Friday Night Funkin' Explained

Friday Night Funkin'
Developer:The Funkin' Crew Inc.
Engine:HaxeFlixel (OpenFL, Haxe)
Director:PhantomArcade[1]
Designer:PhantomArcade
Released:TBA
Genre:Rhythm
Modes:Single-player

Friday Night Funkin' (also known as Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game) is an upcoming rhythm video game developed by Funkin' Crew Inc. and released on Newgrounds in 2020.[2] The game is developed by a small group called The Funkin' Crew Inc., which consists primarily of Cameron "ninjamuffin99" Taylor, David "PhantomArcade" Brown, Isaac "Kawai Sprite" Garcia, and evilsk8r. The game is also open-source. It shares some gameplay features with Dance Dance Revolution, PaRappa the Rapper, and the "Dance Contest" minigame from Club Penguin, and borrows aesthetic influences from Flash games.[3] The game has been credited with driving users back to Newgrounds, a site that rose in popularity in the early 2000s.[4] [5] [6]

The game revolves around the player character, Boyfriend, who must defeat a variety of opponents in singing and rapping contests in order to continue dating his love interest, Girlfriend. Gameplay involves hitting notes with timed inputs while avoiding running out of health for the duration of the song.[7] [8]

The game was initially created for the Ludum Dare 47 game jam on October 5, 2020. An expanded demo was released on November 1, 2020, with updates continually released in the following months. A full version of the game backed by Kickstarter, titled Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game, is in development.[9]

Gameplay

Friday Night Funkin is a rhythm game in which the player controls a character called Boyfriend, who must defeat a series of opponents in order to continue dating his significant other, Girlfriend. The player must pass multiple levels, referred to as "Weeks" in-game, containing three songs each. Each week, the player faces a different opponent, though some deviate in structure from this via the inclusion of multiple opponents. During gameplay, the opponent will sing a pattern of notes represented as arrows, which the player must then mirror by using the arrow keys or the,,, and keys on a computer. Some songs introduce more complicated patterns, with the player's pattern sometimes varying from the opponent's or both singers engaging in a duet.

For each week, the player has the option to select one of three difficulties: Easy, Normal, or Hard. As the difficulty increases, the speed of incoming arrows increases, and the patterns of arrows become more complex. The player's high score for each week on each difficulty is tracked and shown in the top corner of the week selection screen. The game contains two different modes of play: a story campaign in which songs are played linearly, and a "freeplay" mode which allows for free selection of any of the game's music tracks.[7] Selected songs also have harder remixes under the "Erect" and "Nightmare" difficulties.

Development

In October 2020, video game programmer ninjamuffin99 began work on a game for the Ludum Dare 47 game jam. He asked artists evilsk8r and PhantomArcade to help him with the project, as both had experience in game development as well. A composer known as Kawai Sprite was also added to the team in order to create the songs featured in the game. The game was quickly assembled using a pre-made flash-to-haxe pipeline.

The prototype contained only a handful of music tracks and lacked menus. Despite its rudimentary design, the prototype received unexpected success, leading to many requests for a full game. In response, ninjamuffin99 stated that he had plans to expand the game.[10]

The team would later update this demo on November 1, 2020, which added several additional menus and options as well as Week 2, a new level. Interest in the game increased, with it quickly growing in notoriety on Newgrounds as it had received significant attention via platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, and Twitch.

Week 7 was released as a timed exclusive on Newgrounds.[11] Due to the increase in traffic on Newgrounds, the site crashed.[12] After Week 7, the developers shifted focus on the full game, titled Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game.[13] Its soundtrack has been made available on Bandcamp and Spotify.[14]

In May 2024, a new week, titled "WeekEnd 1" was released. This was the biggest major update the game had seen since April 2021, when Week 7 was released. It features characters from the Pico's School series: Pico, Nene, and Darnell.[15]

Kickstarter

In April 2021, the developers announced plans to launch a Kickstarter project later in the month to turn the demo into a full game. On April 18, a Kickstarter project for the full version of the game was released under the name Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game and reached its goal of $60,000 within hours.[16] The Kickstarter ultimately raised over $2 million.[17] In February 2022, IGN reported that Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game was one of the most funded Kickstarter projects of 2021.[18] The full game is planned to include a mobile version for Android[19] and iOS, remixes of the songs intended to be more difficult to play, online multiplayer, and multiple new levels.[20]

Reception

Friday Night Funkin' gained notable popularity after its second demo update in November 2020. The game quickly became popular due to its catchy music, unique art style, and engaging gameplay, appealing to both casual gamers and rhythm game enthusiasts. Friday Night Funkin also has an active modding community due to its open-source release, allowing for the implementation of fan-made content.[21] [22] As a result, the full game will receive mod support using the Polymod framework.[23] [24] [25]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2023-03-06 . WEEK OF 2023/03/06: FONKING... . Funkin.me.
  2. News: Friday Night Funkin' is the DDR beatboxing game driving players back to Newgrounds. Watts. Rachel. PC Gamer. July 15, 2021.
  3. Web site: Wery. Jackson. January 29, 2021. Friday Night Funkin' Fondly Recalls Flash Games. February 28, 2021. TechRaptor. en. February 3, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210203100131/https://techraptor.net/gaming/features/friday-night-funkin-flash-games. live.
  4. Web site: Arellano . Patrick . 2021-12-22 . 10 Most Beloved Flash Games, Ranked . 2024-07-21 . CBR . en.
  5. Web site: West . Evangeline . March 9, 2022 . Is Newgrounds’ Friday Night Funkin’ worthy of the hype? . Softonic.
  6. News: Watts . Rachel . 2021-07-15 . Friday Night Funkin' is the DDR beatboxing game driving players back to Newgrounds . 2024-07-21 . PC Gamer . en.
  7. Web site: Cheeda . Saim . April 27, 2021 . 10 Things You Need To Know Before Starting Friday Night Funkin' . Game Rant.
  8. Web site: Williams . Leah J. . May 13, 2021 . Friday Night Funkin' Is The Internet's Latest Toe-Tapping Obsession . May 30, 2021 . Kotaku Australia.
  9. News: Davies. Patrick. April 2, 2021. Kickstarter launched for Friday Night Funkin'. 100 Mile House Free Press. Black Press. live. April 5, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210402133448/https://www.100milefreepress.net/entertainment/kickstarter-launched-for-friday-night-funkin/. April 2, 2021.
  10. Web site: Friday Night Funkin. April 24, 2021. ldjam.com.
  11. News: Knight . Kyle . How To Play Week 7 Of Friday Night Funkin' – FNF Guide . April 19, 2021 . Dual Shockers . April 19, 2021.
  12. News: Cohen . Skylar . Friday Night Funkin' Week 7 Reveal Crashes Newgrounds . May 15, 2022 . Game Rant . April 19, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210425043759/https://gamerant.com/friday-night-funkin-week-7-crashes-newgrounds/. April 25, 2021. live.
  13. Web site: Ranta. Chris. April 22, 2021. When is Friday Night Funkin Week 8?. July 9, 2021. The Click.
  14. Web site: Castillo . Alejandro . March 4, 2021 . Friday Night Funkin: cómo jugar y descargar gratis en PC el juego musical de moda . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210304135127/https://as.com/meristation/2021/03/04/noticias/1614860652_487028.html . March 4, 2021 . March 4, 2021 . MeriStation . es.
  15. 1785472037550465042 . FNF_Developers . FIRST UPDATE OF NEW RETURN . April 20, 2024.
  16. News: Wery . Jackson . April 18, 2021 . Friday Night Funkin' Drops Week 7 . TechRaptor . April 19, 2021.
  17. News: Barnewall . Chris . May 18, 2021 . Newgrounds Demo 'Friday Night Funkin' Raised $2 Million On Kickstarter . UPROXX . May 19, 2021.
  18. News: Dinsdale . Ryan . February 24, 2022 . Kickstarter Funded a Record Number of Games Projects in 2021 . en . IGN . February 27, 2022.
  19. ninja_muffin99 . FNF MOBILE? . . 2021-02-16.
  20. News: Davies . Patrick . 100 Mile House developer, 22, raises millions for Friday Night Funkin' video game . Vancouver Island Free Daily . February 2, 2022.
  21. News: Davies. Patrick. November 21, 2020. South Cariboo game designer reaps success. 100 Mile House Free Press. Black Press. live. February 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20201127134058/https://www.100milefreepress.net/entertainment/south-cariboo-game-designer-reaps-success/. November 27, 2020.
  22. Web site: Holland. Naquan. February 26, 2021. Iconic PaRappa the Rapper Level Modded Into Friday Night Funkin'. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210303002414/https://gamerant.com/parappa-the-rapper-friday-night-funkin/. March 3, 2021. February 28, 2021. Game Rant.
  23. Web site: Allen . Joseph . April 8, 2021 . Friday Night Funkin' Is Getting Polymod Support Soon . April 19, 2021 . TechRaptor.
  24. News: Lee. Julia. January 8, 2021. TikTok's algorithm led me to an amazing rhythm game. Polygon. live. February 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210303002414/https://www.polygon.com/2021/1/8/22220670/friday-night-funkin-browser-game-tiktok-songs. March 3, 2021.
  25. Web site: Costa . Thomas Schulze . February 26, 2021 . Conheça Friday Night Funkin', jogo de música que virou febre! . Discover Friday Night Funkin', a music game that has become a rage! . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210227110640/https://www.tecmundo.com.br/voxel/211842-conheca-friday-night-funkin-jogo-musica-virou-febre.htm . February 27, 2021 . February 28, 2021 . TecMundo . pt-BR.