| Yume Nikki | |
|---|---|
 The title screen of ''Yume Nikki'' | |
| Basic Info | |
| Latest Version | 0.10 (October 1, 2007) 0.10a (February 10, 2012) |
| Developer | KIKIYAMA |
| Engine | RPG Maker 2003 |
| Release Date | June 26, 2004 |
| Other | |
| Genre | Sui generis / Arthouse / Psychological Horror |
| Platform | PC (Windows 98 onward) Mobile |
| Publisher | N/A |
Yume Nikki (ゆめにっき, pronounced /jɯmeꜜ ɲiʔki/) is a freeware game created by KIKIYAMA. The game was made using RPG Maker 2003, and is regarded as one of the most original applications of the software, as well as the start of a possible new genre of games.
Yume Nikki means "Dream Diary" in Japanese (and thus can be written as 夢日記, although the game title is always in hiragana). The game follows a girl named Madotsuki as she dreams. The goal is to seek out and acquire all 24 "effects". It otherwise has no actual plot or dialogue, and nearly the entire game is left up to speculation.
The game was initially released on June 26, 2004, under version 0.00. The game received numerous updates until October 1, 2007, when version 0.10 was released.[1] The game became popular outside of Japan due to its unique presentation; events such as the now-iconic Uboa event were spread across the internet. The first Yume Nikki translation was made by the fan website Uboachan, and served as the most popular translation until the Steam release.
Yume Nikki was added to the Playism distribution platform on February 10, 2012 under version 0.10a, about five years since original distribution. This was followed up by an official English localization releasing worldwide on July 11, 2012. KIKIYAMA built version 0.10a on October 6, 2007 to incorporate bug fixes for version 0.10 that were released in a separate patch titled Yumesyuusei.[1] The download link on their website was never replaced to host version 0.10a, leaving its distribution to AGM Playism.
On January 9th, 2018, 0.10a was released on Steam for free by AGM Playism and Kadokawa.[2] In 2019, an officially licensed version for iOS and Android was released by CAERUXLab for $2.99, making it the only release of the game to cost money.[3] It was delisted from both stores on an unknown date. The release of Yume Nikki on Steam created a surge in popularity due to being easily accessible without the requirement of Japanese encoding and locale.
Releases
Besides the official releases of the game, several fan translations have been made as well, most of which translating only the in-game text. You may need a good file archiver that can read characters from foreign languages to extract most of the below releases, and a locale switcher or emulator to run the game afterwards. For more information, or for help with other issues, please see the Technical Difficulties page.
There are minor differences between the popular Uboachan fan translation and the official Steam translation, as well as unique issues in both. This information is covered in more detail on the Translation Differences page.
Official Releases
Fan Translations
- English - Uboachan
- Arabic - etrdream (الحلم المتجدد)
- Italian - GiAnMMV on the Italian forums
- Russian - fokifox on itch.io
- Ukrainian - Roavello on GitHub
Older Releases
Versions released before 0.10 had been mostly lost to time, until some were found by the #LaInvestigaciónYN team. Information on Yume Nikki's version history — as well as links to the old versions — are found on the Old Versions page.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Changelog on Kikiyama HP: https://www3.nns.ne.jp/~tk-mto/news.html
- ↑ Official Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/650700/Yume_Nikki/
- ↑ Yume Nikki on the Caerux website: https://caerux.com/news/yumenikki/