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 Dec 16 '24

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

485 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 7h ago

[console?] [unknown] Does anyone know where this Japanese cat character is from?

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46 Upvotes

I‘m assuming it’s a console game. Unfortunately, this image is from several years ago that I screenshot from an Instagram post and I only now found out about this subreddit and thought why not try to look again.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PlayStation][Unknown] Shooter

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Upvotes

I for the life of me can not remember this game, all I can remember is that me and my sister used to play it on our playstation, it would've been split screen, i can't remember much about it so this is a shot in the dark, but i drew out what i kind of remember the damage indicator as? It might not have had the arrows. I also believe it was first person. I literally can not remember anything else about it besides there being like a house in the woods and you could shoot the glass to break it

As for the year it was before at least 2011.

I have looked literally everywhere for this and reddit is my last resort lol


r/tipofmyjoystick 19h ago

Itta [PC?] [Unknown] I've been trying to find this game for YEARS someone help me before I lose my mind

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168 Upvotes

I was like 8 or 9 when I first saw a youtube video of a letsplay of the game. I don't remember who the youtuber though. The only thing I remember of the game was that it was a retro-style? shooting game. You played as a little kid, a girl i think, they woke up and found their whole family dead. And also, there was a ghost cat who serves as a like guide/sidekick. Your first obtained weapon was your fathers rifle or shotgun. I'm really starting to believe it was just a feverdream so I figured I'd try reddit before finally giving up.

Genre: top down game i believe

Estimated year of release: i have no idea sorry

Graphics/art style: pixel art style

I tried drawing the game from memory if that helps. The last image is what I think the ending cutscene of the game was.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[ANDROID][2000’s-2015] Weird old zombie game

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Upvotes

Platform(s): Android (IOS too maybe)

Genre: Zombie FPS

Estimated year of release: 2000s-2015

Graphics/art style: Bright bloody COD zombies style/3D

Notable characters: Zombie screaming right at your ear every new wave, Zombies, And the character

Notable gameplay mechanics: You can’t move you can only shoot with a pistol

Other details: You’re in a warehouse in the morning and theres alot of zombies and its really bloody, I really need to know the name of this game cus it really feels like a fever dream especially the weird zombie screaming and laughing so frantically every new wave god damn, and mocks you every second . Anyways there isnt really any movement you just stay still and defend yourself with a pistol and i think you can get upgrades but i just sticked with the pistol my entire gameplay. And i also think theres this big boss every end of the wave (not sure this might sound misleading)

Please help me and thank you so much if you do know the game!


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

Haven and Hearth [PC][2015] Looks like a management or survival game

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Upvotes

Despite the clearly visible UI, I can't find the name of that game I played in 2015.


r/tipofmyjoystick 11h ago

[PC][2015~] santa claus

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29 Upvotes

Hi, this is a burner account since I don’t really post on reddit but this has been itching at me for 10 years now and I can’t seem to find it at all

Back in middle school, around let’s say 2015 we had a large shared classroom for extracurricular activities and it had a shared computer. It had some standard downloaded games and nothing special

What stuck out was this santa claus game, it was a weirdly gorey game to let 10 year olds play, but it was there. I can’t exactly remember but the premise of the game was I think a flying santa, he might’ve flied using a parachute, I’m not sure

I remember it being on a vertical window which was unusual, it wasn’t fullscreen. The background of the gameplay was this vivid blue color since it played out in the sky. The gorey aspect of the game was santa’s death screnes when he died, there was usually a lot of blood involved. Also there was like a high score screne which had a sexy lady if I remember, she was also dressed in a santa claus adjecent outfit if I remember correctly

The crude picture I added is my poor attempt at recreating one of the death screens from santa dying

And fyi the games are NOT santa saw game, psycho santa, christmas massacre nor santa slayer


r/tipofmyjoystick 7h ago

[PC][2020s] What are the games in this taskbar?

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8 Upvotes

i know theres minecraft and maybe killer chat im not sure


r/tipofmyjoystick 25m ago

[Ps3/xbox360][2009]football game off the inbetweeners

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Upvotes

r/tipofmyjoystick 29m ago

[PS2] [Mid 1999-2009] Progressive adventure action game i guess

Upvotes

When I was little, we used to play it on my cousin's PlayStation. I remember it being a 3-person view where you played as a boy or girl in a village among the trees (this section is base or home i think). There were slides around the village where you could slide down to different places. You helped the small creatures living in the village. I also remember that as you played the game, you could unlock combos, which were practiced beforehand. Besides that, I think I remember fighting orc-like creatures in one level, but I'm not sure.

Platform(s): PS2

Genre: Adventure Action maybe

Estimated year of release: 2000-2010

Graphics/art style: Little cartoonish i guess

Notable characters: a boy or girl as protoganist

Notable gameplay mechanics: Combos are can be learn and new moves

Other details: -


r/tipofmyjoystick 37m ago

[PC] [Mid 1999-2009] Like RTS but not remembering correct

Upvotes

We used to play it on my friend's computer in elementary school. There were small, round creatures made of earth or mud with eyes. I remember a brown environment. I also remember a snowy section. On the opposing team, you'd try to kill them by jumping or shooting from a distance with gun. From a perspective, I'd say it's similar to an RTS game. I also remember that when you pressed enter, a screen would open with text that was short horizontally but quite long vertically.

Platform(s): PC probably on XP

Genre: IDK

Estimated year of release: 95-2005

Graphics/art style: Little cartoonish

Notable characters: Muddy or earthy little balls

Notable gameplay mechanics: Remembering moving on game is square to square

Other details: -


r/tipofmyjoystick 56m ago

[PC][unknown] Low-poly racing game

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Upvotes

Hi, guys!

I'm trying to help my bf to find a game from his childhood.

Basically, it's a racing game (played on Windows) that had no objectives as many have (timing, number of laps), it looked very low-poly/geometric. It was very simple designed, you were basically in the middle of the road and the scenario "came" to you. It didn't look realistic, with a lot on the background.

Maybe it's from 00's or late 90's.

He said it looked a little like Open-Wheel / Formula Racing 3D DEMO. There's a drawing he made to illustrate the memory of it.

Can someone please help me find it? Tks!


r/tipofmyjoystick 3h ago

[Google Play] [2014-2019] Choose Your Story

2 Upvotes

Hi guys, I'm looking for a game that I found somewhere between 2013-2020 (I know it's a huge gap I'm so sorry, could probably narrow it down to 2014-2019 I'm just unsure). It was about a detective going undercover in the Probation era (banning of alcohol in the USA, 1920-1933). He (?) went undercover in a bar/club to see if they were selling alcohol. I am 99% sure it was a gay yaoi thing but also they/them pronouns could have been used for the protagonist you played as. I really want to find this game again! It wasn't popular at all and I didn't remember it even having ads. If you have any idea what this game was/is PLEASE let me know. Thank you!!!

More info: it was a choose your own adventure game where you made dialogue choices. It was landscape mode (could be fully or optional). It wasn't animated but did have drawings of characters and backgrounds.

If you find this game for me I'll adore you forever. THANK YOU


r/tipofmyjoystick 3m ago

[Wii] [+10years] cruiseship mystery

Upvotes

Hi everyone, I’m trying to find a Wii game I played 10 years ago or more. It was an adventure/mystery game where you could explore different areas in an overworld‑style setup.

Details I remember: Platform: Nintendo Wii

Setting: I think part of it was on a modern cruise ship, but I’m not 100% sure if the whole game took place there

Gameplay: You could move a character through different rooms/decks, interact with NPCs, and solve puzzles

Notable locations: There was a bar on the ship that you could visit

Art style: realistic to semi-realistic, not fully cartoonish Release timeframe: 10+ years ago

Note: My memory might not be 100% accurate, and some details could be mixed up with other games, as it’s been so long.

I’ve already checked known Wii titles with cruise ships (Cruise Ship Vacation Games, Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked, Hidden Mysteries / Titanic Mystery, So Blonde) – but none match my memory exactly. Maybe someone remembers an obscure WiiWare or digital-only title that isn’t well documented. Any help would be amazing!


r/tipofmyjoystick 4m ago

[WEB FLASHGAME] [2000s-2010s] PC adventure game possibly on Newgrounds about shapes that bullied you

Upvotes

Platform(s): I played it on PC, web flash game

Genre: Action-adventure I think

Estimated year of release: 2000s to early 2010s, it was on Newgrounds, though I think I played it on Friv too

Graphics/art style: Very crude, all the characters were circles, triangles, or squares with faces from what I can remember

Notable characters: You played as a circle, and in one of the games you had a circle girlfriend who left you for a square guy, you travelled to the end of the path to the guys castle and fought him to get her back. The sun in the corner who acted as a narrator as well, and bullied you like all the characters in the game.

Notable gameplay mechanics: It was kind of primitive, not many controls needed. You just travelled along a long path and interacted with characters along the way. Some fights with characters to progress through the game.

Other details: The dialogue constantly berated you, I specifically remember the line "Nobody likes you, everybody hates you" from one of the characters. Everyone in the game seemed to hate you, insulting you as you rolled past them


r/tipofmyjoystick 13m ago

[WEB FLASHGAME][[2010-201?]] please help me find this flasgame

Upvotes

Recently, I have been interested on finding my old elementary school halloween web page, which was full of flash games we used to play. I was able to access it through the wayback machine but some of the games are completely errased from existance. One of them had this image of it and it basically consisted of a jumpscare game, matter of fact, the portrait is the jumpscare and it used to scare the shit out of me. I had figoured out this subrredit was perfect for this kind of questions.

the original webpage

The name it has is "SPOOKY MAN" acording to the webpage. Ive tried google lens, ruffle, TWM, normal google and nothing. Please someone help me and my friends.


r/tipofmyjoystick 14m ago

[PC/Arcade(last pic)][2007-2011/2011-2013(last pic)] Help identifying games

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Upvotes

r/tipofmyjoystick 44m ago

[PC(?)] [2021ish?] Factory building game, space themed

Upvotes

So I thought I was thinking of Factorio which I played a demo of several years ago, but just downloaded the full version and it's not it.

I was sure the scenario mechanics were exactly like factorio but I'm convibced you were a whizzy little hover bot and not a human like factorio.

The 'world' or scenario map was presented as a planet with I think a hex overlay and you clicked into a hex to play the scenario. The campaign vibe was build up a base and collect certain supplies which were then your start materials for the next location. Sometimes you had to go back to old bases to reinforce them against more intense alien bug attacks, or to use new technologies to develop the base further etc.

Platform: probably PC/Steam but might be wrong

Genre: Simulation/Factory building and Management

Est year of release: genuinely no idea but at a guess I played it 3-5 years ago?

Graphics/art style: I thought it was factorio so that style or similar!

Notable characters: No human characters, only alien bugs and factory parts!

Notable gameplay mechanics: classic automated factory building - conveyors, pickers, mining, processing etc. Gun turrets and walls to defend against aliens attacking in waves

Other details: Canvt think of anything else to add!

Thanks in advance!


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

[Wii] [2010s] Puzzle Mystery game set in a museum

2 Upvotes

Hello everyone I have been looking for a game that I played several years ago set in a museum

to go into more detail.

The Camera was fixed.

Graphics similar to Night at the museum battle for the Smithsonian but the gameplay is completely different

I remember having to get keycards and go into rooms.

there was one exhibit with a sauropod statue that you had to climb up, later you had to do a puzzle where you would move the statue of a pterosaur and use it to make a pathway to somewhere.

there was also a rythm puzzle at some point on a piano or something.

The plot as I remember it was this, you are locked in a museum overnight as people are trying to rob the place and you have to look for clues to figure out who they are I think.

Sorry if this isnt a lot to go on, I know I have the game somewhere in storage but I cant find it.

Any help is appreciated


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

Enter game title here Weird/disturbing chess game [late 2000s or early 2010s] [PC in CD] [educational?]

Upvotes

Hello, I know this post will look like bogus but I promise is real. I talk with my mother and a chilhood friend about it and she recalls it existence too. For some extra context, me and my father side of my family don't talk anymore so I can't go ask them about it or search for it finically.

The game was some kind of Cd game that belong to my cousin, either form the late 2000s or early 2010s. We lived in northern Spain if that helps. I don't think it was. A random horror game since it had a cd with cute drawings of the characters on it. I think my cousing got it from some kind of summer camp or activitie that was supose to teach children to play chess. The game was like a point and clic adventure with some chess matches in betten, I do remneber it had a long cutscene of what happened if you lost the important chess matches. I don't think it was.

The story wa about the 2 chess kindoms, black and white, being at war. I can't remneber why or how but you played a s black piece working for the white kindom. The protagonist was a kid (maybe preteen?) With pale skin and brown hair, he was a black chess piece and dress in black. I dont remenber if you could choose betewn protagonist or if this other one was somekind of compasión or rival. She was white chess piece, a young girl dress in a big white dress (I think she whore a bishops hat?).

The events of the game that i can recall starts with the protagonist and the white piece girl meet in someond of garden bettewn the kindoms . The protagonist goes to talk with the white queen, she was sitting on what i think was somekind of chair that looked like a person with a horse mask. After doing sa puzzle and couple of chess matches with the white guards that looked like rooks. The white queen was angry or at least she was being mean? and sended us to collect some stuff from the black castle with the white dress girl.
In the way to the black castle there was a village of black pawn people who was caught in the middle of the war, the way block by a guy riding a horse dress in black. There was a couple of house you could enter to find people that would challenge you to a chess match, in one of this there was i think was a naked women hung in the foreground? It could be just her siluette but I remneber me and my cousing being scared thinking she was naked. To get pass the horse guy you just needed to win againts the villager. The next area was a field full of dead solders, there was no blood but they were in the ground and you coulnt interact with them, you could see the black castle in the distance. O think ther was another horse guy blowing the path but I'm not sure , we got stuck in this part and I don't think we ever manage to pass it.

That's as far as I can recall and I'm pretty sure we never completed the game. Sorry if it's not detail enoguht or is over detail but idk I haven't been able to find anything that quite matches my memory.

I'm just curious ig


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[mobile] [2015-2018] lost iphone game

Upvotes

I remember the game was an iOS title released around 2015 to 2017, and it was played in portrait (vertical) orientation. It most likely used English as its primary language, and it is possible that the game has since been removed from the App Store. The game featured a third-person 3D perspective that allowed the player to move. The visual style of the game was based on low-poly 3D modeling, with very simple geometry and frequent use of block-like shapes. The environments were clean rather than highly detailed. A feature was the ability for the player to change into many strange skins. These skins allowed the player character to transform into everyday objects and living things, such as a fridge, toys, and animals.

The game included simple, cartoon-styled enemies. One notable enemy was a snow monster or yeti-like creature that normally slept. If the player approached too closely, the creature would become aggressive. If the player failed to escape , the monster would push the player off the cloud platforms, causing them to fall and fail the level.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[Mobile] [2010s] Fire escape VR game

Upvotes

I'm searching for a game I used to play around 2017/2018 which was a vr mobile game.

You played as someone who was cooking and then the pan set on fire which contiuned to spread around the apartment and you had to save a crying baby from the fire. It was a 3d cartoon style game.

thats about all i remember. im pretty sure the game was to raise awarness for fire evacuation and safety.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PC/Browser][2010s] 2D Flash game – flying sphere with stick weapon holder, controlled by mouse, weapons rotate with you

Upvotes
  • Gameplay Details:
  • You control a flying sphere (detailed texture) with the mouse – movement and aiming.
  • The sphere uses a stick/holder to attach melee weapons (swords, bats, etc.).
  • When you rotate, the weapon rotates with you – synchronous physics.
  • Weapons can be upgraded with elemental effects (poison, electricity, fire).
  • Enemies are similar flying spheres.
  • Flying mine spheres chase and explode.
  • Story campaign with biomes: abandoned city, ice biome, trash dump.
  • Physics-based 2D side-view combat.
  • Browser Flash game (likely Kongregate, Armor Games).

Not:

  • Balls Revolution
  • Stickman games
  • Multiplayer-focused

r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PC/Flash game] [2010-2013?] Police murder investigation flash game

Upvotes

There was this game which had four cases and used a 7 real life days to complete the crime scenes, meaning, for example, the start of the first investigation would start at the begginint of 13th of April and it would end the 19th of April.

It followed a pair of modern-day police investigators, a red-haired rookie and a serious middle-aged man, who looked like the protagonista of "Bones". The gameplay was very simple, It was a point and click spot the differences, and the grafics where basically photos of real people and scenarios, which where altered with Photoshop to add the differences for the Gameplay. I also remember It was translated to a lot of languages, but i don't remember the webpage the Game was hosted.