According to KIKIYAMA's official website, Yume Nikki was first published on June 26, 2004 under version 0.00.[1] Ever since then, KIKIYAMA has made numerous updates, all the way up to version 0.10a. Not much is known about the game's development to this day.
Due to the low advertisement and popularity upon the game's release, the documentation of Yume Nikki versions is limited. Eventually, Yume Nikki became popular through Japanese forums such as 2channel, and even gained an English following after an unofficial fan translation was released. By the time most of this had happened, the current version was already released.
Nowadays, older versions are difficult to come by due to the explosion of popularity happening much later in the game's lifetime, leading to a lack of archived versions. In an effort to preserve the game's history, five older versions prior to 0.10 were found by the #LaInvestigaciónYN team. There are still some yet to be found, with some presumably being completely lost. This page documents what is known so far.
Version History
The following information is based on findings from the currently available versions and the ReadMe file provided by Playism when they released their official English localization. Judging from what was discovered in version 0.04, Yume Nikki started development sometime before or around January, 2003.
Version 0.00
Yume Nikki started with Version 0.00, built on June 14, 2004, and released on the 26th.
There is no definitive information known about this version. Despite this, it can be inferred from the later versions that 0.00 had 20 effects, as only version 0.05 added effects to the game, and that the player's starting position from loading a saved game was different. This version also would have had different backgrounds, effect placements, and sound effects.
Version 0.01
Not long after 0.00, Version 0.01 was completed on June 26, 2004, and released on July 6th.
Certain sound effects were changed, maps and effect placements were adjusted, and some new maps were added. If save data from 0.00 is used, the player's starting position will be different.
Version 0.02
Version 0.02 was completed on July 14, 2004, and released on the 20th.
This version reduced the data size of audio assets by half, added new maps, changed certain backgrounds, and made more adjustments to maps and effect placements.
Version 0.03
Version 0.03 was completed on September 2, 2004, and released on the 7th.
This version reportedly changed the normal footstep sound effect, added new maps, and made color adjustments to maps and the font.
Version 0.04
Version 0.04 was built on September 29, 2004, and released on October 2nd; almost three years prior to 0.10's build date of September 17, 2007.
0.04 added new maps and adjusted map colors, but also adjusted the fonts used in the "new menu" (likely referring to FC World's menu). It also reportedly fixed a lot of bugs.
Currently the earliest version available to the public, it was dumped on October 20, 2018 by Gatobot of team #LaInvestigaciónYN. It was found on a magazine titled フリーウェア年鑑2005 (Freeware Almanac 2005).[2]
Some of the unused content from 0.10 is used in this version, in addition to numerous other differences. Perhaps the most interesting thing gleaned from this version were the hidden images cached in the Thumbs.db files, which offer a look at in-development graphics, and even provide some insight into ideas KIKIYAMA had for the game.
Version 0.05
Version 0.05 was completed on November 23, 2004, and released on the 26th.
0.05 brought many important changes including four new effects and NASU. It also changed the behavior of vending machines, added text windows, and added animations to certain effects that lacked them before. (In 0.04, the Umbrella and Blonde Hair effects lacked 1-key actions).
The four effects added in this version were the Witch, Demon, Buyo Buyo, and Traffic Light effects, bringing the total number of effects to 24. There are no reports in the changelogs of the number of effects changing before or after this.
Version 0.06
Version 0.06 was built on January 22, 2005; almost four months after 0.04, and more than two years prior to version 0.10's date of September 17, 2007.
This version made adjustments to NASU, added animations to certain effects, and made some music changes. It also notably introduced the "Adjusting Sound Levels" (or "Working...Please Wait..." in the fan translation) screen, which is intended to allow the game to silently play every sound effect in the game so they can be cached in memory before starting gameplay. This is done to help prevent stuttering from having to load the sound effects on slower computers.
Version 0.06 was dumped by Eloy and AshitaMinami, members of #LaInvestigaciónYN, on July 25, 2017. It was found on a disc included in the first volume of a magazine called フリーゲームstation! (FreeGameStation!)
0.06 is pretty similar to 0.04 in terms of design, but quite a bit has been added since then, making it an interesting in-between of Yume Nikki's early life and final version.
Version 0.07
Version 0.07 was completed on April 24, 2005, and released on the 29th, three months after 0.06.
The most notable change brought by this version was the ability to wake up with effects equipped. Like all other versions, new maps were added (such as the Pink Sea), and adjustments were made to existing maps. 0.07 is the turning point where Kikiyama reworked the structure of the game to make the dream world less interconnected, similar to how it is in 0.10.
Version 0.07 was also included in a Japanese magazine that distributed freeware titles. It was dumped on August 16, 2021 by Gatobot of #LaInvestigaciónYN. It was found alongside 0.08 in a magazine titled テックウィンDVD 2005年10月号 (TechWin DVD October, 2005 Issue).[3]
Surprisingly, this is the first version to feature the Pink Sea, however, Poniko and Uboa have not been implemented yet, disproving the long-held idea that the Pink Sea and Uboa were added simultaneously.
Version 0.08
Version 0.08 was completed on July 23, 2005, and released on the 30th.
Several iconic areas, events, and NPCs were implemented in this version, such as Number World, Poniko, Uboa, KyuuKyuu-kun and FACE. Apart from this, the changelog reports the usual additions of maps, map adjustments, music changes, and bug fixes. It's also the first version to display a version number on the title screen.
Version 0.08 was included in the same Japanese magazine that had 0.07, so it is also available to the public once again.[3]
Some interesting Yume Nikki:Unused Content#unused graphics were found, including several frames from the FACE event, a green KyuuKyuu-kun, and a scrapped character dubbed FACEtile.
Fullface1.jpg
Fullface2.jpg
Fullface3.jpeg
Fullface4.jpeg
Green KyuuKyuu-kun
FACEtile
Version 0.09
Version 0.09 was completed on December 10, 2005, and released on the 17th.
This would be the last version of Yume Nikki released until 2007. Apart from the usual changes and additions, it also changed how the cursor moves in certain menus. By this point in development, most of the content present in 0.10 had been implemented.
The download page used by KIKIYAMA is archived, although download links are not functional.
#LaInvestigaciónYN released 0.09 on January 26, 2019, having been found in a magazine titled フリーウェア年鑑 2006 (Freeware Almanac 2006), a newer edition of the same magazine that included 0.04. More accurately, an anonymous Japanese user who bought the magazine provided them a link to the included 0.09 and gave them permission to share it with the rest of the community.[5]
Like 0.04, some hidden images have been found cached in the Thumbs.db files: most notably, two scrapped rooms that would have been used in the White Desert.
Version 0.10
Version 0.10 was completed on September 17, 2007 and released on October 1, almost 2 years after the release of 0.09.
This version changed the 1-key action of the Knife effect, allowing Madotsuki to change which hand the knife is held in. In prior versions, the 1-key made Madotsuki stab the air, which did not kill NPCs. The Triangle Kerchief effect was also changed to make Madotsuki invisible to Toriningen, rather than just gradually turning her more transparent.
The locations of some effects were rearranged, most notably moving the Fat effect from Hell to the Docks, and the Poop Hair effect from Mural World to the newly added Underground World.
This version also introduced the Spaceship, Mars, the Staircase of Hands, and the Mall Rooftop.
Neon World's layout was changed to have walls, rather than being a completely open area.
Yumesyuusei / Version 0.10a
0.10 was initially released with several bugs, which were mostly corrected in a patch KIKIYAMA pushed out shortly after on October 6 titled Yumesyuusei. The patched version of 0.10 is the most common rendition of the game, and is what the fan translations are based on.
To date, the final version of Yume Nikki is 0.10a, which was released on February 10, 2012 on the Playism distribution platform. It is identical to the patched 0.10, aside from the title screen which changed the version number. According to the ReadMe files provided by Playism, KIKIYAMA actually built 0.10a the same day as the Yumesyuusei patch, however, the download link on their website was never replaced to host 0.10a.
Removed Events
There are events that were featured in the old versions of the game, but have now been removed completely, or replaced with something else.
NASU Link
Version: 0.09.
Location: The Dense Woods A and Windmill World
Prompt: This event can only be accessed by hacking the game with RPG Maker and manually changing the variable for the event to 2 for the Dense Woods or 4 for Windmill World, as it is completely unused.
Description: The playable character from NASU appears near the lamppost in the Dense Woods A and south of the hedges in Windmill World and walks around. Interacting with it makes a sound effect from the game play and then transports the player to the unused FC World C. This event is not present in any other known version, due to it being seemingly unfinished.
Toriningen's Bed
Version: 0.04 and 0.06.
Location: Block World
Prompt: Go to the purple gate in Block World that is replaced by the black gate for the White Desert in later versions.
Description: The player is transported to a sectioned-off area of Block World, with its music at half the speed (it shares Eyeball World's theme in 0.04). The background is the same one that sometimes appears outside of Madotsuki's Dream Balcony, and there is a bed at the end of the path. After the player sleeps in it, a Toriningen spawns at the start of the path and chases the player. It cannot catch the player when they are sleeping in the bed. If it catches the player, it sends them to the Footprint Path B, next to the pinkish Goppa with no way to walk.
References
- ↑ Kikiyama HP, the official website: http://www3.nns.ne.jp/pri/tk-mto/kikiyamaHP.html
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcq0HUVlrQw
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://youtu.be/SkvX_npNk_g Eloy
- ↑ https://key1530.exblog.jp/3184158/
- ↑ https://youtu.be/cb3NNvB4Xlk Eloy