Dap Is A Psychedelic Horror Game With Studio Ghibli & The Legend of Zelda Inspirations [PAX Online 2020 Preview]

In Dap you collect mushrooms, make friends with little Daps, and fight horror-inspired monsters while scavenging a forest and attempting to find your way out using your Dap friends.

I recently checked out the Dap demo following its inclusion as one of the 20 PAX Online Indie Showcase games and spoke to the developer, Melting Parrot—a husband-and-wife team based in Melbourne, Australia—about the game. They’ve been working on Dap for two years and note The Legend of Zelda, Abe’s Oddysee, Studio Ghibli, and Philip K. Dick as influences.

With a psychedelic, attention-grabbing pixel-art style and eerie music, Dap grabs your attention from the moment you start playing. The little Daps might look like monsters in the trailer, but after playing the demo they’re actually pretty cute.

Playing Dap, you move through an eerie forest while saving Daps and getting their help to progress. Certain sections are blocked until you have X Daps standing on platforms. In your way are corrupted Daps overtaken by an evil force seeping from the forest, bats, and other nightmarish creatures. You can fight back with a simple slash attack or chargeable magic for a stronger, sustained attack.

You’ll also cross corrupted sections of the forest. Fires protect you from the corruption, and you can build your own as makeshift checkpoints. At campfires you can craft potions using mushrooms you forage to replenish health.

Dap mixes horror and fantasy in playful ways. The creatures and corruption are horrific, the music is creepy—yet you’ll also find floating Dap seeds that blossom into full-grown Daps if you build a fire beneath them. Hearing them pop into existence is oddly comedic.

This isn’t a roguelike. Each level is a dungeon with an exit. Between levels you ascend to a Spirit World where rescued Daps appear to make a new home and where you can plant seeds (more on that in the Q&A below).

Developer Q&A (Melting Parrot)

“After playing through the demo I’d describe it as a depiction of my worst times on drugs — is it based on a bad trip or a good one?”

• Iris: I’d say a mix of the two extremes are depicted, but rather inspired by a good one.

“At a glance, I wouldn’t have seen the Studio Ghibli influences in Dap. What did they influence most?”

• Iris: The most obvious influence is the Kodamas from Princess Mononoke. A lot also comes from the forest environments, and from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: a forest beset by spores—harmful to humans, but beautiful.
• Paul: The way Studio Ghibli mixes humour, horror, and innocence into a unique package.

“Will the story be easily understood by the end, or left open to interpretation?”

• Paul: We’re aiming for a mix between those two extremes.
• Iris: There will definitely be room for interpretation. We’ll present a main thread, but some details and creatures may keep their meanings hidden.

“I can see the Abe’s Oddysee influence with the Daps. Do they require different commands to solve puzzles?”

• Iris: We prefer a more fluid, contextual approach. The Daps do the right thing if you bring them to the right place. They’re almost like a hive—many acting as one.

“What will growing plants in your spirit base do? Core experience or optional?”

• Iris: Trees grow from seeds found in secret areas. It’s optional, but might have an effect at the end.

“Press kit notes say ~3 hours. Is that core path only? Any collectibles?”

• Paul: Three hours is the core path—focused and streamlined. You’ll find seeds to bring back to the spirit world, and the Daps themselves are a kind of collectible—you’re trying to save as many as you can.
• Iris: We’re considering multiple endings and encouraging replay to find all seedlings.

Thank you to Paul and Iris for taking the time to talk to me about Dap!

You can download the demo right now via Steam or itch.io, and learn more at meltingparrot.com.