By: Logan Jacobs

 Yume Nikki Online Project 

As mentioned in a previous article, Yume Nikki is a cult classic indie game that was released all the way back in 2004 that explores a young shut-in’s dreams.  

While Yume Nikki’s influence can be seen in many different corners of the indie scene, the game hasn’t received any updates in almost ten years. Just because there haven’t been updates doesn’t mean the community hasn’t been active; in fact, some of the community has taken it into their own hands to continue the series.  

“Dot flow” and “Yume 2kki” are arguably the best and the most popular fan games released. The problem with these two games is just how hard it is to play them. Even with an English translation, there’s still many other steps needed to play them.  

Yume Nikki Online Project or YNOP aims to fix that and add even more onto the games. YNOP is a free fan-made port of Yume Nikki, Dot Flow, Yume 2kki, and even more games all modified for online play complete with English translations. The best part? No downloads are required.  

INSPIRATION SECTION 

Kikiyama is the creator of Yume Nikki, and much like the game itself, he is shrouded in mystery.  

Kikiyama has all but disappeared since the last official release of Yume Nikki, only having appearances when a remake of Yume Nikki came out and doing one interview with other indie game developer, Toby Fox. This appearance and interview really are loose terms: signing off on the game’s release and nine yes or no questions is all there was, but nonetheless, he’s out there.  

Yume Nikki’s inspiration can be seen far and wide across the indie game spectrum but the inspiration for Yume Nikki can be found easily, in fact, you can just look at the title. Yume Nikki directly translates into dream diary in English. Because of this many have theorized that Yume Nikki is Kikiyama’s dreams, giving an explanation as to why there is little to no story. 

FAN-MADE PROJECTS 

When playing Yume Nikki for the first time some players may be expecting a more horrific experience or even more in-depth exploration of the dream world. Dot Flow and Yume 2kki aim to solve both those problems.

Dot Flow, unlike Yume Nikki, does not shy away from body horror and tries to make the player uncomfortable. Dot Flow consistently offered up scare after scare that all worked well in tandem with the deteriorating mental state of the protagonist.

Yume 2kki is a project for fans by fans, made by over 100 different developers Yume 2kki does not disappoint in the content section. With 36 worlds the player can choose from when entering the nexus Yume 2kki makes sure to never let the player think they know what is going on.  

GAME-PLAY SECTION 

As mentioned previously, Yume Nikki follows a young shut-in named Madotsuki and their dreams. Yume Nikki establishes a few very important concepts that Dot Flow and Yume 2kki both expand on like the nexus and effects.  

In Yume Nikki, the nexus describes the place just outside of Madotsuki’s room which can only be entered in their dream. The nexus as its name implies serves as a connector to many different dreams, in Yume Nikki these dreams are represented by doors with symbols to represent the world.  

In Dot Flow the doors are completely gone in favor of exits in each of the cardinal directions, while this does reduce the number of entrances in the nexus it makes it easier to get to important worlds that may serve a story purpose. Yume 2kki decides to expand on the nexus even more making the nexus an even bigger room with objects to interact with that represent the world.  

The other concept, effects, is harder to explain because of the many purposes they serve. The main purpose for effects is to reach the end of the game, which can’t really be called an ending in the context of a story because there really isn’t a story. Effects also serve as transformations that have a variety of effects on the player like making them go faster or being able to light up a world.  

Yume 2kki doesn’t just expand on existing effects, giving them new purposes for example. But it also adds an entirely new feature in combining effects. This along with improved menu UI and having more effects in general really make Yume 2kki a never-ending game. Dot Flow, despite not changing any major features about effects or even the rough number needed to complete the game, the effects in Dot Flow are an improvement. This is entirely because of the story that is placed around getting the effects and rust.