WeekEnd 1: Due Debts

Information

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WeekEnd 1, titled Due Debts, is the first weekend and ninth level overall in Friday Night Funkin'. It was released on the 30^th of April, 2024.

Overview

Opponent

Pico faces off against Darnell, his and Nene's trigger-happy pyromaniac friend.

Location

WeekEnd 1 takes place in Philly, with two stage variants: Streets^[1] and Blazin'.^[2]

For the Streets variant, the location is set near a gloomy city during a storm with rain and smog. Silhouettes of skyscrapers can be seen in the background skyline, in front of which is a highway on a bridge with a dead end that has no barrier and lampposts along the highway that are lit. There is a construction site nearby to the right. On the ground below, there is a traffic light with horizontally arranged signals, with cars passing by. In the foreground, there are brick walls on the left with graffiti on them that has the word "Newgrounds" in white paint, along with wired fencing on top. The sidewalk in front has a green tint, and there are sheets of cardboard and torn newspapers on the curb, with a storm drain situated between these.

For the Blazin' variant, the background is blurred and darkened, and the graffiti on the walls is missing.

Remixed Visuals

During ERECT mode and player character remixes, the skies are now a dull gray and fog rolls in. The gray skies are now affecting the lighting of the stage and characters, as everything now takes on a less saturated, washed-out color scheme.

Unique Effects

Darnell and Nene have various special animations. Nene and Darnell laugh at Pico during the beginning cutscene of Darnell after Darnell kicks a spray can at him that Pico shoots. Darnell kicks graffiti cans at Pico during 2hot. Darnell and Pico have a fist fight during Blazin'.

Tracks

Cutscene Tracks

Trivia

When the update first released, a large number of players were running into an at the time unknown error that only read "Null Object Reference", which would cause the game to crash. This bug would usually occur when completing Darnell, though there were reports of the bug happening on other songs and sections of the game as well. This error quickly became a meme in the community and even caused it to trend on Twitter for a short while.
- The cause of this bug appeared to be because, ironically, the crash handler made for the game was crashing.^[3]^[4]
The update adding WeekEnd 1 was delayed multiple times. It was originally supposed to be released in Q1 2022,^[5] but the release date was changed to the 30^th of April, 2022,^[6] due to more time being needed.^[7] It was later delayed again in order to further refine the production of the update, with no new release date being given.^[8]
- Due to these delays, WeekEnd 1 is currently the holder of the longest time between levels, releasing 3 years and 12 days after Week 7 on the 18^th of April, 2021.
WeekEnd 1 was leaked ahead of its official release due to a link to an early test build of its update being accidentally left in the GitHub repository for Friday Night Funkin'.^[9]^[10] Lead animator and artist PhantomArcade confirmed the leaks were real via a Tweet^[11] and a Twitch live stream titled "FNF work, it leaked, no point in hidin it".^[12] There is conflicting information about the origin of the leaked build and who had access to it,^[13] but access was presumably limited while it was still available.
This is the second level to change the player character's appearance between songs, the first being Week 7.
This is the fourth level to have a guest character as an opponent. The first was Week 2, the second was Week 3, and the third was Week 7. This is also the first level to have guest characters in each of the main roles.
WeekEnd 1 continues after the events of Week 7.^[7]
The scene in the first cutscene where Darnell is spray painting may be a reference to artwork done by MindChamber for the Pico stickers on the now-defunct Newgrounds store.^[14]
PhantomArcade originally wanted WeekEnd 1 to be very off-kilter and weird, but ninjamuffin99 mentioned that a break from weirdness was needed and that the game could use something "cool." This is why Darnell became the opponent of this level, as PhantomArcade then thought of a cool character and suggested Darnell. Once PhantomArcade had decided on the opponent and drafted a scenario, development moved forward as evilsk8r helped to refine the character and stage design, Kawai Sprite composed songs that fit the art and mood of the story and interactions, and PhantomArcade requested new gameplay elements that he drafted and sent to ninjamuffin99, who worked on the math and code to bring the concepts to life.^[15]^[16]
Originally, WeekEnd 1 was internally called Week 8.^[17]
This is the first level to have one of its tracks hidden from its track listing in Story Mode before the level's completion.
The player must complete WeekEnd 1 in Story Mode to unlock its tracks in Freeplay.
Completing WeekEnd 1 unlocks Pico as a playable character in Freeplay. The game will notify the player of this with a message that pops up after exiting the Results screen.
This is the fourth level where something is moving along in the background. The first were the subway trains during Week 3, the second were the passing cars in Week 4, and the third was Steve in Week 7.
- The cars in the background actually adhere to the traffic lights. When the light is green, they'll drive as normal, and when it turns red, they'll stop at the light and resume driving when it turns green again.
Pico's final blow in Blazin' is a reference to Pico's Unloaded, where he defeats the last of the Überkids in a very similar manner.
The rain that falls during this stage isn't just a simple overlay, but actually a true shader. If the player looks closely, they can see refractions in the rain. This effect was coded by pixel artist and programmer saharan.^[18]^[19]
- The rain intensifies as the level goes on, starting from a light drizzle in Darnell to full rain with thunder and lightning in Blazin'.
- There are sound effects for the raindrops in the game files, but they go unused.
Originally, A-Bot was supposed to have an arm that would move around with Darnell, with PhantomArcade likening this to a Stand from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. This was scrapped because PhantomArcade felt that it was too complex and that WeekEnd 1 was already getting to be "too much" in terms of art assets.^[20]
According to PhantomArcade in a live stream, the level's background takes inspiration from The Powerpuff Girls Movie.^[21]
- The background was designed in collaboration with animator RedMinus; he designed the location based on evilsk8r's concept art for PhantomArcade to later use his interpretation as the base for the final design.^[22]
The fist fight between Pico and Darnell during the last cutscene of WeekEnd 1 is based on the final fight between Simon and Anti-Spiral in the second Gurren Lagann movie: Gurren Lagann The Movie: The Lights in the Sky are Stars.^[23]
- The handshake between Pico and Darnell in the cutscene also references the handshake between Ryu and Cyclops during the intro to X-Men vs. Street Fighter.
The level was originally going to have reflective rain puddles underneath Darnell and Pico; they were removed due to performance issues. However, PhantomArcade has stated they could potentially be added back in if the team managed to get the puddles working without the game's performance suffering.^[24]
Darnell has some unused voice lines, as shown in a Newgrounds submission by PhantomArcade.^[25] Some of the unused voice lines include unused laughs as well as multiple "tch" sounds.
- One of the "tch" sounds presumably gave way to Darnell's iconic "chud" sound. The audio reveals that this was supposed to be Darnell getting pissed.
In the storyboard for the intro cutscene, there are some gags and characters that didn't make the final cut during the crowd shot, namely a Knight from Castle Crashers, a woman with large breasts, and a guy pointing a gun at his forehead.
Cynthia from Contract Rush makes a cameo in the intro cutscene of WeekEnd 1.^[26]
Prior to being named "Due Debts", WeekEnd 1 was originally going to be simply titled "Darnell and Nene".^[27]
- This would have made WeekEnd 1 the fourth level to be named after its opponent, with the other three being Week 1, Week 3, and Week 7. It would have also been the first level to be named after its supporting character.
The sticker transition that plays after beating or quitting a song/level is modified for all tracks of WeekEnd 1, showing only the Pico, Nene, Darnell and "miscellaneous" stickers.
The name of the medal for beating WeekEnd 1, "Yo, Really Think So?", is a reference to a meme revolving around fake leaks of the level, where Darnell says this line.

Gallery

The intro cutscene.
The cutscene before Darnell.
The cutscene after 2hot.
The end cutscene.
Pile of spray cans.
A singular spray can.
A lit up spray can.
Ditto, but static.
A spray can being kicked upwards.
A spray can being kicked forward.
A spray can being shot by Pico.
Impact particles of a spray can.
Explosion of a spray can after being shot.
Leaked background for the level, an early version.^[28]
Ditto, but with a concept sprite for Darnell and no fog.
The leaked background, but without the sky.
Ditto, but the foreground.
Ditto, but the highway.
Ditto, but the car and stoplight.
RedMinus' interpretation of the level's background used as the base for the final design.
Ditto, but in black and white.
Storyboard of the intro cutscene, made by PhantomArcade.
Storyboard of the end cutscene, made by PhantomArcade.
Rough draft of Pico from the first scene of the intro cutscene, animated by Figburn.
Rough draft of the scene where Pico notices Nene in the intro cutscene, animated by Figburn.
Ditto, but an early sketched version.
Rough draft of the scene where Pico gets chased by Nene from the intro cutscene, animated by Sadewoo.
Ditto, but more refined and complete.
Rough draft of the last scene from the intro cutscene, animated by topium.
Production frame of Darnell spray painting from the last scene of the intro cutscene, made by topium.
Rough draft of the first scene from the end cutscene, animated by Jaguilar.
Alternative early version of the cutscene after 2hot (notice the lack of sound effects and the different background music).
Unfinished version of the end cutscene.
Background shot for the first scene of the intro cutscene, made by brekkist.
Background shot for Nene's first scene from the intro cutscene, made by brekkist.
Background shot for the scene where Nene searches for Pico from the intro cutscene, made by brekkist.
Background shot for the wall where Pico hides from after seeing Nene in the intro cutscene, made by brekkist.
Background shot for Pico's flashback scene from the intro cutscene, made by brekkist.
Background shot for the scene where Nene notices Pico from the intro cutscene, made by brekkist.
Background shot for the intro and end cutscenes, made by brekkist.
Cleanup shot for the scene after Pico bumps into A-Bot from the intro cutscene, made by brekkist.
Background shot for the last scenes of the intro and pre-2hot cutscenes, made by brekkist.
Background shot for the pre-2hot and end cutscenes, made by brekkist.
Background shot for the end cutscene, made by brekkist. (1/2)
Background shot for the end cutscene, made by brekkist. (2/2)
Accidentally leaked spin sprite of Darnell for Blazin'.
Pico failing to shoot one of the spray cans thrown by Darnell during the song 2hot.
The old Story Mode text for the level.
The full version of the "Target" picture that Nene angrily ripped in half during the end cutscene of WeekEnd 1.
Doodle of the unnamed background kid from the intro cutscene.