Friday Night Funkin'
Friday Night Funkin' | |
---|---|
Programmer(s) | Ninjamuffin99 |
Artist(s) |
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Composer(s) | Kawai Sprite[1] |
Engine | HaxeFlixel (OpenFL, Haxe) |
Platform(s) | |
Release |
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Genre(s) | Rhythm |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Friday Night Funkin' (often abbreviated to FNF) is an open-source[2] donationware rhythm game first released in 2020 for a game jam.[3] The game was developed by a team of four Newgrounds users, Cameron "Ninjamuffin99" Taylor, David "PhantomArcade" Brown, Isaac "kawaisprite" 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.
The game includes a roster generally comprising characters from external media on the Newgrounds site.
The game revolves around the player character, "Boyfriend", who must defeat a variety of characters in singing and rapping contests in order to date his love interest, "Girlfriend". Gameplay revolves around mimicking the opponent's 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 in October 2020.[7] A full version backed on Kickstarter titled Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game is planned for release in early 2022.[8]
Gameplay
Friday Night Funkin' is a rhythm game in which the player must pass multiple levels, referred to as "weeks", each containing three songs. 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
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 claimed to have 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 grew, 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 requested Nintendo to allow his game to be ported on 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 this caused to Newgrounds, the site crashed and was unavailable for several days. 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.[12]
Modding
The game has an active modding community due to its open-source release, allowing for the implementation of fan-made content.[4][13][14] As a result, the full game will receive mod support using the Polymod framework.[15][16][17]
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 for the full version of the game was released under the name Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game and it reached its goal of $60,000 within hours.[18] The Kickstarter ultimately raised over $2 million.[19]
References
- ^ Jump up to: a b Sears-Allen, Diamond (May 17, 2021). "Bust A Move On Your Keyboard In Friday Night Funkin'". StudyBreaks. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
- ^ Friday Night Funkin is described as "fully open source" by its developers in its readme files; however, its license file simply state "if u make mods, open source them, lol!", implying a copyleft requirement without any other requirements. Friday Night Funkin was, prior to May 2021, licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
- ^ Watts, Rachel (July 15, 2021). "Friday Night Funkin' is the DDR beatboxing game driving players back to Newgrounds". PC Gamer.
- ^ Jump up to: a b 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.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "10 Things You Need To Know Before Starting Friday Night Funkin'". April 27, 2021.
- ^ "Friday Night Funkin' Is The Internet's Latest Toe-Tapping Obsession". Kotaku Australia. May 13, 2021. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Friday Night Funkin". ldjam.com. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Knight, Kyle (April 19, 2021). "How To Play Week 7 Of Friday Night Funkin' – FNF Guide". Dual Shockers. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
- ^ Ranta, Chris (April 22, 2021). "When is Friday Night Funkin Week 8?". The Click. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Friday Night Funkin' Is Getting Polymod Support Soon". TechRaptor. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Costa, Thomas Schulze (February 26, 2021). "Conheça Friday Night Funkin', jogo de música que virou febre!". TecMundo (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
- ^ Wery, Jackson (April 18, 2021). "Friday Night Funkin' Drops Week 7". TechRaptor. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
- ^ Barnewall, Chris (May 18, 2021). "Newgrounds Demo 'Friday Night Funkin' Raised $2 Million On Kickstarter". UPROXX. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
External links
- 2020 video games
- Indie video games
- Rhythm games
- Video games developed in Canada
- Browser games
- Windows games
- MacOS games
- Linux games
- Open-source video games
- Single-player video games
- Kickstarter-funded video games
- Ludum Dare video games