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

608 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

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 Professional [Nintendo 3DS][Unknown Year] Can anyone identify this game from these screenshots?

Post image
91 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I'm trying to identify a Nintendo 3DS game that I spotted in a TikTok video.

Unfortunately, the game only appears for a few seconds, but I managed to capture screenshots showing both screens.

Here's what I can see:

  • Top screen: A small character with bright yellow hair, a backpack, and a colorful outfit exploring what looks like a dark building or dungeon.
  • Bottom screen: A green grid-based map showing the layout of rooms and corridors.
  • On the right side of the touchscreen, there are three vertical icons and a large golden circular control with the word "OFF" next to it.
  • The character and graphics remind me a little of Yo-kai Watch, but I'm not sure.

Does anyone recognize this game, especially the bottom-screen interface?

I've attached the clearest screenshots I could get.

Thanks in advance!


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 3h ago

[PC][Unknown Year] horror game where one monster helps you escape/evade another monster

5 Upvotes

it's most definitely an indie game, but I remember seeing a video on this years ago and I can't find it again. the video shows the player character trying to hide from a monster, and opens the door to the basement, where there's another seriously horrifying looking monster. however, the one in the basement stairs tells the player character that they mean no harm, and they're actually trying to help them escape and survive the other monster. I'm not sure if the one in the basement stairs is actually benevolent or not, but I do remember that was the series of events that take place in the video.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 50m ago

[PC] [2010s] Navigating a small wheeled robot through a maze to collect items and reach destination. Hard time remembering

• Upvotes

Im trying to find this old computer game i used to play.. i cant remember whether it was online or not but I know it was on a computer (Windows I'm pretty sure). It was about 10 years ago or so.... the point of this game was to move this robot across a maze by giving it step by step instructions (like go left, one space forward, sort of thing...) if i remember correctly it was a metallic, dark, blue game....... but not sure... the coding application "Scratch" kind of reminded me of the way you give instructions step by step but the color scheme is very very different... Im also certain it wasn't 2d (Flat maze).. it was a slightly slanted 3d maze.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 6h ago

[PC][2020s] Game where you document a Kaiju apocalypse

7 Upvotes

I saw this in a youtube video about games where you experience the end of the world. In this one, you are a reporter or something and you have a camera to record the end times. Kaiju are destroying the world as the military tries in vain to stop them. You can see the monsters in the distance sometimes. You can talk to NPCs and interview them.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 2h ago

[PC game] [90s/early-2000s ], top down screen game with at least 2 players on one computer, steal an item (i think a key) from each other and chase to take it back to enter a palace

3 Upvotes

Played on Windows in the early 2000s, possibly from a downloaded or disc-based game. Top-down view with big, colorful pixel graphics and people as characters, moved with the arrow keys. The setting had a palace, and the goal was to get the item, which I remember as a key, to enter it. You could take it from another player by catching them on the paths, and then they’d chase you to take it back. It’s not Atmosfear.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 4h ago

Dino Tales [MOBILE][2015] Realistic dinosaur exploration game

5 Upvotes

I'm trying to find out the name, or any proof it existed, of an old mobile game around 2013-2017.

You played as the dinosaur and just wandered around a map interacting with things. I'm 100% sure there was a cave of bats, spray painting (with berries I think) and pretty sure there was bowling and a volcano too. There were multiple different dinosaurs to collect and you could hatch an egg and name them. I remember it just being solo player and just wandering around, unsure if there was a main objective.

If anyone has played something similar or has any thoughts please let me know, it's driving me bonkers. Or if it's some forgotten dead game that would also be great to know. Thanks.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 55m ago

[Pc] [2000's] Point and click that had the pirates of Caribbean on it

• Upvotes

Hello, i remember playing a game when I was a child that had POTC world as a stage, I remember Barbosa showing his palm to the player and Calypso in an island.

Also i remember that one of the previous stage you blew up some kind of temple with dynamite.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 3h ago

[PC] [2012-2015] Browser rpg game that has you washed up somewhere.

3 Upvotes

I only played through the early game but i distinctly remember it having blue beetles as early mobs which you can possibly get as a pet with a bit of luck. I can remember you can equip a stick and I think it was isometric. Think something like Ragnarok


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 9h ago

[PS2] [Mid-2000s] 3D game with stylized realism in a castle or manor, you play as a kid/teen, NOT dark cloud 2

9 Upvotes

Platform(s): PS2

Genre: not entirely sure, i think it might have been action-adventure

Estimated year of release: early to mid-2000s

Graphics/art style: it was 3D and in a third person perspective from behind the character. i remember it looking fairly realistic at the time, but i think it was probably stylized realism that doesn't look as realistic as i remember

Notable characters: i think the main character was a kid or preteen/teen, but i can't remember much else. the only other thing is that i think the antagonist at the start of the game might be your dad? my strongest memory of the game is that there's this cutscene where you're eating dinner with him and for some reason i thought it was really funny that he just keeps eating and his porkchop never gets any smaller if you don't advance the dialogue. the character im thinking of may not actually be the MC's dad, though, im not sure if i misinterpreted the scene or not since I was young enough that i still sometimes struggled to wrap my head around plot elements

Notable gameplay mechanics: unfortunately i can't really remember much except i think it was real time combat, since i got stuck in like, the tutorial area, probably due to being afraid to approach enemies. i want to say that your character maybe had magical powers but i really don't remember

Other details: i don't think the cutscenes were voiced, or maybe not all of them were, because of the detail about the dad repeating his porkchop eating animation infinitely. the characters are human, not anthropomorphic animals or anything. the only area i remember is a sewer, since... I think it's the first area in the game and that's where i got stuck. but it definitely wasn't dark cloud 2. the art style is all wrong and there's no circus in the game i remember. the time period the game was set in seemed to be not quite modern, but not medieval or anything either, perhaps the 1800s? wish i could remember more, but it was a rental that i only got once. i don't even know if it was good, i just wanna know what it was lol


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 1h ago

[Android] [early 2010's] game I used to play as a kid

• Upvotes

There was this game I played as a kid in the early to mid 2010s, the main app was a train constantly moving the sky could go from day or night, each part of the train was a different activity! One part had videos you could watch like crafts! It also had a separate branch app where you played as a little animal and did activities to collect coins! They had like a candy sort of map and a dinosaur one I think! Please someone help me find this app it was a big highlight of my childhood


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 5h ago

[Microsoft Windows][2010-2014] can't find this game for the life of me

5 Upvotes

I remember when I was super young I would play browser games on my granddads laptop(it was Microsoft Windows, can't remember the model but it was probably from 2007-2013). I barely remember the game besides there were these big griffin-bird like creatures and you had to pick purple fruits and feed them. And if I remember the game started out in like a big building, maybe a library. Considering the rest of the games I remember playing at the time it was probably a girly game from a website like girlsgogames, maybe not.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 2h ago

[IOS][2013-2015?]Old chinese mobile game action RPG?

2 Upvotes
  • Chinese-developed mobile game (English wasn't perfect)
  • Single-player with in app purchases
  • Real-time combat
  • Cartoonish art style
  • iOS
  • Control a character + recruit heroes and soldiers
  • Conquer cities from demons(named after Greek myth locations), Sometimes demons attacked your cities. If they took all your cities you lose.
  • Goal: eliminate the demons completely by conquering all cities.
  • Separate fortune teller NPC who could raise or lower city production. She would give a fortune every month
  • 1 romance option, a female princess. Final romance tier required diamonds (“If you want my love you need to give me diamonds or something along those lines”). Max romance reward = powerful weapon
  • Final boss city = Hades
  • Name likely contained “Hero” / “Heroes”

r/tipofmyjoystick • • 4h ago

[Mac] [1995] artsy game about giving massage

3 Upvotes

My mom got a Power PC in the mid 90s and it came with a bunch of software. One was a game with a bunch of mini games on it made by art students (I think). The mini game I remember most was about giving a guy a massage with your mouse. If you touched his butt he yelled “hey whatcha doin down there!” And there was a dog you could pet. The game was very comic booky. Does anyone know what this game was?


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 6h ago

[PC][2012-2015] Pixel game about shooting guns vs. dungeon monsters.

3 Upvotes

Platform(s): PC

Genre: Shooter, ala, Hotline Miami.

Estimated year of release: 2015. At the absolute earliest, 2012

Graphics/art style: Pixelated 8bit, Bird's Eye View

Notable characters: I'm not sure if there was a story, but you controlled a character similar to those in Hotline Miami, just a head with swaying shoulders.

Notable gameplay mechanics: Shooting guns, using magic against "dungeon" enemies I.E. Skeletons, Goblins, Slimes. Basic enemies were pixel renders, but bosses looked if they were low poly 3D instead of pixel art.

Other details: I can confidently say that time frame because my brother got it from Steam by checking on the "Featured" slot. Sadly the account he used got hacked a while ago and unfriended everyone so I can't check his game inventory.

A very simple way I can describe it is a mix between Noita and Hotline Miami. The enviroments and magic looked extremely similar as they do in Noita, with very muted green and brown and magic attacks being pixel particles that could fill the entire screen. Gameplay was very similar as Hotline Miami, going into rooms and shooting all enemies to advance, with choices of weapons dropped from dead enemies.

What I'm most mixed right now is that I'm not sure if everything was magic, even if there was clear gun sounds, or if everything was guns, even when you could cast lighting bolts and rays of light. So I'm going with the idea it as a mixed gun and magic game.

What's it not:

Hotline Miami and Noita, despite feeling super similar.

Magicite, This game was a shooter through-and-through.

Nuclear Throne, I also played this at the time so I know it was a different game.

Enter the Gungeon, Too new and enemies looked like standard RPG enemies.
Realm of the Mad God, and other online games. This PC had to use a crappy Wi-Fi dongle so it was offline most of the time.

Every single game on PC Gaming Wiki's "Bird's Eye View" category I thought it would find it there, but no. I know for an absolute fact that was the game's camera though, we played it for hours back in the day.

This game was on the Featured PC Games slot of Steam for at least a while so it was well liked or sold pretty decently, so I wanna believe it can be found.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 3h ago

[PC] [~2017] 3D low-poly/PS1-style action-horror game where your girlfriend is kidnapped by a gargoyle-like creature, spider boss in a tunnel/hole

2 Upvotes

Platform: PC (played in a cybercafé)
Genre: Action with some suspense and mild horror, has abilities
Year: Around 2015-2018, I played it a lot in 2017
Graphics: 3D but very pixelated, strong PS1 style, not good looking at all
What I remember:
• You play as a guy (I think)
• At the beginning your girlfriend gets stolen/kidnapped by a gargoyle or something similar
• There are several bosses
• One of them is a spider that is in a hole or tunnel
• There’s a final boss at the end
• The game feels like it has some castle or dungeon areas
My brother also remembers this game clearly and even my godfather (who was the one who downloaded it) remembers it but has no idea where he got it from. We’ve been looking for it for years and can’t find anything.
It might be lost media or something download from that time. Any help would be really appreciated.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 7h ago

[Browser Flash Game] [Early 2000s or so] Point and Click story game.

3 Upvotes

Point and Click story game. The game would show different backgrounds when you went to different areas and the only area I somewhat remember there is a lighthouse and an occasional (or maybe constant) sound of a bell, I believe this particular scene was also snow filled and cold like an open tundra. I don't quite remember if your character would actually appear and walk to where you pointed but it is possible. It was not a horror or scary game, and I think I never finished it cause I couldn't figure out what to do at a certain point.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 16h ago

Magical Happy Garden Simulation [mobile?][2010s-2020s] Some bizarre-looking game I'd like to know the name of

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21 Upvotes

A friend of mine was posting videos from this game without any context. When i asked him what it was called, he just said it was "The Whatever Game", but I'm 90% sure he was fucking around when he called it that. He's one of those people who oftentimes won't give you a serious answer to anything xD, so yeah.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 1d ago

[pc?][before 2015] whats the game in this very old gif, i see it pop up every now and then, clearly a sandbox with the floating roads. i thought beamng but i remember seeing this around 2015 at the latest

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266 Upvotes

r/tipofmyjoystick • • 3h ago

[Sites/browser][2015/2017] Alguém consegue descobrir o nome do jogo?

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2 Upvotes

O objetivo do jogo era desviar dos obstáculos e chegar no portal. Dava pra jogar até 4 players e tinha várias fases.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 4h ago

[Coolmathgames?] [2018-2022?] Monochrome game where you press the button of a respective color

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2 Upvotes

It was a game that tests how fast you can complete the amount within a time frame. It only had two buttons and i remember playing it on coolmathgames


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 35m ago

[Roblox][2024]Psychological horror game about reliving other people's lives.

• Upvotes

This game was created somewhere between 2020-2025. It started off with the player driving in the snow, where they then crashed/fell into something, and woke up in a dark cell with one window, a speaker and a bottle of pills. On taking the pills, the player would relive the life experiences and memories of someone else. If I recall, the first sequence was about a depressed Russian person, who found comfort in winter, but started feeling empty with no joy in life and eventually (jim's computer)s themselves with a gun they find on walking down the stairs and into their apartment's lobby. That's all I can remember from this game, don't think I progressed further than this. If any of you remember this game, please let me know!
It's a great game, I would definitely recommend if I knew the name lmao.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 1d ago

Lust for Darkness [PC] [2000] A Eldritch sex cult game NSFW

116 Upvotes

First of all. Fuck this subreddit i've been trying to post this for a while now. I wanna go to bed

Next. I'm looking for any footage or proof of this one game or Game series

Its NSFW because sex. But it's not a hentai game. It was moreso used as a background plot point. Anyways I vividly remember watching a video on youtube talking about it but I'm guessing it got deleted. The game itself was about some guy in a Sex cult trying to escape i think. There was some Eldritch theming and I think an ending had the main character fuck a deity and die in the process. And I know there was a moment where the antagonist said men, woman, children, they all can enjoy to feeling of rape or something like that. It was definitely something controversal like that. There was Gun based combat too. Not sure about melee. But this is all I can remember.

Edit: it was Lust for Darkness. Thank you /startadeadhorse


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 7h ago

Ares Rising [PC] [1997-8] Starfighter

3 Upvotes

Platform(s): PC

Genre: sci-fi starfighter arcade with simulator elements

Estimated year of release: 1998?

Graphics/art style: polygon

Notable characters: Marlo, the player character, a mercenary pilot.

Notable gameplay mechanics: the ability to shut off “inertial dampeners” and go to a more simulator like flight style which offered tactical advantages coupled with greater difficulty.

Other details: completing missions allowed the player to earn money and buy better ships and equipment. The top tier ship was something called a Knorg (Norg?) Bomber. However the base level ship was actually one of the best as it was potentially the fastest when combined with late game engines etc.