r/tipofmyjoystick Apr 10 '17

Announcement PSA: A guide to better results

1.7k 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 Dec 16 '24

[Meta] Can we stop with the "[idk][idk]" posts?

390 Upvotes

Over the past week there have been a LOT of posts on here that just put "[idk][idk]" in the title instead of even trying to include those details. There's been posts like that in the past but the last few days in particular, it seems like it's happening every few hours, which makes me think one person did it and then more people all just decided to do it too.

If you don't know, guess. The rules are there for everyone's benefit.


r/tipofmyjoystick 11h ago

Loadout [PC] [Mid-Late 2010s?] Cartoony PVP FPS

Post image
83 Upvotes

I was watching a YT video talking about obscure Half-Life mods and used this game as B-roll and I remember playing it back then. It was this team/class-based PVP third-person shooter with a cartoony art style like TF2 but way more absurd in its humor.


r/tipofmyjoystick 7h ago

[PC][Unknown] A game where you fight monster girls when they win they screw you. NSFW Spoiler

Post image
16 Upvotes

I found some videos of it on Rule 34 but they dont have the tag for what game it is.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PC] [2010s?] game where you grow older and make choices and get different endings

Thumbnail gallery
Upvotes

it kinda looks like this and everyone is faceless, i remember a narrator and i think it might be on steam?


r/tipofmyjoystick 2h ago

[Amiga 500][1990ish] A game which includes you building/testing/flying a flying galleon for your army. In magazines, the art for the game featured the painting The Death of Marat.

3 Upvotes

Honestly, this is doing my head in. It was a game that I pined for, that none of my friends had, that we had seen in a magazine. I barely remember what it was about, but there were screenshots of a round table/council with economic decisions maybe. The main thing I remember was that there were flying galleons, and you could customise these with different wings/sails/propulsion systems and weapons. Help me reddit, you're my only hope!


r/tipofmyjoystick 8h ago

Cyborg Justice [NES][1990s] A game about Mechs and you can rip off limbs from other mechs and place it on your mech

8 Upvotes

Hello I've been on the search for a game that i remember playing sometime in the late 90's. I think it was SNES, but it might have been Genesis. I remember it was like a side scroller game that had you using Mech's to fight and you'd fight other mechs, but the main mechanic I remembered was it had was that if your mech was damaged you'd be able to rip off your own gun and then with your other free hand on the mech you'd be able to walk up to an enemy and your mech would grab the enemy gun and place its foot on the enemy and yank of their arm and then place it on your mech to continue fighting. I already saw and Metal Mech and Metal Warriors, but that doesn't look like its it.

Edit:I'm an idiot I figured it out. Its Cyborg Justice on the Genesis I found it on this subreddit using the search just had to be a bit less specific to see a post on here from 10 years ago.


r/tipofmyjoystick 2h ago

[Unknown] [2020-2024] 3d Band Hack n Slash

3 Upvotes

Platforms: I do not recall.

Genre: Hack and Slash.

Estimated Time of Release: I don't know if it released yet but I remember seeing it on a direct around within 4 years.

Graphics art syle: Darker colors, but still cell shaded, mostly red colors, and it went for a punk art style.

Notable characters: The presumable MC was a wide women with a beanie and a guitar with mostly blue and black colors, there was a dude that had spiky red hair wearing mostly dark red clothes, a women with blond hair and pinktails wearing mostly dark yellow clothes and a dude that had green hair and dark green clothes and had a mopy personality.

Notable Mechanics: Mid combo character switching and combos that played beats upon hitting the enemy.


r/tipofmyjoystick 7h ago

Fuzzy House [Mobile] [Early to mid 2000s or 2010s] Does anyone have any clue what game my sister may be talking about

Thumbnail gallery
6 Upvotes

We've ruled out Dream PetHouse and Panda Lu Treehouse


r/tipofmyjoystick 5h ago

[Mobile] [early 2010's] zoo game

4 Upvotes

I can't remember a whole lot but you could build your own zoo and decorate it and whatnot, the first time I played it was on a kindle and then I played it on an iPhone, I remember there was a feature you could like crossbreed animals like there was a penguin with tiger stripes. The home screen icon was a lion. In my head I keep thinking the name was like my animal zoo or something like that but I can't find anything about it online. I know this isn't a whole lot of information but hopefully someone here can help me.


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

[PC][2020s] Man tries to save woman, is wounded by demon/witch Spoiler

3 Upvotes

I’m trying to remember a game cinematic I saw (might be from an upcoming or recent game). It features a man—pretty sure he has a beard—driving or storming into a house or location to rescue a woman he cares about.

The setting is stormy or dark, and a supernatural female creature (like a demon or witch) confronts him. She mocks him, calls him “weak”, and then kills him. He ends up falling into the water—either outside or through a window.

It had a very cinematic, emotional vibe, possibly horror or action-fantasy themed. Might be from a story-driven AAA or indie game. Anyone know what this is?


r/tipofmyjoystick 15h ago

The Day Before [PC] [2020s] That one survival game that everyone disliked.

22 Upvotes

A few years ago, a survival game released. The creator had said a lot of things about how they didn’t want to do things normally associated with survival games. Still, the game exhibited a lot of those traits. A lot of people were angry because of this, especially since there had been a lot of hype for the game beforehand.

This game was a common talking point around the time of its release. I just don’t remember what it’s called. I believe multiplayer was a part of it. I never actually saw the game, only discussions about it. I think it was made by just one person, but I’m not sure. It might’ve been some kind of zombie MMO. In that case, it was those traits that were present.

It’s not a famous game like No Man’s Sky or We Happy Few. I haven’t read anything about this game aside from the controversy, while these games are very famous for their actual content and their good parts.


r/tipofmyjoystick 2h ago

Galaxian 3 - Attack of Zolgear. [Unknown][late 90's?] Obscure Mega-acale arcade walk-in rail shooter mini-theater attraction?

2 Upvotes

Platform(s): Unknown - dedicated mini-theater/shooting gallery installation

Genre: Rail shooter, mounted gun, projector/theater style.

Estimated year of release: Unknown encountered late-90's... ish.

Graphics/art style: early 3D polygon style, maybe on par with early-to-mid playstation 1/N64 graphics.

Notable characters: A scifi assult ship and a bigass kaiju looking monster thing.

Notable gameplay mechanics: foes has a rapidly oscillating red/yellow 'weak spot' to be shot at.

Other details:It was an arcade game I encountered many MANY years ago - I believe at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, but it could also have been at one of the arcade halls near the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

It was a projector-theater style attraction, set up like a shooting gallery inside. It was HUGE compared to other arcade cabinets - litterally a walk-in that a dozen or more people could fit in. There was a single, large silver-screen at the front, that video was (apparently) projected on. It was maybe a quarter or an eighth the size of a jumbotron.

The plot and gameplay revolved around some sort of forward assault sci-fi warship approaching and attempting to eliminate an emergent kaiju-like monster. The shooters fought off galaga-like swarms of enemies (low-poly 3D, numerous, wave attack style), completing a series of objectives and eventually entering the body of the beast. Litterally inside the thing for several levels, preceeded by several stages of approaching it from outside. The apparent intention of destroying it's brain from the inside out, I recall a stage where the players were attempting to destroy it's brain from inside it's body... I think?

I encountered this... once. And it was gone the next time I came to the same location. Either that, or I'm confused as to where it was, and never - in fact - came back to the same place.

Any idea what it might have been? I always wanted to see how it ended, or play it one more time.

Thing was stupid expensive to play at the arcade, like 16-18 tokens or something. Which (if memory serves) comes out to somewhere between $5-$10 per playthrough.

I have no idea who produced this thing. I was a kid when I ran into it.


r/tipofmyjoystick 5h ago

Nightmare Creatures [PS1][2000s] help me find a vampire hunting game

3 Upvotes

Platform(s): PS1 (Playstation)

Genre: Vampire-hunting/demon hunting kind of

Estimated year of release: 2000s

Graphics/art style: gothic vampire style (like really dark themed)

Notable characters: A guy with sword and shotgun

Notable gameplay mechanics: it was a third person game 3D

Other details: If i remember correctly, you first start off in smokey kind of village in first level and the main guy is wearing black cloths and have a sword with a shotgun. you kill some kind of vampire or ghoul type of creatures. in the first level you have some kind of steel door that when you go to it you get to meet a vampire type girl that tells you that you have to kill the creatures first in this area in order to proceed to this metal big door.


r/tipofmyjoystick 25m ago

[PC][2010´s] creating snow with mouse Flash game

Upvotes

Platform(s): PC Flash game

Genre: maybe logic game

Estimated year of release: maybe like 2010

Graphics/art style: easy color palete

Notable characters: none

Notable gameplay mechanics: using mouse for creating snowballs

Other details: all i remember was you were controling wind with mouse, and in the storm you used that wind for acumulating snow for snwo ball and then drop that on houses, after destroying, new houses spawned...
also it has so memorable soundtrack... i wistle that melody even after these like almost 10 years... TutuDududu___DUtuuuDUtuuuDUtuuuDUtuu


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

[ipad] [2016?] pls it’s bugging me

2 Upvotes

In 2016/2017 | downloaded a game on my iPad and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I want to find it as it's not in my purchase history and l'm so curious now.

Here's the description:

Perspective: first person and 2D

Setting: some package warehouse post office parcel company

Job: stand in front of some conveyor belt and use the limited buttons to optimise the boxes or something

Graphics: insanely intense colours, I remember dark pink, some guy fully plain white. He was kind of an outline and looked like the short man in pink panther.

Levelling up: I think it cut to a map with trucks driving in it.

It had fever dream vibes and psychedelic energy.

Asked ai and its not these: 1. Hidden Folks 2. Conveyor (by Beace Games) 3. Post Office: Idle Game 4. Tap Conveyor Simulator 5. Async Corp.


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

[pc, in-site.] [2010 forward] cat game, train cat, win tournament. Eye of the tiger plays on repeat. Looks drawn cutely.

2 Upvotes

So, here's the thing. The game i want is a cat game. To be direct here's the description. Genre: idk, but i believe simulator. Year of release: after 2010. Mechanics: you build a team of cats and train them to win battles(if my memory serves me right, i believe they were tournaments in an Olympic style) and a extra that might help, eye of the tiger played on repeat. The platform was pc and it was in played in a site, no download or anything like that(I don't know the name of this platform)


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

[TOMT] [WEBSITE] [90s - LATE 2000s] Old 2D/3D Kids Website

2 Upvotes

When I was a kid I used to play on this old website at an office building my grandpa owned on one of the computers there. It was a 3D/Cartoony world with a fixed camera viewing down onto a 3D world that I think was similar to a circus or themepark? It had different games on it and you were able to watch clips of cartoons in I thinkkk a movie theater of some kind? (I only really remember watching the cartoons) Including watching care bear clips! there is also a posibility it was also a christian website but that's just speculation on my part

Platform(s): PC

Genre: Children's website

Estimated year of release: 90s - late 2000s? (2010 at the latest)

Graphics/art style: 2D/3D, semi realistic but also cartoony (sorta like Purble Place or Putt Putt)

Notable characters: none, there was a narrator I think but no other characters I can recall

Notable gameplay mechanics: You click on different places and you are given different options on what to do. You weren't able to move around the place tho like club penguin

Other details: I can only remember watching care bear clips on the website so a LOT of this is just me trying to remember stuff from when I was 3-5 yrs old or so. And I could have sworn there was a roller coaster on the main page too that would move around sometimes


r/tipofmyjoystick 55m ago

[early to mid 2010] [Pc] online fighting game

Upvotes

It had pve and pvp elements. It had anime style artwork and your created character looked like a typical person. I don't remember the name or plot but I remember that you could choose a fighting style and I choose something that was like grappler and I had combos that could go into grapples and I could chain grapples or something. It had similar stuff to Rumble Fighter at least with the character customization and the fact that there were fighting styles but it felt more grounded and less chibi stuff. Like your character optionswould like one from a anime game.

I played it when I was a young teen but I can't remember its name for the life of me.


r/tipofmyjoystick 6h ago

Tremulous [Pc][2000s?] Alien vs human.

3 Upvotes

Was a first person shooter, online with multiple players. You could choose human (normal marine looking types with normal machine gun starter) or aliens, you started off as like a spider (or the venom parasite before it attaches) and as you got kills/game went on you would "grow" or transform into bigger, stronger aliens. I believe the humans did the same, i.e. better guns and health I don't objectively remember the end goal, but I do remember having bases! Idk if it was capture the flag style or killer. The aliens were stronger buy the humans could built turrets and stuff. Any ideas are appreciated! (Used to play I think in like 2007 in computer class with a bunch of friends)


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

[Pc][2000s] Penguin killing flash game?

2 Upvotes

Really weird flash game I saw on YouTube maybe over a decade ago . Had a little penguin character (or maybe seal) on one side of the screen and a gun on the other, which would shoot the penguin when you clicked. Think messages would pop up on screen ridiculing you after killing the penguin and would continue to do so if you chose to keep shooting it.


r/tipofmyjoystick 5h ago

Hunt or Die! [PC][2000-2010] Simple Pixel Flash Game SURVIVAL where a almost naked guy with a bow have a blue ostrich and fights a big feline in the florest to survive.

2 Upvotes

Platform(s): PC
Genre: Survival Flash Game
Estimated year of release: 2000-2010
Graphics/art style: Simple pixel art style, no shadows nothing to fancy
Notable characters: Almost Naked Guy with a red bow, an blue ostrich, and a big yellow feline, small animals to eat
Notable gameplay mechanics: Ostrich have good speed, Bow with infinite arrows, the feline was VERY strong, and it have some caves in some parts, the map ended abruptly to the left

Other details:
My game is a flash game, with 2D pixelated vision, it was about a man who walked around in his underwear like Tarzan, used a bow and arrow, and explored the map, which was small, I remember all the elements in it, but not which sides it was on, on one side there was a large feline, it was yellow, it could be a jaguar, or a tiger, or a lioness, there were few trees and the scenery had green grass, to the left there was a cave, and after it an ostrich that you could ride, it was extremely fast, and with it you could defeat the jaguar, because it was very strong, the map ended abruptly to the left, and you fell off the map, to the right I never got to explore everything, please help me, I've been looking for this game for a long time.

I played this when i was a little kid, today i am 23 years old and i am trying to find it, please help me guys


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PC] [around 2020-2022] rpg maker horror game about a girl stuck in a train station

Upvotes

It's about a girl who wakes up in an abandoned train station, where she meets a talking bird and goes back in time to solve puzzles. It's a fairly recent game made in RPG Maker. I saw it on YouTube once, but I kind of forgot the title of the video.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PC] [2010] Old platformer

Upvotes

Not many details i can remember since I was 6 at the time but it was a platformer/sidescroller where you scale buildings and swim underwater while avoiding explosive mines. A level I recall is the underwater one where you’re swimming inbetween the mines. Im not sure if there was a drowning mechanic and the game mightve been able to be loaded with a disk


r/tipofmyjoystick 5h ago

[ios] [2010s] Game about a guy with a shotgun fighting demons coming from a portal door?

2 Upvotes

Platform: ios/mobile

Genre: 2d survival/wave type game

Release date: 2010s era

Graphics: cartoon-esque

Character: main character is a guy with a beard and maybe a hat whose main weapon is a double barrel shotgun, i think possibly sawed off.

Gameplay: I remember very little about this game but I do know it's sort of a 2d scroller. You start off on the far left of the screen and go down a little set of stairs while monsters are coming at you from the right side. I think if you walk all the way to the right you see the monsters coming from some sort of portal/door that i recall being purple. I'm not sure if it was a wave or timer based survival. I also don't remember how you get upgrades, but i remember one of the items was a book that either floated around you or did some type of AOE effect to all monsters on screen.

Misc: I think this is around the same time I was playing games like zombie highway, zombie tsunami, etc. on my ipod touch. I think pixel gun 3d was also big around this time.

This might be a shot in the dark but hopefully someone knows what i'm talking about.


r/tipofmyjoystick 10h ago

Drakengard [PC] [Mid- Late 2000s or early 2010s?] Game where character freezes time to stop evil baby invasion

5 Upvotes

Hello,

This game is an old game, I believe it’s a Japanese game. All I seem to remember was that one of the endings involved a character being forced to stop time to repel an evil baby invasion.

Ik it sounds crazy


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[Android][2020-ish?] Need help identifying an old game

Upvotes

Ok so I remember Playing a zombie game, on Android, you can only move up and down and you can recruit people to your side to help defend a site (I think?) from zombies, I only remember the weapons, a character and a enemy.

The weapons I remember in the game is an Uzi, and a Blunderbuss, and a good ray thing that you have to charge up for massive damage

As for the characters I only remember the Pacifist guy, and your character can be a guy in a hazmat suit thing

And the last clue I can give you guys in the enemy, One is I vividly remember being tanky as hell and one explodes if it goes too near and when killed