Friday Night Funkin'

Friday Night Funkin' is an open-source[2] rhythm game first released as a demo in 2020 for a game jam.[3] The game is developed by a small group called The Funkin' Crew Inc., with the four founding members being the Newgrounds users Cameron "ninjamuffin99" Taylor, David "PhantomArcade" Brown, Isaac "Kawai Sprite" Garcia, and evilsk8r. The game shares some gameplay features with Dance Dance Revolution and PaRappa the Rapper and borrows aesthetic influences from Flash games.[4] The game has been credited with driving users back to Newgrounds, a site whose popularity peaked in the early 2000s.

Friday Night Funkin'
The Friday Night Funkin' logo. It has a blue outline with splatter-like shapes in several areas. The text "Friday Night Funkin'" is further outlined in black, and the shiny magenta-pink words "Friday Night" are above the off-white word "Funkin'". In the word "Friday", the dot in the letter i is diamond-shaped and divided with two vertical and two horizontal lines. The text has graffiti-style letters with paint dripping down the bottom of the word "Funkin'" and onto the extended black outline.
Developer(s)The Funkin' Crew Inc.
Programmer(s)ninjamuffin99
Artist(s)
  • PhantomArcade
  • evilsk8r
Composer(s)Kawai Sprite[1]
EngineHaxeFlixel (OpenFL, Haxe)
Platform(s)
Genre(s)Rhythm
Mode(s)Single-player

The game mainly revolves around the player character, Boyfriend, who must defeat a variety of characters in singing and rapping contests in order to continue dating his love interest, Girlfriend. Gameplay revolves around hitting notes with timed inputs while avoiding running out of health for the duration of the song.[5][6]

The game was initially created for the Ludum Dare 47 game jam on October 5, 2020.[7] An expanded demo was released on November 1, 2020, with updates being released in the following months. A full version backed on Kickstarter titled Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game is in development.[8]

Gameplay
An illustration of a small-looking man with spiky cyan hair, a backward red cap, a white T-shirt with a red prohibition sign, baggy blue pants, and red and white sneakers. He wears a confident-looking expression with a smile and is giving the V-sign with his left hand while holding a microphone in his right hand.
The game's main playable character, Boyfriend

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 W, A, S, and D keys. 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.[1][5] The game contains two different modes of play: a story campaign in which songs are played linearly and a "free play" mode which allows for free selection of any of the game's music tracks.[5]

Development
Graffiti-style text logo. The medium-light blue-magenta words "Friday Night" are outlined in off-black and situated directly above the very light gray word "Funkin'", outlined in a bluer shade of blue-magenta. The letter i in the word "Friday" resembles a microphone.
The logo used for the Ludum Dare Prototype version of the game

Ninjamuffin99 assembled a small team of Newgrounds creators to develop an initial Friday Night Funkin' prototype as a submission to Ludum Dare 47 in October 2020, which 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.[7]

Ninjamuffin99 would later update this demo on November 1, 2020, which added several additional menus and options as well as Week 2, an additional fight. 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. Its soundtrack by composer Kawai Sprite has been made available for free on Bandcamp and Spotify.[9]

In February 2021, ninjamuffin99 asked Nintendo to allow his game to be ported to the Nintendo Switch. However, his request was rejected, which he believed was because the game was incomplete.[10]

Week 7 was released as a timed exclusive on Newgrounds.[11] Due to the increase in traffic on Newgrounds, the site crashed.[12] The game ended its weekly update following Week 7, with the developers instead focusing on working on the full game, titled Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game.[13]

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.[8] 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.[14] The Kickstarter ultimately raised over $2 million.[15] In February 2022, IGN reported that Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game was one of the most funded Kickstarter projects of 2021.[16] The full game will include a mobile version for Android[17] and iOS, an "Erect" mode which remixes the songs to make them harder, online multiplayer, and multiple new levels.[18] The game will cost $10 to $20 USD[19][20] but may be free and open-source on GitHub.[21]

Modding

The game has an active modding community due to its open-source release, allowing for the implementation of fan-made content.[4][22][23] As a result, the full game will receive mod support using the Polymod framework.[24][25][26]

References
  1. Sears-Allen, Diamond (May 17, 2021). "Bust A Move On Your Keyboard In Friday Night Funkin'". StudyBreaks. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  2. Friday Night Funkin' is licensed under the Apache License 2.0, per the game's license file, and it is described as "fully open source" by its developers in the readme file included with the game. However, the repository's readme file states, "IF YOU MAKE A MOD AND DISTRIBUTE A MODIFIED / RECOMPILED VERSION, YOU MUST OPEN SOURCE YOUR MOD AS WELL", implying a copyleft requirement. From May to August 2021, the license file simply stated "if u make mods, open source them, lol!"; the Apache License 2.0 was used prior to May. In a tweet, ninjamuffin99 stated that it gets "iffy" when non-code assets are used commercially.
  3. Watts, Rachel (July 15, 2021). "Friday Night Funkin' is the DDR beatboxing game driving players back to Newgrounds". PC Gamer.
  4. Wery, Jackson (January 29, 2021). "Friday Night Funkin' Fondly Recalls Flash Games". TechRaptor. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  5. "10 Things You Need To Know Before Starting Friday Night Funkin'". April 27, 2021.
  6. "Friday Night Funkin' Is The Internet's Latest Toe-Tapping Obsession". Kotaku Australia. May 13, 2021. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
  7. "Friday Night Funkin". ldjam.com. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
  8. Davies, Patrick (April 2, 2021). "Kickstarter launched for Friday Night Funkin'". 100 Mile House Free Press. Black Press. Archived from the original on April 2, 2021. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  9. Castillo, Alejandro (March 4, 2021). "Friday Night Funkin: cómo jugar y descargar gratis en PC el juego musical de moda". MeriStation (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 4, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  10. "Friday Night Funkin': creador revela por qué no llegó a Nintendo Switch" [Friday Night Funkin': creator reveals why it didn't make it to Nintendo Switch]. La República (in Spanish). May 1, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  11. Knight, Kyle (April 19, 2021). "How To Play Week 7 Of Friday Night Funkin' – FNF Guide". Dual Shockers. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
  12. Cohen, Skylar (April 19, 2021). "Friday Night Funkin' Week 7 Reveal Crashes Newgrounds". Game Rant. Archived from the original on April 25, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2022.
  13. Ranta, Chris (April 22, 2021). "When is Friday Night Funkin Week 8?". The Click. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  14. Wery, Jackson (April 18, 2021). "Friday Night Funkin' Drops Week 7". TechRaptor. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
  15. Barnewall, Chris (May 18, 2021). "Newgrounds Demo 'Friday Night Funkin' Raised $2 Million On Kickstarter". UPROXX. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  16. Dinsdale, Ryan (February 24, 2022). "Kickstarter Funded a Record Number of Games Projects in 2021". IGN. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  17. "Twitch".
  18. Davies, Patrick (February 2, 2022). "100 Mile House developer, 22, raises millions for Friday Night Funkin' video game". Vancouver Island Free Daily.
  19. "R/FridayNightFunkin - Comment by u/Ninja_muffin99 on "ninjamuffin ama episode 3 or 4 or something"".
  20. @ninja_muffin99 (December 6, 2020). "If we put Friday Night Funkin up for sale, and you can't afford it (will probably be between 10-20$), pirate it" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. @ninja_muffin99 (December 14, 2020). "if/when Friday Night Funkin is on Steam or wherever else the game will also be 100% free on github forever never forget this fact. I have not heard a single good excuse to NOT put your code open source. I'll eat my words if I hear a good one" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  22. Davies, Patrick (November 21, 2020). "South Cariboo game designer reaps success". 100 Mile House Free Press. Black Press. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  23. Holland, Naquan (February 26, 2021). "Iconic PaRappa the Rapper Level Modded Into Friday Night Funkin'". Game Rant. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  24. "Friday Night Funkin' Is Getting Polymod Support Soon". TechRaptor. April 8, 2021. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
  25. Lee, Julia (January 8, 2021). "TikTok's algorithm led me to an amazing rhythm game". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  26. Costa, Thomas Schulze (February 26, 2021). "Conheça Friday Night Funkin', jogo de música que virou febre!". TecMundo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.