Friday Night Funkin'
Upcoming video game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Friday Night Funkin' is an upcoming rhythm video game developed by The Funkin' Crew Inc. The demo was released on Newgrounds in 2020.[6] The game is developed by a small group consisting primarily of Cameron "ninjamuffin99" Taylor, David "PhantomArcade" Brown, Isaac "Kawai Sprite" Garcia, and evilsk8r. Friday Night Funkin' is also open-source.[a]
| Friday Night Funkin' | |
|---|---|
| |
| Developer | The Funkin' Crew Inc. |
| Publisher | ninjamuffin99 |
| Director | PhantomArcade[1] |
| Designers |
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| Programmers |
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| Artists |
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| Writer | PhantomArcade |
| Composers | |
| Engine | HaxeFlixel (OpenFL, Haxe) |
| Platforms | |
| Release | TBA |
| Genre | Rhythm |
| Mode | Single-player |
Friday Night Funkin' 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] There are currently nine levels, alongside selected songs amongst the nine levels featuring more difficult remixes.
Friday Night Funkin' was initially created for the Ludum Dare 47 game jam on October 5, 2020.[9] An expanded demo was released on November 1, 2020, with updates continually released in the following months. A full version backed by Kickstarter, titled Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game, is in development.[10] On July 15, 2025, Friday Night Funkin' was released for iOS and Android.[‡ 1]
Gameplay
Friday Night Funkin' is a rhythm game in which 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.
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.[4][7] 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.[7] Selected songs also have harder remixes under the "Erect" and "Nightmare" difficulties.
Development
Early development (2020–2021)
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. Friday Night Funkin' 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 Friday Night Funkin'.[9] 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.
The seventh Week was released as a timed exclusive on Newgrounds.[11] Due to the increase in traffic on Newgrounds, the site crashed.[12] Following the release of Week 7, the developers shifted focus to the full game, titled Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game.[13] Its soundtrack has been made available on Bandcamp and Spotify.[14]
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.[10] 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.[15] The Kickstarter ultimately raised over $2 million.[16][6] In February 2022, IGN reported that Friday Night Funkin': The Full Ass Game was one of the most funded Kickstarter projects of 2021.[17] The full game was planned to include a mobile version for Android and iOS,[18] remixes of the songs intended to be more difficult to play, online multiplayer, and multiple new levels.[19]
Later development (2024–present)
The ninth level, titled "WeekEnd 1", was released on April 30, 2024.[‡ 2][20] The update also featured the addition of "Erect" remixes, remixed versions of previously existing in-game songs with more challenging gameplay.[‡ 2] Friday Night Funkin' received a partial UI overhaul as well.[‡ 2]
Friday Night Funkin' received continual updates throughout the latter half of 2024 and into 2025, introducing several new remixes, new difficulty options and the ability to play as Pico outside of "WeekEnd 1", with more characters to follow in the future.[‡ 3][‡ 4][21] iOS and Android versions were released on July 15, 2025.[‡ 1] The tenth level, titled "SP. Collab 1", was released on January 3rd, 2026. The level is a collaboration with K-pop group Le Sserafim, where Boyfriend sings "Spaghetti" with members of the group.[22]
Reception
Friday Night Funkin' has an active modding community due to its open-source release, allowing for the easy implementation of fan-made content.[23][24][25] As a result, the full game received mod support using the Polymod framework.[26][27][28] TechRaptor noted 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 early Flash games.[23] Friday Night Funkin has been credited with driving users back to Newgrounds, a site that rose in popularity in the early 2000s.[6][29][30]
In other media
A Friday Night Funkin'-themed DLC was added to the rhythm video game Rift of the NecroDancer on December 10, 2025.[31]
Notes
- 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.
