Friday Night Funkin'

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.
DeveloperThe Funkin' Crew Inc.
DirectorPhantomArcade
Producers
  • Hundrec
  • AbnormalPoof
Designers
  • PhantomArcade
  • ninjamuffin99
  • Spazkid
  • fabs
Programmers
  • ninjamuffin99
  • EliteMasterEric
  • fabs
  • KadeDev
Artists
  • PhantomArcade
  • evilsk8r
  • brekkist
WriterPhantomArcade
Composers
  • Kawai Sprite
  • Saruky
EngineHaxeFlixel (OpenFL, Haxe)
Platforms
ReleaseTBA
GenreRhythm
ModeSingle-player

Friday Night Funkin' is an upcoming rhythm video game developed by The Funkin' Crew Inc. It 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. There are currently ten levels, alongside selected songs featuring more difficult remixes. The game is also open-source.

Friday Night Funkin' was initially created by Cameron "ninjamuffin99" Taylor, David "PhantomArcade" Brown, Isaac "Kawai Sprite" Garcia, and the pseudonymous evilsk8r for the Ludum Dare 47 game jam, released on itch.io on October 5, 2020. An expanded demo was released on both itch.io and Newgrounds on November 1, 2020, with updates semi-continually released in the following years. The demo was also released for iOS and Android on July 15, 2025. A full version backed by Kickstarter, titled Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game, is in development.

Gameplay

The player controls a character called Boyfriend, who must defeat a series of opponents to continue dating his significant other, Girlfriend. The player must beat multiple levels, referred to as "Weeks" in-game, containing three songs each. Each week, the player faces a different opponent. During gameplay, the opponent will sing a pattern of notes represented as arrows, which the player must then mirror by using their set keybinds; by default the arrow keys (↑, ↓, ←, →), and optionally W, A, S, and D keys. This is done for the duration of the song while avoiding running out of health.

Gameplay of the fifth Week

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. Friday Night Funkin' 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 music tracks. Selected songs also have harder remixes under the "Erect" and "Nightmare" difficulties.[citation needed]

Development

On October 3, 2020, video game programmer Cameron "ninjamuffin99" Taylor joined the Ludum Dare 47 game jam. Although the game jam's theme was "stuck in a loop", Taylor wanted to create a rhythm game inspired by multiple PlayStation titles, most notably PaRappa the Rapper and Gitaroo Man. Taylor contacted musician Isaac "Kawai Sprite" Garcia for a soundtrack and, after reaching out to various artists, was able to recruit pseudonymous artist evilsk8r and animator David "PhantomArcade" Brown for the project as well. Brown created the game's story—which was loosely inspired by former dating experiences—and collaborated with evilsk8r on the game's artwork and character design, while handling all the animations. Garcia based the game's songs on PaRappa the Rapper, while the characters' voices drew inspiration from Vib-Ribbon.

The team released the first version of Friday Night Funkin' on October 5, 2020. This version would become known as Friday Night Funkin' (Ludum Dare Prototype). Although this initial prototype did not perform well at the game jam, Taylor and the rest of the crew had plans to continue expanding the game. They reworked and improved the game with more songs and menus, and the first version of the demo was released on both Newgrounds and itch.io on November 1, 2020.

The Week 7 level was released as a timed exclusive on Newgrounds. Due to the increase in traffic on Newgrounds, the site crashed. Following the release of Week 7, the developers shifted focus to the full game, titled Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game. The game's soundtrack has been made available on Bandcamp and Spotify.

After the release of Week 7, there would be a 3-year hiatus of updates until April 30, 2024, when new updates would again be released semi-consistently, including a new Story Mode level, multiple remixes of previous songs, a mobile release for both iOS and Android devices, and a level collaboration with K-pop group Le Sserafim and their single "Spaghetti".

Kickstarter crowdfunding

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 Friday Night Funkin' was released, and reached its goal of $60,000 within hours. The Kickstarter ultimately raised over $2 million. In February 2022, IGN reported that Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game was one of the most funded Kickstarter projects of 2021. The full game was projected to feature a mobile port, more challenging remixes of the standard soundtrack, online multiplayer functionality, and several additional levels. Some of these plans have been introduced in the current demo of the game.

Reception

Friday Night Funkin' has an active modding community due to its open-source release, allowing for the easy implementation of fan-made content. As a result, the full game received mod support using the Polymod framework. TechRaptor noted Friday Night Funkin' shares some gameplay features with Dance Dance Revolution, PaRappa the Rapper, and the "Dance Contest" minigame from Club Penguin, and borrows aesthetic influences from early Flash games. The game has been credited with driving users back to Newgrounds, a site that rose in popularity in the early 2000s.

Other media

A Friday Night Funkin'-themed DLC was added to the rhythm video game Rift of the NecroDancer on December 10, 2025.

Notes

  1. ↑ Friday Night Funkin' is licensed under the Apache License 2.0, per the game's license file. The repository's readme file used to state, "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. From January 2023 to April 2024, the license file simply read "SORTING OUT LICENSE STUFF!!! BRB LOL!". In May 2024, the license was changed back to the Apache License 2.0, with the assets under a separate, closed license.

References

  1. 1 2 Sears-Allen, Diamond (May 17, 2021). "Bust A Move On Your Keyboard In Friday Night Funkin'". StudyBreaks. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Cheeda, Saim (April 27, 2021). "10 Things You Need To Know Before Starting Friday Night Funkin'". Game Rant.
  3. ↑ Williams, Leah J. (May 13, 2021). "Friday Night Funkin' Is The Internet's Latest Toe-Tapping Obsession". Kotaku Australia. Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Watts, Rachel (July 15, 2021). "Friday Night Funkin' is the DDR beatboxing game driving players back to Newgrounds". PC Gamer.
  5. ↑ Knight, Kyle (April 19, 2021). "How To Play Week 7 Of Friday Night Funkin' – FNF Guide". Dual Shockers. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ Ranta, Chris (April 22, 2021). "When is Friday Night Funkin Week 8?". The Click. Archived from the original on August 5, 2021. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  8. ↑ 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.
  9. ↑ "Revisiting Friday Night Funkin'". Whatever. January 23, 2025. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
  10. ↑ Press-Reynolds, Kieran (April 23, 2025). "How Friday Night Funkin' Became the Most Influential Music Game of the 2020s". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
  11. ↑ Rodriguez, Doby (January 5, 2026). "Girlfriend Approved: LE SSERAFIM Joins FNF". Enduins. Retrieved January 27, 2026.
  12. 1 2 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.
  13. ↑ Wery, Jackson (April 18, 2021). "Friday Night Funkin' Drops Week 7". TechRaptor. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
  14. ↑ Barnewall, Chris (May 18, 2021). "Newgrounds Demo 'Friday Night Funkin' Raised $2 Million On Kickstarter". UPROXX. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  15. ↑ Dinsdale, Ryan (February 24, 2022). "Kickstarter Funded a Record Number of Games Projects in 2021". IGN. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  16. ↑ Davies, Patrick (February 2, 2022). "100 Mile House developer, 22, raises millions for Friday Night Funkin' video game". Vancouver Island Free Daily.
  17. 1 2 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.
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ 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.
  20. ↑ Allen, Joseph (April 8, 2021). "Friday Night Funkin' Is Getting Polymod Support Soon". TechRaptor. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
  21. ↑ 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.
  22. ↑ 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!]. TecMundo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  23. ↑ Arellano, Patrick (December 22, 2021). "10 Most Beloved Flash Games, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  24. ↑ West, Evangeline (March 9, 2022). "Is Newgrounds' Friday Night Funkin' worthy of the hype?". Softonic. Archived from the original on January 15, 2026. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  25. ↑ Romano, Sal (December 10, 2025). "Rift of the NecroDancer DLC 'Friday Night Funkin' Music Pack' now available". Gematsu. Retrieved December 10, 2025.

Primary sources

In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):