Get to know the Dominican brothers behind the cozy Day of the Dead-inspired papercraft adventure

Attention residents of Limbo, Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo releases in just four days ⏰

We wanted to take a moment to pull back the curtain and share more about the team behind the game, so we sat down to chat with Galla Games about their inspirations behind Kulebra’s world, the design choices that shaped the experience, and the small details that bring the Land of Limbo to life (or unlife) 🩻

Let’s get rolling!

What was your journey like to the United States from the Dominican Republic?

Fairly smooth! The most annoying part I remember is that we had to spend around 12 hours in an airport for our next flight. But getting to the US was a bit surreal. The weather felt like there was always an air conditioner outside 24/7. But it is no surprise considering the warm weather in the Dominican Republic! We established ourselves in Illinois, and we've made some good friends along the way. Illinois is nothing like the Dominican Republic, but it sure has its wonders as well. 🙂

Are there any interesting characters, places, or items in Kulebra that - while they aren’t the focus of the story or game - you want to point out?

The Notebook! It is one of the items that always reminds me of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Because it has a pretty similar way of keeping tracks of the game's quests. Although we take a lot of inspiration from the game. This one just came naturally to match. The way the player keeps track of each character's details is certainly charming and nostalgic for us. An interesting similarity, I'd say.

Something perhaps you feel proud of, something that might have taken a surprising amount of work, or perhaps a secret or tip you’d like to share with other indie developers?

Paulo Lara: As an artist, a little trick that I'm happy about is keeping most animations of my character to just be 2 frames. Walking, talking, running, and all the different moods for these animations are limited to 2 frames. This allowed me to put a lot of energy in the level of detail of the character's sprites. Having a fairly charming result overall.

Pavel Lara: I think one of the more challenging parts that I'm very proud of how it turned out was optimizing the game for the Nintendo Switch platform. From the process I got a deeper understanding of how game data is handled I gained a greater appreciation for managing game assets and processes to gain performance. I think being forced to optimize a game, while challenging, can lead you to learn many coding and organization tricks that help even outside of optimization. It also teaches you when it's okay to not be as efficient to save on development time (after all, optimizing does take time and effort which could be better used elsewhere).

How did you come to create each of the characters?

Paulo Lara: They follow a pretty organic process. Usually I would just start with a sketch of a very loose idea. And believe it or not, a lot of the story elements of a character can depart from a very early and rough sketch. Is a cyclical loop in which the concept art feeds the story elements as much as these story elements shape the visual of the character as well. There are other elements that come after, such as gameplay limitations, and other aspects of that nature. It’s always interesting to see what starts as a blurry idea in our heads to fully sharpen as the characters are fully defined by all these elements.

Do you have any concept art you can share?

Paulo Lara: Sure thing! I always enjoy seeing this before and after of Flora's design, from chapter one. It’s interesting how the concept translates to the game.

Is there anything specific to the Dominican Republic in the game that other Dominican’s might recognise, or that you would like players to know about?

Yes! There are two very iconic elements in the game. One is pretty upfront, and another one is a fairly shy detail.

Diablo Cojuelo's Mask (Limping Devil's Mask): This element is very prominent in the antagonist of the game, it feels almost like a one to one interpretation of the iconic mask from the Dominican Republic folklore. Particularly from the annual carnival. This element is also a soft influence in Kulebra's character design. The shape of Kulebra's head follows the shape of the same iconic mask, and this is pretty intentional.

Greca (a traditional coffee pot): And the other fairly iconic, but shy element in the game is the "greca". Which is the name they give to a coffee maker in the Dominican Republic. You can find it in one location in the game.

Are there any other cultures in Latin America that you were inspired by?

When we moved to the United States, I was particularly influenced by Mexican art, but silly enough, it came mostly from small products from convenient stores and other elements. So a lot of the main influence could be said to be fairly superficial. Nonetheless, it was a segway into exposing myself to more and more elements from Mexican culture, which affected considerably the way I approached color choices and textures in the game.

Are there any particular past games that shaped you, or Kulebra?

Paulo: Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is the one that always comes to mind. And probably the main point of inspiration for the game. It's the game that I keep the closest to my heart as a game developer. The game opened a window to getting to know and help its characters like no other. Through empathy and a little bit of getting to know them, you could make radical changes in their lives, helping them with their problems at hand. This is very relevant throughout the whole game!

Pavel: Ace Attorney was the first game that introduced me to the idea that games do not need action to be fun, and can rely on engaging stories. I took a lot of inspiration from it. Also, Night in the Woods was a very emotional experience for me. It inspired me to the same idea regarding engaging stories, it was a game that really left a mark on me.

We’re looking forward to waking up in and exploring Limbo on May 16!

Also with the game so close, we wanted to make sure that our cozy gaming fans will be able to take advantage of all we have in store for Kulebra’s debut 💖

🏷️ 10% off on Steam until May 27
🏷️ 10% off on Nintendo Switch until May 30 - Pre-orders are available now ⚠️
🏷️ 15% off on Nintendo Switch until May 30 - if you already own another Fellow Traveller title*
✅ Available for Xbox Series X|S, and Game Pass players can pick up the game with their subscription from day one

Wishlist or preorder now to start exploring Limbo when the game goes live! For more from Galla Games and Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo, follow on Bluesky, Twitter/X, or Instagram.

*Excludes Suzerain

An interview with Galla Games about Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo