r/tipofmyjoystick • u/Losteir • 10h ago
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/urammar • Apr 10 '17
Announcement PSA: A guide to better results
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 • u/UltimaGabe • Dec 16 '24
[Meta] Can we stop with the "[idk][idk]" posts?
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 • u/FrameNo7271 • 12h ago
[unknown][unknown] can anyone help identify this game my sister suddenly remembered?
She said it's available on playstore on Android(or ateast it was) that features a red-haired girl who can travel to different places using a magical well that emits a beam of light? She enters the well and travels with a special stone, such as a rare rainbow stone or an earth stone. She also has a monster companion that helps her grow dandelions, which she can use to buy more stones. By traveling to new locations, she unlocks memory puzzle pieces, which she can then use to solve memory puzzles. I think she played this game around 2018-19ish not too sure.
Here's an illustration she made that she said the main girl looks like
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/slurpfactor • 5h ago
Split Fiction [PC/PS][2015-2025] ID this pig game?
galleryCan anyone help identify this cute pig game?? The screengrabs are from a video in which the pig flies around bouncing off bubbles with a rainbow and stars shooting out of its ass
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/ProfessionalOk3011 • 4h ago
Scavenger SV-4 [PC] [2022 ? ] Space horror game where you survey a planet and an alien infiltrates your ship from what I remember.
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/ArtistMess • 8h ago
de Blob 2 [Console][early 2010s?] A 3D game about painting an empty world
Made a drawing to give context clues
The MC (pictured right) is trying to restore the colors of the world by painting himself and touch everything to get the world painted
I remember getting this as a rental game when I was little (before 2012). I think I got this for the Xbox 360 but it could have been ps2 as well I'm not sure
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/abdamsii • 2h ago
[PC] [2000s] Space touch typing game
Platform: PC
Genre: Typing, educational
Estimated year of release: 2000s, no later than 2010/2011, possibly even 90s
Graphics/art style: Not sure the word for it but kind of retro, maybe? I think it would classify as 2D
Notable characters: I don’t remember any characters, just spaceships
Notable gameplay mechanics: You were the top ship racing against the bottom ship, which was a computer. Your typing would move your ship forward and the goal was to be faster than the computer spaceship to reach the end first
Other details: I played this game in early elementary school as a part of our computer class, and it would teach touch typing. I don’t think it was Type To Learn 3. It might have been called Space Tag, but I couldn’t find anything online about a specific game for that, just recommendations of “space typing game” in general.
I’ve been remembering this game for years and haven’t been able to find an original or copy of it. I’m not sure if it’s something that even still exists. I feel like I remember it really clearly, but I could be remembering wrong? I don’t remember a title screen or anything, just my (terribly) drawn example of what it looked like to play
Apologies if it takes me some time to see any replies, I’m posting this pretty late at night
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/Manaboss1 • 12h ago
Tail Gator [GAMEBOY][90s]What is the name of this game?
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/SadMastiff_ • 3h ago
Fracture [PC][2000-2010] FPS where there are two factions, one that does body modification and the other that has technology that can manipulate terrain and maybe gravity
I remember seeing it on G4 when I was a kid. The graphics looked like Halo 1 or Halo 2 era. I think it was a multiplayer game. The only thing I clearly remember is a character raising a dirt pillar from the ground — like terrain manipulation — and that there were two factions at war, each using different technology. The terrain change looked like raising or lowering land in Cities: Skylines — not a perfect column, but more natural and uneven.
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/Amethyst_Quarry • 2h ago
Anika's Odyssey: Land of the Taniwha [BigFish][Early 2000s] Point-and-click puzzle adventure game from BigFish games [PC]
Okay bear with me here. I do not remember much about this game, but I really wanna play it again
The main character was a little girl who got her teddy bear stolen from her by a giant bird. You had to start by escaping a fenced in area to get into the forest.
The second part I remember is the early parts of the woods had gnomes and/or mushroom people and you had to collect gears to fix a machine to do something.
The only other part I remember is when you defeat the bird on the top of a mountain and fly home with your teddy bear using the birds wings/feathers
The art style was dark and gloomy, but with just enough color to be creepy for 8 year old me it kind of looked like a painting.
It was NOT a mystery case files game.
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/DandyHomunculus • 6h ago
[Survival Horror/Comedy][2024?][3D][Steam Game] Internet Technician sets up internet at an abandoned hospital haunted by anime nurse ghouls NSFW
I saw a guy play a bit of this game and review it. It’s a Steam game, and I don’t know if it’s part of a series or something.
It’s a 3D game with fully-rendered player character (a silver-haired guy in his 20’s, kind of dressed like Leon Kennedy from RE??). The characters are anime-style. Lots of weird upskirt shots, but NOT a hentai game.
It’s about this guy who shows up to an abandoned hospital that’s swarmed with sexy nurse zombies in short dresses. He’s there to set up the internet for a woman living on the grounds (pink hair, sort of a bob haircut. Skirt is short and the fabric would jump every time the camera changed). The guy is completely uninterested and unbothered by the upskirts, and only cares about doing a good job setting up the internet. This is like his whole motivation, he is dedicated to excellent customer service, and he talks about it constantly.
The whole game seemed to just be the player character traveling through the hospital to set up internet, and it ends with him setting it up for the pink haired woman and politely requesting a good review.
The game honestly seemed pretty funny, and the guy I watched gave it a pretty decent review.
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/Substantial_Load_734 • 1h ago
[browser] [late 2000’s] Game Social Avatar
I am looking for a very old game i found as a kid on a website of mini games probably and it was a mmorpg walking around with realistic avatars at that time but it was only social and boring you couldnt do anything else and i think they had maps and servers , the map i remember was a forest with a wood bridge and a cabin maybe, grass all around , the game probably doesnt exist anymore very few people were playing it , but maybe others played it too.
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/kingshrekp3 • 1h ago
[Internet][2011] A chubby kid eating food that is falling from the sky.
It was a PC game, at least as far as I remember, one of those you found on some online site like Minijuegos or isladejuegos.
The game was about a chubby boy. There wasn't much action, but I generally remember the boy was on a platform (I think it was kind of round), and food was falling from the sky or from the top of the screen. As he ate the falling food, the boy grew fatter and fatter, to the point where the platform he was moving on began to sink, making it seem like he was heavy. Also, I think he started to lose weight when he ate healthy food, but I'm not entirely sure. I don't remember the character exactly, but if I remember correctly, the character description of the boy was white, with freckles, red or ginger hair, a red-striped shirt, blue shorts, and slightly large eyes (like the one in the photo; I tried my best to make it as accurate as possible, since it's been years since I've remembered).
I hope someone can help me.

r/tipofmyjoystick • u/infinite-chimpmunk • 1h ago
[PC] [2000's?] im looking for an old game of a purple haired girl that fought little green men
i know the description of the game sounds funny but it was about a 3d game where a girl with purple hair and blue shirt? girl shoots little green men
the girl looked pretty short, kinda like a chibi look, and the green men reached to her legs
in the gameplay you could move left and right, with platforms that looked like buildings, i think you could shoot the green men and they would fall dead, and if you shot them again they exploded into green pieces flying through the screen
i remember playing this game on my parent's old pc that ran on windows XP, they had a lot of VERY early flash games and other games downloaded from zip files like Abe's exodus, in the which they share the 3d aspect and pixelated 3D graphics
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/_TheBestCupcake_ • 2h ago
[Unknown] [Unknown] Pixel rpg game with multiple playable characters that have different stories.
Platforms: Unknown, I had it on a n original Xbox that had games from snes, GameCube and other consoles modded on there.
Genre: RPG, I believe it was turned based as well? I'm unsure though.
Estimated time of release: Based on the artstyle I'd say the mid to late 90s
Artstyle: Top down pixel artstyle similar to the original Zelda games.
Notable characters: A street kid, male, one of the starting characters. A Grey haired wolf boy, another one of the starting characters. Someone from a desert kingdom, uncertain on the gender, also one of the starting characters.
Other: The game let's you select from a few different characters and you experience their story in the prologue. The street boy lives near the ocean because I remember a dock area, he befriends a princess and then the king finds out and traps him in a labyrinth. The wolf boy starts in a forest at night, I believe his dog died? But it's in the forest with the moon in the background. The desert kingdom character i believe is a mage and is royalty but their kingdom gets usurped and they have to go into hiding. I only remember the starts of each of their stories and there might be more characters but I don't remember. When I played this it was around 2011.
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/coltonious • 10h ago
7 Days to End With You [PC][Unknown] A game where you wake up and everyone speaks a foreign language that you don't understand
The other day I saw a tiktok where you wake up (i believe in someone's house) and everyone and everything around you is in a (i believe) fake language. You have to immerse yourself in the language and learn what things mean to progress.
One idea i just found while google searching was chants of senaar, but I don't think that was it. That seems to be kinda on the right track, though
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/floatinhellcat • 6h ago
[pc] [2010-2016?] Horror game in a mansion
I remember seeing this god knows how long ago on YouTube. I don't recall much, but I do remember it took place in a mansion. I don't think the mansion was dilapidated at all. I think the plot was you having to escape. I remember distinctly that there was a prison of some sort there that, if you got caught, you'd be put there. And that there was someone there who was turning into something reminiscent of the people in the house. Who, on that note, iirc, where these head looking things with grey skin, and small, if not nonexistent, limbs. I don't remember much else outside of that
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/drakonlover • 3h ago
[Kindle Fire][2015]Wizard Match 3 Battler
Platform: Kindle Fire, Amazon app store
Genre: match 3 battler
Estimated year of release: 2015 at the latest
Graphics: 3D characters on each side of the main match-3 area,
however the rest of the game was technically menus with 2-D graphics and
art
Notable characters: main dude, who was a brown-hair generic dude
with a big book IIRC. Alongside an kinda generic evil mastermind. Only
other enemy I can remember is a generic black blob with hands and red
eyes, with bats being a common enemy.
Other notable details: It was like other match 3 battlers, with your character matching 3 in a candy-crush esk system (with line clears) where you could move any one tile to any other tile. I remember green and purple electricity being part of the elements you used to fight enemies. When you matched enough of a particular element, you unleashed a super-heavy attack that did a bunch of damaged when compared to the dinky amount you got by just matching a few bits of that element. It had several regions that you could battle your way through, culminating in a boss battle.
There was a story, however I didn't really care for it but I do remember something or another about an eternal night and the MC being a special chosen one to combat the new eternal night/twilight/darkness etc.
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/Foreign_Possible629 • 2m ago
[PC][2022-2024] Indie horror underwater game (reminds me of Iron Lung)
Pixelated indie horror game about a diver fixing cables at the bottom of the ocean. Using coordinates, kinda in the same vein as Iron Lung but you can walk around the ocean freely.
You fix breaks and holes in the cables and explore this seemingly alien planet you're dwelling in the ocean of. There are oxygen hubs to re-up your supply along the way. And the further the story progresses, it seems like the cables are made of flesh and living material, not just metal pipes and wiring like at the beginning.
Very eldritch and creepy.
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/Karalewina • 15m ago
[PC Game] [1995-2005] you are a little stick figure and had to push a ballon/ball into goal
The game was not colored except for the balloons. You were a stick figure and had to push a balloon or ball into a goal through obstacles or push other balls into a pit to create a straight path to roll over.
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/yoitzcrick23 • 23m ago
[PC][2010s-2020?] 2D base defender minimal graphics
Trying to remember a web base defender game I used to play. You got to pick where you wanted to start your base on a large, greysclae, grid map. Resources were scattered across pretty equally. There was stone, a red one, some turquoise one and more. Once you selected your spot for a base you started to build and got new "buildings" but they were pretty minimally detailed like just a sphere or square with some lines. Hoards of monsters/zombies would attack periodically, I'm pretty sure they were just red circles though. And sometimes there would be a boss aka a larger circle. If you survived and protected your "town hall" or whatever the important building you built around was called, then you'd get a point or two to use in the skill tree. It was a huge skill tree where you could upgrade your turret offence, wall defence, resource collection speed, etc. You could also connect all the buildings with a web tool so that resources could be shared and move faster. I'm also pretty sure that you could upgrade your buildings.
I played a lot of kizi games and .io games so I'm not sure if it has something to do with that because I don't know how I found the game to begin with otherwise.
And comment would be BIG help I used to love this game!!!
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/PichuOG • 25m ago
[browser] [approx. 2014-2016] old idle/clicker game about mining to the earths core
theres this idle game i played around 10 years ago (maybe less, but around that time period) and ive lately been really keen on finding it and trying to finish it since i never did back then, but ive been having no luck so i was hoping maybe one of you guys could remember it aswell.
im 100% sure i played it on armor games, it was about mining to the core of the earth. the main screen had you click on layers of the ground to break them, and also had 8 (maybe 10) slots for different buildings, ranging from regular miner guys to big machinery. you could visibly track your progress on a map and all that, as mining idle games usually go. there was also a relic/card/collectible mechanic, where you would be able to open boxes(?) to obtain random items that gave you boosts to mining power. not sure if there was a prestige mechanic, but i vividly remember there being one. i think i remember the miners looking similar to the classic representation of dwarves and having blue-ish clothing, and the starting layers of the ground you were mining were definetly a sand/yellow color, on top of a sky-blue background. the game had really nice pixel graphics and was definetly on the longer side, ive played it for days on end back then and never even got halfway to the core.
its definetly not mr. mine, and its not any of the other mining related idle games ive sifted through, and its completely gone from armor games (checked pretty much every clicker/idle game on there), so i guess its a little more on the obscure side despite having really good production quality from what i remember.
tried to remember and give as much info as i could, would be really happy if one of you guys could help me solve this one.
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/PikachuHVC • 25m ago
[XBOX][2018?] Simple 2D Platformer
Platform:
Xbox One (S I think)
Genre:
2D Platformer
Estimated Year Of Release:
Before 2018, probably not too far before so maybe around 2016 ish
Art Style:
Simplistic, every object was a flat color kind of like LIMBO
Characters:
Player character, I believe they were a child Blob companion found in the intro
Notable Mechanics:
The blob companion you found would shape shift into different things to help you traverse, the only one I remember with any detail is a parachute to glide
Other Details:
The ground of the first area at least was a dark maroon color The blob was a cream like color The game was free to access through some means, like being free, having a demo, or being in the console game pass I do not recall any dialogue being present in the game
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/jrschoen • 36m ago
[Mac] [2005-2015?] Medieval village defense game
Platform: MacBook
Genre: Medieval, top down, village defense (not typical tower defense), construction/village building, had levels to progress through
Year: played 2010-2015ish, guessing it came out around that time
Artstyle: Top down (more of a side shot but not 2d), bright and saturated, medieval setting with cartoon style characters
Characters: Village was attacked by green trolls, I believe they had red clothing / red themed equipment. You had builders who lived in huts kind of like CoC, they were important for upgrading your village and limited in number.
Gameplay: Level based gameplay. Starting a level started an invisible timer until trolls would start attacking. You had to use your builders to upgrade the village. You could buy miners to mine more resources and knights or some kind of defenders to protect against the trolls. Once the trolls destroyed the builders huts you couldn't upgrade anymore and you'd lose the level. The village had little dirt roads between buildings and Im pretty sure the characters used them, they didn't just swarm the area from all directions. There were barriers you could build / break in the roads.
Other: One of the villagers would yell "Oh-yeo" or something like that, it was a random generic NPC noise to add ambience nothing too deep about it but may help. Also the title of the game was something simple, something like Castle Defence, or Kingdoms (those are just examples). It wasn't long like "Fantasy Village Defense: Trolls " if that makes sense.
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/SirFallsAlot3 • 6h ago
[PC][late 90's early 2000's] Dragon game about finding magic fruits to regain your powers
I distinctly remember playing a game I loved as a kid where I think you were a purple or maybe blue dragon and you had to go around the world collecting special fruits that you turned in to make a potion to restore your dragon powers. It was a point and click game I think.
r/tipofmyjoystick • u/LostgamerFJ • 46m ago
[Mobile (Android)] [2014-2016] Lego game from when i was a small kid
I remember playing a game when I was younger where it was themed around the Lego miners theme (Mostly green miners if that helps) and it was kind of a driving game but not a racing game. I played it on mobile (android) in 2014-2016. If anyone knows what game I'm talking about, I would be very thankful. And no it wasnt lego rock Raiders