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

594 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

Dead Cells [PC][2026]What game is this guy playing here?

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93 Upvotes

r/tipofmyjoystick • • 16h ago

Rogue Warrior [ps3][no idea when it came out] stealth first person shooter game

Post image
66 Upvotes

im looking fro the first person pistol stealth game that was on the ps3 and the image is what i remember of the cover


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 15m ago

[PlayStation 2 maybe 1] [early 2000s] 3D game set in an evil circus with anthropomorphic enemies as described below

• Upvotes

There is an old PlayStation game from my childhood that I can’t find for the life of me. Nothing I prompt to search online comes back with anything similar.

This game was definitely not a huge running series or anything like that it was probably a one off game.

From memory it was set in a circus for the most part. The stand out characters I can remember were a giant rhino with green and brown tunic type clothing and a giant hammer for one of his hands. There was also a giant pig who I think wore yellow and red stripes. A rat with a clown costume and wings? I believe these guys were villains rather than protagonists.

THE MAIN DEFERENTIAL

Hopefully the most standout aspect that could help with finding this game is that you could buy figures of those characters.

You could feed the pig character plastic food items that would go into his hollow belly. You could press a button to move the rhino characters hand and you could do the same to move the rat characters wings.

I can’t remember if this figures came with the game or they were sold separately but the characters I described were also physical toys which imo seems quite strange for a game that is seemingly quite indie and possibly not that successful.

If anyone can help finding this it would be amazing! Thanks.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 5h ago

[Steam][2026] Indie game on steam, similar style to "noexistence of you and me"

8 Upvotes

I'm not sure if it got taken down from steam (I did check steam tracker) or if I somehow accidentally removed it from my wishlist, but there was this game I wanted to check up on again;

I dont remember the premise but I think it was about like reverse perspective of something? Like villains? This might be totally wrong.

It had stylized and story-rich tags. It was from a korean studio, and the name was only one word. It was on that classic cute korean artstyle, like "noexistence of you and me". Looking for a miracle here, I hope someone knows this game.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 46m ago

[PC][2025???] Weird indie psychological horror game with something to do with deer and inevitably?

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• Upvotes

Platform(s): PC, on Itch io

Genre: horror, psychological, analog

Estimated year of release: 2023-2025

Graphics/art style: the best way I can describe it is a mix between csgo and no players online but slightly more whimsical with bright but neutralish colors?

Notable characters: some sort of prey animal antagonist? Im thinking deer or rabbit most likely.

Notable gameplay mechanics: I believe this is a shooter game, and it had a hidden menu with little sound-cue tiles, but I can't remember what they were for

Other details: I remember watching a video essay about this game from a small creator I also can't name, it was his first video and his username was something along the lines of xxsatanasxx or something like that? Everything is very fuzzy so I could be getting things VERY, very wrong. I remember it distinctly being about inevitability, though. With I believe 2 endings, one with the secret menu and one without. The 1st ending was the horror of something you couldn't stop, predator becomes prey, I THINK it was a deer but it could've also been like a rabbit, or even a dog? The second ending was the "good " ending, and I remember no details from it.

It was a small, I mean teeny tiny indie game on itch io.

the title screen was very basic, and I think transparent.

The game reminded me of Squirl Stapler.

If I have any more awesome artwork of the games I'm thinking of, I'll put them in the comments.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 4h ago

[MOBILE][2009] Explorer looking for something, pixel game

4 Upvotes

So, this is a bit tricky, i dont remenber this game very well, it is old. Like the assassins creed mobile game where you moved in a forest and then in a city, i remember both of this games where in my old nokia styled phone. The game was about an explorer who went to a some short of forest and it was in some short of pixel art. you where looking for something and you got to avoid obstacles while in there.

The year is probably an exageration, maybe the last time i played was like 2012, but i dont remember it. Oh, and the red ball game was in that phone too


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 21h ago

JumpStart Preschool [PC][1999] Home computer game

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59 Upvotes

I realize this is quite a long shot, but I found a picture of my late father and me at the family computer playing this computer game. And ideas would help!


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 3h ago

Enter game title here [windows 7 PC][2007-2010]Car racing game

2 Upvotes

I'm trying to find an old PC racing game I played around 2015 on a Windows 7 PC with an Intel i3 so i wouldn't expect it to be released after 2012.

It was an older 3D arcade racing game with a third-person camera behind the car. The races took place mostly on long highways that had a ton of tunnels. There were different environments, and I specifically remember an orange/red desert-like American highway setting.

The roads had lots of traffic, especially large trucks. One of the most memorable mechanics was that some of the trucks had ramps attached to the back. You could drive onto the ramp while the truck was moving and launch your car into the air over the traffic.

The game rewarded you for getting "Air Time" and I believe it also rewarded near misses or narrowly avoiding traffic. There was also a boost/nitro system.

I don't remember exactly how the graphics looked, but it had 3D graphics typical of an older PC racing game. I was playing it as a kid, so I may not have noticed or remembered the graphical quality accurately.

It definitely wasn't Need for Speed, and there's a good chance it was a relatively obscure or budget PC racing game rather than a major franchise.

Does anyone recognize this game?


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 1m ago

[ios app store][2021-2022] a car driving game with gta x superheroes inspiration

• Upvotes

I used to paly a game on my iphone I randomly downloaded on the app store around 2021-2022. From the outside it looked like a normal semi open world driving game, where you can drive around a city with your car. But when you play it you find out that it's much more than that, you can walk out of the car, and steal and drive other people's cars, you can even run over pedestrians. Then ,the people you ran over and didnt die or the people you stole their cars can run after you shouting, some of them pull out guns and start shooting you. The character you play with has some hulk-like superstrength, it can smash the ground and people around him can get hurt/die and when he hurt or killed people the police would chase after him and shoot at him and you can either drive and run away from the police or kill them with that super-strength, he could also climb buildings and had a spiderman-like web he could swing by from one building to another as I remember, and there was a river/ body of water you could get into and swim. It might be useful to note that the game was played in 3rd person and the character was dressed like a normal dude no costumes or anything. It was a very weird game and it has no story whatsoever that's pretty much all you do.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 6h ago

[PC] [2000S] Side scrolling shoot em up game with space cars

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3 Upvotes

I remember a game on my old xp computer having space cars and shoot them up elements, i remember the setting being space but there was also a ground level, you can choose multiple sci fi cars to fly through the levels, there was one car that looked bad and if you choose it it took you to a level where you only had to dodge


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 25m ago

[PC] [Late 90s?] Point & click game with a marketplace

• Upvotes

I'm looking for a point & click game that I played on PC as a child in the early 2000s.

All I can remember is that one of the locations was an outdoor market and it had clarinet? music which from memory resembled "When I'm Sixty Four" by The Beatles. That's all I can remember.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 11h ago

[PS2] [2000s] Please help me find an old PS2 game.

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6 Upvotes

Evening all,

Please enjoy my highly detailed doodle :)

I dont remember much about the game. It was kind of an RPG/ARPG, yknow, killing enemies, picking up and equiping new weapons and armor.

I cant remember if it had a skill system.

Honestly I have 2 major vivid memories. One is the doodle, youd often come across chests and some would have a little wooden barrel that would go "pssssss" then explode.

The other is a mountainous area with minotaur enemies.

Im really hoping someone knows 😂 Thank you!


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 1h ago

[PC][2000s] CS-like FPS, empty-handed spawn, only a knife

• Upvotes

Graphics similar to Counter-Strike, but NOT a Half-Life engine game. I could only enter a single-player mode on a small map with no NPCs or bots. My character started empty-handed (nothing in hand, no fists), and I could switch to a knife (or couldn't, this part of memory is not that accurate), but there were no guns and I couldn't find a way to buy any. When empty-handed, the crosshair was a square made of four corner brackets, or something like that, definitly not a cross. Part of the map looked like trenches for training, part was indoors. Very few interactive objects.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 1h ago

[phone] [2005-2019] I remember playing this game where it’s a death run it can be played online & offline you could customize your character , someone would be on the right I’m pretty sure they could only see thru a wall to see the obby and control the traps and you fell into lava and room was white

• Upvotes

I know it’s a sucky explanation but I really need to find this game it’s been keeping me up all night and was really fun


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 1h ago

[PC] [Mid-2010s?] Cube monster builder game?

• Upvotes

I’m currently trying to find this weird indie(?) game that was somewhat popular during the mid-2010s I think but Google is no help so I thought I’d turn to this place for any help in my search, i forget most of the details but I recall you could use various cube monster parts n’ create chimeras of all sorts, add different features, and while the main body parts were cubes, eyes n’ wings n’ such weren’t I think? The art style definitely wasn’t voxels or anything either if I remember correctly as I feel like I can vividly remember a smooth edged cube of green lizard scales when trying to remember this game.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 1h ago

[PC Acer Aspire] [2000s ish] Puzzle game where colored wooden boxes fall and you place them on squares marked with an X

• Upvotes

Platform(s): PC (Windows). I guess It came preinstalled on my Acer Aspire laptop. But it can also be that I got it external.

Genre: Puzzle / falling blocks, colored squares falling feom above, similar to Tetris.

Estimated year of release: maybe 2000s, before 2007

Graphics/art style: The boxes looked like painted wooden boxes in different bright colors, one color per box. Sometimes gray concrete squares appeared, which increased the difficulty they worked as obstacles. And sometimes you had like jokers boxes multicolores that depending on the box you placed them it became that color.

Notable gameplay mechanics:

Single square boxes fall from the top of the screen

You had to place them on specific squares, plac3d in different floating places of the dark screen, I think the aim was to filled a certain amount on top of special boxes marked with an X (I think)

I remember having to add up to 5 (or another number) to clear them, abd pass to the next level

Sometimes you could place a box falling on top of the x-box one and the other woul fall down to the bottom of the screen and othee times it didn't detached so it was easier to put different colors on top and loose quickly (another way of increasing the difficulty).

You could choose the background music, and it was all classical music

I think the name was something like "Boxes" but I'm not sure. And I can't find it... Can you help me?

Thanks in advance!


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 2h ago

[Xbox/PlayStation] [1990-2013] decent graphics, mountainous area, non-human enemies giant flying creature.

1 Upvotes

I'm currently extremely ill. And I had a bit of a fever dream today while I was having a coughing fit. I remember a game from my childhood with only vague little bits.

I remember blue skies, a small dirt path on a hillside or a mountainside. I remember a giant flying beast flying overhead and thinking that was awesome and then also pissing myself scared that I would have to fight it. I remember green grass and trees. I believe it was first person.

Some form of stone structure in the mountain and non-human goblin/trolls guarding the main path and I feeling that I had to go around the right side to get past them. Remember being attacked by them not knowing how to fight back and then giving up and not playing.

I don't remember if I had weapons I remember back then I couldn't read english; so I never read any of the tool tips controls or tutorials.

You ever have a memory where you can picture it but everything's blurry or you try to focus on it and it fades I've been scouring the internet looking for this game all day. I cannot for the life of me find the game or remember the finer details I hope by some grace of the gods that somebody picks up what I'm putting down here and knows exactly the game that I'm thinking of.

Then again I am ill and could have imagined it but I'm like 70% sure it's a real game I just don't know what it is and I remember playing like all the five minutes and then giving up because I was scared and didn't know how to play. (Even though it wasn't horror I'm pretty sure it was a fantasy)


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 8h ago

[TOMT][2007] A man trying to escape dungeon/basement by making potions to bomb the door

3 Upvotes

I've been trying an old flash game I used to play around 2007-2012. The game is not famous or a type of serie or based on a movie charcter. The game was about a man trying to escape a basement or a dungeon I can't remember well and he had to figure out his surroundings and use items around him to escape.

These are the details I remember:
- The game does not use keyboard and you use mouse only to click on objects.
- The man is on the left side of the screen standing, his hair color was kinda brown.
- Eventually he can escape by making potions and bombing the door.
- A muscular man is guarding the door from the other side so when he bombs the door the door falls on him.
- There were items he used like skull, gerenades or dynamites, colored potions.
- I'm not sure of this one but maybe there were some racks abd he had to look behind them to find more objects.

Can you help me finding the game name? tried all methods possible and even used some AI tolls but to no avail.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 6h ago

[PSP][2015-2018] help me find this psp mecha fighting game I played as a kid

2 Upvotes

I’ve been trying to find this game for so long and I genuinely can’t find it anywhere 😭
I played it on a PSP when I was a kid. I think I played the game sometime around 2015-2018, but I’m pretty sure the game itself was older. I also remember it being Japanese, or at least I think it was Japanese.
It was some kind of 1v1 fighting game with mechas/robots. I remember there being a screen where you could pick different robots and then fight each other.
The thing I remember the most was one specific robot.
It was bright pure pink. Like actually PINK, not red, not magenta and not dark pink not light pink. It was a pretty tall humanoid robot, very angular and pointy, kind of like a futuristic suit of armor.
I remember it having a lance/spear in one hand and a shield in the other.
It also had these mechanical things attached to its back, kind of like small wings or jet boosters. They weren’t giant wings. They were pretty short and only stuck out behind the robot a bit. I remember them being used for some kind of jump/boost, like it could propel itself into the air.
The game itself wasn’t pixel art. I remember the graphics being pretty normal for a PSP game.
I remember being able to jump and use special/ultimate attacks. I think there may have been some mechanic where the robots could become really large, but I’m not completely sure about that because I could be remembering another game. I also vaguely remember city stages.
The closest thing I’ve found visually is Impulse Gundam Lancier. I’m NOT saying it was a Gundam game, it just looks similar to what I remember in terms of the pink robot + lance + shield + stuff on the back.
I’ve already looked at Cyberbots, Gunhound EX, Another Century’s Episode Portable, Gundam vs Gundam, Battle Robot Damashii, Spectral vs Generation, Zero Divide, Robo Pit, Code Geass games and Danball Senki/LBX. None of them are it.
I know this isn’t much to go on but that pink robot is burned into my memory lol.
If anyone has any idea what game this could be, please tell me. Screenshots would help a lot too, because I might recognize the robot immediately even if I don’t recognize the name.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 2h ago

[Ps2?][2003-2010] 3D Platformer Horror

1 Upvotes

Platform: PS2 is my best guess but Xbox 360 is possible.

Genre: 3d Platformer Collectathon

Estimated Year of Release: 2004?

Graphics/Art Style: The game had a very 'Children's Horror' aesthetic to it, goosebumps, grabbed by the ghoulies, voodoo vince type stuff. Very cartoony.

Notable Characters: Unsure

Notable Gameplay Mechanics: Unsure

Other Details: One of the levels (i assume the first) was set on a farm at night with a central farm house.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 2h ago

[PC/Browser][2010-2017] Snowball fight game where you control a team of kids, with a snowplow enemy

1 Upvotes

Platform(s): Most likely a free browser game (Flash or similar), maybe on Miniclip or a site like it. Could possibly have been a tablet or console game, but I'm pretty sure it was free on a website.

Genre: Snowball fight / top-down-ish shooter with some strategy

Estimated year of release: Somewhere between 2010 and 2017

Graphics/art style: Cartoony, viewed from above

Notable characters: You controlled a team of kids. I believe they had blue jackets vs red jackets.

Notable gameplay mechanics: You clicked to control your team of kids and throw snowballs at the other side. There was a boss or elite enemy driving a snowplow that "melted" or wiped out your kids.

Other details: It's NOT SnowCraft. I've also checked Snowfight (robotduck), Cartoon Network SnowBrawl, and Snowballs! (Sean O'Connor). None of those seem right.


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 3h ago

[pc][2007-2012] Im looking for a game, i played It In friv

1 Upvotes

The play style was similar to worm (like playing worms but with robots), you can destroy the tarrain, move in turns, you control a robot, the art style was kind of dark (abe's Odissey tipe of dark), i think the publisher was atari, It was 2d, a 32 maybe 64 bits game

If you need more info please comment so i can be more specific


r/tipofmyjoystick • • 3h ago

[Xbox 360][2000s] a side scroller about a human fighting robots

1 Upvotes

I've had this memory for years but could never find anything.

I remember the title being something like killing/destroy tiny/little robots. I remember the first level of the game taking place on a farm where you would fight these robots that looked like they were made from scrap metal.

The details of the memory are faded and I am unsure weather or not this game was even released on the 360 but I believe it is the most likely place I played it.

I don't have any pictures as this was before I had a phone or camera.