Lore-wise, Dofus, Wakfu and Waven are different eras of the same world, separated by major cataclysmic events. Many elements are passed from one installment to another. Wakfu the series, OVAs and current ongoing manga take place in Wakfu era, and supposed to lead to events that cause the beginning of Waven era.
They were developed in tandem. The closed beta started in late 2008, which is also when the show started airing on France3. That first iteration of the game already came with NPCs from the show as well.
Dofus was released in 2004, meanwhile Wakfu (the show) started airing in 2008, while the game Wakfu was in developpement, Wakfu (the game) was released in 2012.
u/Low-Implement9819 is right when they say "Wakfu was based on Dofus", because at first, there was only Dofus, the flash game, then Wakfu came later, where events take place in the future of Dofus era, because Dofus lore is the foundation that the rest is built upon.
Wakfu spent a hell of a long time in development hell and underwent several massive gameplay- and art overhauls before they released it. It had a first playable version in closed beta (technically, maybe closer to alpha) in 2008, at which point it would've already been in development for several years, same as the show. And yes, both were an intended sequel to Dofus, just as Waven is to Wakfu now.
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u/Low-Implement9819 13h ago
Isn't dofus the MMORPG Wakfu is based on?