We seem to have a pretty regular number of story-ID questions specifically focused on finding half-remembered video-games stories.
Our top tag is story-identification (with over 10,000 questions) and we already have an excellent guide to help people answer them in "How to ask a good story-ID question?" that users can direct querents towards.
What additional advice can we offer on writing a good story-identification question aimed at locating a specific video game?
Additional information that would be useful when identifying video game questions includes;
The system/platform you played it on
Try to be specific. When you say "Playstation" do you mean a PS1/PSX, PS2, PS3, PS4? Also, did you actually play it personally or have you just seen it on walkthroughs or gameplay videos?
What genre of game was it?
Telling us about the plot is essential, but knowing what kind of game (First-Person-Shooters, Side-Scrollers, Text Adventure Game, etc) is also really useful as this can dramatically narrow down the choices.
Who was the game aimed at?
Knowing whether the game was for children or adults can be critical. Did the game have an 'edutainment' theme with brightly coloured characters or did it have bad language, violence and nudity?
Was the game an original release?
Did you buy the game brand new or did you get it on discount as an older release? If you downloaded it, which site did you get it from? Was it based on a non-game franchise? Can you think of any other games you played at around the same time?
Can you identify the studio that produced the game?
Was it, for example part of a series? Did it have a recognisable character/s you've seen elsewhere. Have you played any other games that had a similar look and feel to them?
Was the game a local release?
Japanese and non-Western games often have more cartoonish characters and general feel. They may have translated text or subtitles. The voices may still be in Japanese.
Can you describe the protagonist/s and antagonist/s?
What did the player-character look like? What did your enemies look like? How did you control your characters? How did they move? How did you beat/defeat/destroy them? Was the game single-player or adversarial against other human players (and if so, were you playing against them locally or via the internet/LAN)?
What was the end-goal?
Was there a specific aim or win-condition? Were you trying to reach a specific objective or was there an open-ended structure? If there were puzzles or tasks, can you describe them?
Can you remember anything else about the game?
Aside from the game, were there any additional features you can recall? Was there a studio intro, what did the box-art look like, what did the music sound like?
(hat/tip to Grace Note on Arqade:SE)
