Indie Side — An Interview With The Developer of Madotsuki’s Closet
If you’re into niche video games, you’ve no doubt heard of the cult classic Yume Nikki. Set primarily in the dreams of a girl named Madotsuki, the game plays essentially as a walking simulator. It has no true objective, with the only form of accomplishment found in collecting various items known as ‘effects,’ which give Madotsuki’s dream self new abilities and appearances. Collecting them all nets a sort of ending to the game, but many players never even see this, instead favoring a direct exploration of the world around them.
The most notable feature of the game is the bizarre scenes that you can run into during your travels. A land filled with eyeballs, giant distorted faces popping up at you, a spaceship taking you to Mars, and a dance party filled with terrifying monsters are just some of the things that can greet you while playing the game. These sorts of things are part of why the game has gained a huge cult following that, nearly two decades after its release, is still going strong today.
But there’s another reason Yume Nikki has gained such a prominence in the gaming sphere — the endless theories about what the game’s actually about. Among the most notable is a theory that Madotsuki is trans, and the game itself represents some of her internal struggles with gender and coming into her own.
Yume Nikki is not, however, what I’m covering today. Instead, I’m focusing on a joint fan game, autobiographical essay, and art piece known as Madotsuki’s Closet. It’s a short but in depth experience that takes you through one particular interpretation of the ‘Madotsuki is trans’ theory.
The game takes you through a four part discussion as to the developer’s own thoughts as to what constitutes evidence for the theory, and how this goes on to relate to her own experiences with her gender identity. I won’t spoil much more about it — it’s very much so something you have to play for yourself!
It’s impactful, emotional, funny, and thought provoking all in one. If you’ve played Yume Nikki, this is an experience worth having and I highly recommend playing if you have an hour to spare. If you haven’t, play both! They’re either free or pay-what-you-can, and are worth the time.¹
I had the pleasure of interviewing the developer of Madotsuki’s Closet, Kate Bagenzo, to discuss her game and what went into the development of it.
What inspired the more minimalist, Atari-style graphics of the game as opposed to having it more directly resemble Yume Nikki?
It was mainly a limitation of the engine I used — Bitsy — you’re kind of stuck with these small sprites. There are ways to get around that, and even forks of the engine that double the pixels in each sprite, but I thought it’d be kind of boring to do a 1:1 recreation instead of sticking with the lo-fi aesthetic. so I mostly accepted it. The minimalist aspect helped as well since I’m not super great at pixel art. When I’m constrained like that it makes it easier to work, since I don’t have to worry about making everything look perfect.
A core part of the experience with Madotsuki’s Closet is the sound design with assets from Yume Nikki. How have you lent this towards the overall themes you were trying to convey?
I was inspired a bit by the actual “Madotsuki’s Closet” fansite which is mentioned in the game, and which is still online. It’s a pretty basic webpage but it also uses backgrounds and other assets from the game, some edited and some ripped directly. I like that kind of old web style and also collage. I wanted to hark back to an older internet where people were less embarrassed to remix existing stuff. As for the sound design I tried to connect emotional moments with the most nostalgic songs I remember from the original game. I especially love the tune that plays when writing in the diary. It’s usually the last thing you hear before you stop playing since it saves the games, so it always sounded melancholic and bittersweet to me.
What led you down the direction of wanting to make Madotsuki’s Closet into a game, as opposed to an essay or video?
At the time I was sort of obsessed with Bitsy as a web game tool, and there were a lot of autobiographical games being made in that space. They were a big inspiration and I figured I could do something similar. Also, I mainly make games, so a lot of my initial ideas for Madotsuki’s Closet were based on very specific moments that I thought would be really emotional or interesting or funny and that I could only really implement in a game (the chatroom Uboa jumpscare, or the ending where you “wake up” by pressing 9, just like in the original Yume Nikki)
Is something like Yume Nikki what you would consider good trans representation, even if it’s on the darker side of things?
The idea of a trans Madotsuki is ultimately an interpretation, but I think it’s an interpretation that has persisted because a lot of people played Yume Nikki and realized that reading was pretty productive. you can explain a lot of the imagery of the game that way. I wouldn’t call it a negative depiction. Despite some of the more grotesque imagery and the ability to kill NPCs in the game, I think a common thread in these interpretations is that the character of Madotsuki is meant to be sympathetic.
Do you have any upcoming projects you’d like to highlight?
Sure! I’m actually working on an RPGmaker game with fotocopiadora at our mysterious games company, Middle Sea Software (https://middle-sea-software.neocities.org/). We previously made some visual novels and an RPGmaker game, but this is going to be a traditional-ish Yume Nikki fangame where you roam around a mysterious dreamlike world. Should be ready sometime in 2024.
- For Yume Nikki, a content warning for suicide and disturbing imagery must be kept in mind. Madotsuki’s Closet contains content warnings at the start of it that are worth a read.
