretty long and niche game, I think I've stumbled upon it about 8-10 years ago.

I think spiritually it was close to Fate series if we consider complexity, it was a very long game, probably with numerous routes. I've remembered about it because I've recently watched a Danganronpa "100% playthrough", and idk why but Steins;Gate 0 also comes to mind. And I think the cast was predominantly young, like 12-14 maybe 16 years old looking characters, and they had like death battles or something. I know this is all very vague but if someone gets this game I'd be very grateful, I mean, it would be something like pure magic.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 2h ago

[PC][1996-97?] Click on a Gunslinger Western game I can't remember the name of

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2 Upvotes

So there was this PC game where you had to click on the 2D gunslinger Sprites that would go from one area of the screen to another to take them out. I had it on an old PC that had Windows 95 on it, I think it might have been gun something but idk. all I know is I used to play it back in the day and I can't seem to find it anywhere. the X's are where you click on the gunslingers....or cowboys?


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 2h ago

[PC] [unknown] Point and click puzzle game in the first level you had to fix a red plane in a closed garage at the docks.

2 Upvotes

Platform:
PC (played it on browser).

Genre:
2D point and click adventure/puzzle game.
Camera was 2D side view, where you clicked around the environment to collect and combine items.

Estimated year of release:
Between 2005–2010 (flash era).

Graphics
The art looked hand-drawn/animated and was very simple and colorful.

Notable characters:
I don’t remember any characters other than the protagonist and I can't for the life of me remember how he looked like.

Notable gameplay mechanics:
You had an inventory where you collected objects and combined them to solve puzzles. In the first level, you were inside a garage and the main goal was to repair a red airplane by finding parts/tools. You needed to click different hotspots, pick up items, and use them in the correct order to fix the plane.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 6m ago

[PC] [2008ish] Turn based animal fighting game

• Upvotes

I played this game years ago maybe 2008 or so. I played it on y8.com so I think it was an html5 game. You would make a team of 6 "creatures" and level them up and fight against other teams. The fighting was just your guys attack based on these little arrow above their head. I say creatures because I remember being able to play animals (lino, bear, monkey.. so on) and dinosaurs and like a ghost and scarecrow. The ghost had a ? attack so it would just hit a random enemy. There was the original and sequel. I seem to remember the logo of the games clip art being a paw of some kind. the fight screen was 2 rows of 3 front and back row and the opponent would have the same. Outside of combat the map was couple lines would different colour squares on it, think old pokemon mini maps. Any help would be appreciated.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 6h ago

[Nintendo DS] [2005-2008?] cozy pastel carnival game with animals

3 Upvotes

Platform(s): Nintendo DS

Genre: kids game (iirc)

Estimated year of release: around 2005-2008 i believe? im not quite sure.

Graphics/art style: 2D (it was an isometric 2D game, if im not mistaken?), bright/pastel colors, small cartoony animals of various colours

Notable characters: n/a , it was all just random animals.

Notable gameplay mechanics: the game took place in a carnival, where you could play different simple minigames in different tents. you could buy/sell(?) tickets. all animals (or i think it was just the player?) had stars as their transport that they moved around on, sitting.

Other details: the game im trying to find is NOT any of the following: "Carnival Games", "Party Carnival", "I Spy Funhouse", "Six Flags Fun Park" or "Viva Piñata". i checked!

i faintly remember playing this game from a 300+ games cartridge i used to have for my DS, back in 2019-2020 iirc. the cartridge. I saw this post that i believe was looking for the same game im describing, but got no responses.

this is my first post ever so i'm sorry if it doesn't make much sense </3 i would heavily appreciate it if you could help me find it! thank you in advance!


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 4h ago

[roblox] [2026] sky adventure game??

2 Upvotes

Need help finding a Roblox game i played a few months ago, it was a puzzle game with a very calming and frutiger aero/dream vibe

I remember some mechanics:

You could use clouds to float

One puzzle had to choose the correct weight on a scale or something

And there were windmills that would push you forward

The lobby was in the sky and you would slowly collect abilities like double jumping

I remember i saw a walkthrough on YouTube too

I can't find it anywhere but it was on a channel made for Roblox walkthroughs


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 8h ago

[PC] [2000-2010] "Detective" Game

5 Upvotes

I'm trying to find a web game where you was a Detective or something like that don't remember if it was from PopCap Games I remember you have to found objects to proceed (like a VN). The think I remember it's a female character called "Dolores" and a "Lighthouse" I think


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 1h ago

[Android] [2010s] Truck game with simple blue starter truck and white circle wheels

Post image
• Upvotes

(Reference image above)

The year is only an estimate.

When I was a child, I used to play a truck game on my old tablet, probably a Samsung Tab 3. I'm trying to find this game again, but I don't remember its name.

Some details I remember:

- I think the starting truck was blue (not very light or very dark), simple, with no drawings or logos.

- In the shop, there was another truck that was red. It was taller, had 3 wheels on each side, 6 wheels in total, a cab-over cab, and a roof deflector. Like the blue truck, it had no drawings or logos and had simple wheels with white circles.

- All the trucks in the game had plain paint, with no textures or designs, and the wheels of the controllable vehicles were just white circles, with no details.

- The camera was in third person. I'm not completely sure, but I think the screen stayed fixed even when the truck changed direction, and the camera could be moved with your fingers.

- There were missions around the city.

- I'm not completely sure about this, but I also remember that the pickup and delivery locations may have been marked by tall beams of light reaching into the sky.

- I think the game had somewhat realistic physics, with the truck sometimes being able to slide on the road if it was going too fast or hit something.

- The game had simple graphics, somewhat similar to the image above, but it wasn't as low-poly as the image, and it wasn't exactly that game.

Does anyone remember what game this might be?


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 1h ago

[WIN] [2010] Soccer Star Lookalike

• Upvotes

Hello there, my girlfriend is on the search of an old browser soccergame. She told me about a similiar game called Kicker Star 2 but it isnt this or soccer star 2. The game was released about 2010 and the game is like a soccer/football manager but not at the same time and it has a very cartoony style. I hope my description is good enough

Thanks in Advance

EDIT: my gf said the game was only in german and had its own webpage


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 7h ago

[PS2/PS3][2005-2010] 3D platformer game.

3 Upvotes

I don't remember anything about the game aside from the soundtrack sounding very, VERY similar to C418 Mice on Venus from Minecraft.

I vaguely remember the game having a Light/Dark theme with good and evil but even that I'm not 100% sure on.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 11h ago

[PC][Unknown] Eroge with battle brothers mechanics NSFW

5 Upvotes

My friend was talking about an eroge he played back in the day that had similar mechanics to battle brothers. Apparently he found it on either otomi of ryuugames, there wasnt a translated version so it was fully jp and he says hes sure there wasnt any lolis there (as far as he had gotten). The game was set in like the samurai era of Japan.

ps he said its not sengoku rance


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 2h ago

[PC] [2006] some version of call of duty 2

1 Upvotes

im looking for an old call of duty game which i was playing like 15-20 years ago, im 99% sure it was call of duty 2 but some kind of a DLC or something. basically it had only 4 missions if i remember and you are starting as a imprisoned soldier making your way out of some massive building in a stealth way. and i think the last mission was called 'STURM' (game was on russian language) and it was some huge battlefield in winter time