Friday Night Knockout

The price to pay for immortality is to live forever.
Some people in the Bone Republic kill time by training their mind and body to one day wield the Elevator Button, a supposed Ultimate Artifact of Infinite Power. Skeptics call it a literary device created solely out of desperation by a culture to give infinite life a purpose, while others call it salvation.
Regardless of the truth, the Elevator Button motivates the whimsical cast of this 2D love letter to classic arcade stick fighters to improve themselves enough to reach it.
Friday Night Knockout is designed to be mechanically complex enough to satisfy veteran stick fighter players while holding back on excessive memorization to be accessible to new players to the genre. With fewer combos to memorize than usual, new players can jump into the game and not feel like the only thing in their way is knowledge of the indigestible amount of button sequences to keep track of.
Welcome to the Bone Republic
Welcome to the Bone Republic! Informally known as the Bone Zone, the Bone Republic is a plane of existence perpetually in limbo. It's been interdimensionally sitting beneath everyone's feet since the dawn of time, collecting dust, as well as forgotten objects of unmeasured power, people from a variety of backgrounds, and creatures of unknown origin. Strangely enough, the epicenter of the plane is the calmest, while the further one someone finds themselves, the closer they venture to the Event Horizon, where chaos takes the reigns. With objects falling from the sky without notice and rifts opening to unimaginable planes, the laws of physics become a mere suggestion to anyone who dares approach it.
The plane is unforgiving and untamed, yet in the midst of the chaos lie two distinct powers that be: June and the Elevator Button. Many speculate June's origins. The self-elected leader of the Bone Republic has equally unknown abilities and intentions. While she casually makes appearances at various locations in the Bone Zone, she successfully created a bureaucracy, built a transportation system, and funded the Friday Night Knockout League from nothing. The Elevator button is even more mysterious. Many deny its existence, and few claim to have seen it with their own eyes. Everyone, however, agrees that it's an artifact of immeasurable power.
Friday Night Knockout geographically spans the entire Bone Zone, from the peaceful town, Rio Claro, to the middle of the Event Horizon, in Belo Horizonte. It also has characters quite familiar with the plane and to fresh new faces.
Meet the Friday Night Champions
                                                   
       SLATE                               LAURA                              GODOT                          CHRISTMISS 
 Available later                Prototype version                Available after                   Available after
 in Early Access                      available                             release                               release
What's Inside?
Single Player (Available through update after release)

Versus (Local 1v1)

Four characters (Availability disclosed above)

Four stages (Stages become fully complete with their corresponding characters)

How Do I Play?
Use light, medium, and heavy punches as well as kicks to combo your opponent

Switch things up by chaining air, ground, and crouched attacks

Grab your opponents and send them flying

Vary your combos by adding special input moves to keep them on their feet

Parry by blocking at the right moment and counter your opponents' attacks

Finish your opponents off with Overloads: special input moves that spend corruption you've built up during the match

Friday Night Knockout can be played with controllers and/or keyboard. The layout on the keyboard is very similar to arcade stick fighters by using WASD for movement and IOP/JKL for attacks. Controllers are recommended for the best play experience, but the game can be played and mastered by just using a keyboard. If issues persist when using a specific controller or controls seem mapped incorrectly, contact support.
What's the Release Schedule?
These dates are tentative but should similarly reflect what ends up happening:

            Playtest                                         Early Access                               Full Release
               Now                                                 Now                                      Summer 2026

Features coming out at each time are listed above.
Note: some features may come out later and/or earlier than expected. The playtest version of the game will become more and more distant from the Early Access version of the game as time progresses. I'll be as transparent as possible about release schedule changes and progress as I can be.
Can I Report Bugs?
Please do. If you own a copy and would like to report a bug, please use the support email address. Begin the subject line with 'Bug Report'. In the body of the message, please explain the issue and how to reproduce it. Attach screenshots and/or screen recordings if you have them. If applicable to your build, please mention the unique build identifier found in the main menu.
Who Is Codegnat Studios?
While Codegnat Studios may imply an office building with many people, in reality, it's me: Alex! I'm a college student studying Computer Science and game development is one of my passions. I love it, so I spend a significant amount of my free time on it. Since I'm one person and I really don't like to cut corners, I do almost all of the work. If it's in the game, not a sound effect, and not credited to someone else, I probably did it. This is my biggest passion project, so I really hope you enjoy playing it with your friends.