Started four years ago, Dala and the Cursed Forest was a passion project for us.
Before becoming a roguelike deckbuilder, Dala started out as an action game for my university thesis project. Back then, the main character could transform into three forms inspired by the Dahla flower (torch ginger) which blooms in red, white, and pink colors, each representing different abilities to defeat enemies.
I immediately saw potential with this project but had to put the project down for a while, so when we had the chance to continue developing it further in 2021, we decided to turn Dala into a roguelike deckbuilder - drawing inspiration from recent strategy games like Darkest Dungeon and Slay the Spire, but with a brighter, more fantasy vibe I prefer as an artist.
Towards the end of 2021, we participated in a local game contest, the depa Accelerator Program Batch 2 and won the Best Strategy Game award! With just a core team of two people driving the project , it was extremely challenging.
We also came to the idea of card fusion during the competition, having quickly prototype the idea and playtested it, it added so much to the strategy and all the mechanics started to come together.
Back then there were just three fusion recipes, it has now grown into over 50 different combos for each deck as we quickly realized it to be a core mechanic. Being able to connect the card fusions with transformation mechanics from the original action game brings a lot of strategic depth.
We’re in the middle of beta testing with the game and will soon open it for wider public testing.
If you're interested in trying the beta early, wishlist us on Steam and join our Discord.
Simply requesting a beta key on our server to be among the first people to test the game!
Thanks for your continued support, I'll keep providing updates as the game develops.
Maybe starting venting a bit more here too. 😆
Have a lovely day!
Nonae ZaiStudio
Follow for more updates:
Discord: https://discord.gg/JC8buyJCJW
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dalazaistudio
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dalazaistudio/