Yume Nikki's Biggest Secret

Manon becomes obsessed with a cryptic game about dreams.

**Yume Nikki's Biggest Secret** is the third episode for *LOVEWEB*.

Manon tries to find out the mystery of Kikiyama, the creator of *Yume Nikki*.

At 8:39, a Pastebin link is seen quickly flashing, containing the letters "cCTXStD.png". Putting it in an Imgur link reveals an image, which contains a link to the video 067 089 066 069 082 067 085 084 #1. To solve this insane situation, the numbers "1 9 7 6 10 8 2 4 5 3" must be put in the proper order and add the two times of the parts together (total seconds in the minutes = seconds), making the ASCII code "066 088 109 098 104 074 072 083 070 081". Translating the ASCII code gives "BXmbhJHSFQ". Putting them into the Discord invite link leads to the server SOFTMARE\_0620.

## Characters

* Manon
* Cybermare

## Transcript

*(Intro plays as normal, with Manon surfing past future events of the current episode before landing in their room)*
*(Cybermare is seen on her phone scrolling down Shadok's Discord server and lies down while Manon is playing Yume Nikki on their computer)*
**Cybermare:** Urgh. *(Cybermare goes to Manon to see what their up to)*
**Cybermare:** Hey pussy, whatcha up too?
**Manon:** I'm playing *Yume Nikki*.
**Cybermare:** For fuck's sake, nevermind. *(Cybermare watches Manon as she gets bored and goes back to her phone watching a video as she sleeps later, only for a piece of paper containing a Game Theory video to fly into her head waking her up)*
**Cybermare:** What the fuck? *(Cybermare looks all over the place which has content related to Yume Nikki sticked all over the walls before walking to Manon)* Manon, what the fuck is all of this?
**Manon:** Oh hi again Cybermare! It's still *Yume Nikki*.
**Cybermare:** You're kidding right? That game looks so boring!
**Manon:** No no no. It's actually really deep and full of mysteries! It's about like... actually let me get a little more comfy before I continue. *(Manon goes to their seat)* Hi internet lovers! In this episode, we're gonna look into the game *Yume Nikki*, and it's relation to the internet.
**Cybermare:** Ugh, I guess we're doing this then.
**Manon:** *Yume Nikki*, or *Dream Diary* in English, is an RPGMaker game released on June 26, 2004. It received a couple of updates for a few years and the last version of the game is 0.10 released on October 1st, 2007. *Yume Nikki* is a game where you play as Madotsuki. Who might be a girl, maybe? A lot of things are left to speculation because it's a very vague and mysterious game. When you enter Madotsuki's dreams, you have access to a bunch of doors leading to different dream worlds. All those potentially leading to deeper and other interconnected dream worlds. It's all a giant labyrinth! You have no clear goal or any story. You just wander around and look at stuff. There is close-to-zero text in the entire game, and no dialogue at all.
**Cybermare:** So basically... this is literally just a walking simulator, with nothing to do. Damn girl, I'm sure everyone watching is hyped as fuck to play this game now.
**Manon:** Oh well, uh, something you could do is collect things called effects. Effects in *Yume Nikki* are like transformations. They can affect gameplay like the bike effect or or the knife effect. But they can also be cosmetic changes, like the blanket effect or the long hair effect. But other than that, the focus of the game really is just walking around. You're not doing this for any achievement or a score. It's all about what you'll see on you're adventure. You're shown a lot of strange WTF things and worlds full of atmospheric energy, so the game usually sticks with you after playing. By the end of it, you're left wondering: "What the heck was all that?" Which is a sentiment a lot of people shared when playing the game. This sentiment of course, united people to craft theories and try to understand the story behind *Yume Nikki*. Who is Madotsuki? Why doesn't she want to leave her room? What's up with this girl and why does she transform into a creepy face when you play with the lights too much? Is Yume Nikki actually the creator's interactive dream diary? What did they mean by this? Nothing is known about the creator of *Yume Nikki* except that they go by the name Kikiyama. They kinda just dropped this cryptic game out of nowhere and never returned. We haven't heard anything from them in years. Some believe that all this lack of contact could be because Kikiyama is actually not one, but a group of people. Or maybe that Kikiyama is an alternate identity of an already known game developer. We'll very likely never know.
**Cybermare:** Maybe their dead. Since I haven't heard from them in years, you know?
**Manon:** Yeah, its spooky to think about. But some fans believe that's possible. The hidden identity of the creator adds even more to the mysterious atmosphere of the game. *Yume Nikki* became such a cult classic over the years that it inspired many great indie games. *Undertale* being the most popular example. Toby Fox used the Uboa sprite in the *EarthBound Halloween Hack*. And he also mentions Yume Nikki in Indie Live Expo as part of the games that have inspired him. *OMORI* is a more recent game that has very similar moments to *Yume Nikki*. You can even find the creator drawing fan arts and tweeting about it years ago. They seem to really love it! Another example are the *LISA* RPGs, which started with LISA: The First; a game very close to being a *Yume Nikki* fangame. Traditional *Yumi Nikki* fangames are not about making a game with *Yume Nikki* characters . Those types of fangames do exist. For example, *Dream vs Dream*, *Yume Kart* or *Yume Nikki Gensou*. A Traditional *Yume Nikki* fangame is more about using *Yume Nikki*'s formula to create new characters in new dream worlds. The most popular examples are *Yume 2kki* and *.flow*. *Yume 2kki* expands on *Yume Nikki* with lots of new characters, new effects to collect, quality of life improvements and a dream world that is 10 times larger! *.flow* is also one of the most famous fangame for being fully completed and being a lot spoopier than the original. It's pretty rare for a fangame to have so much content. Most of them tend to only receive a couple updates. But this is because the *Yume Nikki* formula is something easily reproducible, especially in RPGMaker. It is also very prone to tickle anyone's imagination. So to this day, you have over 300 traditional fangames, all being listed on the fangame wiki. There's even an annual game jam for everyone who wants to make a fan game during a limited time. The *Yume Nikki* community is thriving in fangames, but it also got a ton of animations, music, it's own imageboard. And recently, they even managed to turn *Yume Nikki* into an MMO game.
**Cybermare:** Wait wait wait... So... what you're trying to do right now with all this bullshit on the walls is like... Solving this game story?
**Manon:** No no no, everybody's been doing that for years now. But I think outside the box. And with the help of my internet knowledge and expertise. I'm gonna find out Kikiyama's real identity!
**Cybermare:** What?
**Manon:** Yeah! And everybody will know the truth about Kikiyama and *Yume Nikki*!
**Cybermare:** By doxing them? Manon, there's so many things wrong with this.
**Manon:** And FYI, I've been on a pretty cool lead for a while. All I need is one more clue, and I know where to find it. *(Manon opens a tab to the interent and leaps out and waves to Manon on their way to find Kikiyama)*
**Cybermare:** Oh shit shit shit... *(Cybermare catches up with Manon and then tries to grab them with her unicorn magic, only to ride on a different line, leading her into a different direction, but is able to catch up with Manon and leap into them, making them fall through the internet)* Manon stop right now!
**Manon:** But why thought?
**Cybermare:** You gotta like, respect people's anonymity. You like anonymity don't you? It's even part of your name.
**Manon:** Yeah! But so many people wants to know the truth about Kikiyama and their game. That's far more important.
**Cybermare:** But if we get a definitive answer, then all the mystique of the game will be gone.
**Manon:** Why do you care so much so suddenly? You're usually all about not caring about anything.
**Cybermare:** I don't care about like, *Yume Dicky*.... I don't know... ARGs and like, scattered storytelling is cool, and I feel like you're ruining the magic of all with that kind of shit by harassing creators and sharing their private information. Kikiyama is a person, not a puzzle for you to solve.
**Manon:** Mmmm.... But it's so fun to try to figure stuff out!
**Cybermare:** So you agree that making theories is fun?
**Manon:** Yeah!
**Cybermare:** Well then. But if every answer to *Yume Nikki* was already given by the creator, there would be no point in theorizing anymore.
**Manon:** Mmm.
**Cybermare:** Just, don't... ruin *Yume Nikki* for everyone else please.
**Manon:** Okay! I get it! Guess nobody will know the truth behind Yume Nikki! *(Manon grabs a browser tab and uses it to travel they and Cybermare back home)* But what if I keep the info to myself though?
**Cybermare:** No way dude.
*(Manon is seen playing their game while Cybermare watches)*
**Manon:** ...So TLDR, I want people to speculate about my game too. That's why I'm gonna make my own spooky mysterious *Yume Nikki* fangame. It's just gonna take a while to learn the engine though. I don't know anything about RPGMaker.
**Cybermare:** Mmm.... *(Cybermare hears that she got 9 notifications on her phone and dismisses it)* Hey, I know how to use RPGMaker.
**Manon:** Woah! Epic! I didn't know you had RPGMaker knowledge! Can you teach me? Can you, can you, can you pleaaase?
**Cybermare:** Okay okay. If you just stop being annoying for a sec, I'll teach you what I know.
*(Credits roll)*

## Music

* Michael Guy Bowman - We're riding on the internet (LOVEWEB Remix)
* yuuneey - What The Internet Sounds Like
* Reverberation of Dreams - Balcony To Slumberland
* ☆24EFFECTS☆ - Neon Flower
* Yume Nikki (Kikiyama) - Kalimba
* Widdly 2 Diddly - Summer Love
* Yume 2kki (Otoshi Takeuchi) - OP Music
* Yume Nikki: Between the Lines (Flare) - Pursuit (Toriningen Beat)
* Yume Nikki: Between the Lines (Flare) - Downtime (Save Screen)
* Yume 2kki (Mosenite) - The Ceiling [Reversed]

## Patreon Supporters

### Leaker Tier

* Kanny
* Bug Friend
* Sadi Makara
* roecomplex
* SaltyMalt
* linkdude64

### Leaker Tier

* Jibachu Laloutre
* ACSPlays!
* Ben Saint
* verden

### Low Tier

* Alabaster
* Ethan Straub
* Chip Wisearn
* Dooter!
* Muluki
* socklomoty

### Channel Members

* "My Wife"
* Fluffette
* Tired Eddie
* nicowo\_420
* EpixPicture
* Collin
* Sharkvania
* Arwe Twi

## Fanart Credits

* CandyIsNotHere
* EnderIsaacCore
* vintvoin
* Doggonnys
* Dooter
* Metri
* Gibbontake
* peacefulpanda
* NoriakiGingerbrave
* TheToasted
* notanamekian
* CrafterOfPixels

#### Notes

1. ↑ Has an animated segment.
2. ↑ Contributor has 4 arts.
3. ↑ Has 2 arts. Credited under "khrisvoin" in the first one.
4. ↑ Contributor has 3 arts.

## Trivia

* The episode came few days after the *Yume Nikki* fangame *MANONNIKKI*, which was seen in the episode.
* In the Newgrounds version, this is the first episode to have the "The fucking uncensored version bitch" disclaimer intro by Cybermare.

## Gallery

### Development

Teaser/Beta ThumbnailUpdate 1Update 2Update 3