With Carp City (The City of the Dancing Carp), Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel Mizieliński present a work that goes far beyond classic seek-and-find illustration. The Polish creative duo, internationally celebrated for Maps, brings together their two major passions in this new project: illustration and game development.
Even before publishing their first books, the two were developing video games - a creative energy that now returns in full force in Carp City. Or, as they put it: “The City of the Dancing Carp is not a typical book. It’s a project that combines our two main passions: picture books and games.”
The playful structure is clear and clever: every scene introduces a new encounter, a new puzzle, a new task. Readers follow characters, solve problems and transform the appearance of the city using removable stickers, checklists and items.
The story: a city in turmoil. Carp City is preparing for the great festival of the seven-armed orangutan. Delegations from around the world are arriving to showcase their skills, exchange goods and revive old friendships. The city hums with anticipation, but chaos is spreading. Every corner holds a new adventure - and all the narrative threads converge in the hands of the players.
Carp City consists of three elements that fuse into a single game experience: a large-format illustrated book full of dense, vibrant city scenes, a black-and-white booklet containing all dialogues, hints and text passages, and seven sticker sheets that allow readers to actively reshape the city.
The illustrations are highly detailed, full of humor, small stories and lovingly crafted elements. What the Mizielińskis create here is a blend of picture book, adventure game and metapuzzle – a world that grows while reading and transforms while playing.
As they explain the process themselves: “In The City of the Dancing Carp you can venture into the maze of streets, talk to its citizens, solve puzzles, and uncover mysteries. Here adventures await you at every turn.”
The entire project began with the big map: “Surprisingly, we didn’t start with writing. We began with a rough sketch of a city map... The map was our starting point and inspiration. ... We decided that the entire city would fit on a 5 by 5 grid, totaling 25 spreads and 50 pages. We took a plain A3 sheet of paper and divided it into 25 rectangles. Then we started filling it with important landmarks: a river, city wall, ocean, mountains, university, theater, etc. Each rectangle had to have a point of interest—something that could serve as a good, descriptive feature. This would allow us to direct players, for example, to the southern city gate, city palace, or Sunny Square. The final map isn’t too far off from that first drawing we made before writing a single story.”
The creative duo lives and works in Warsaw, where they run a shared studio developing a diverse portfolio of illustrated books, games and graphic narratives – always driven by their curiosity to make complex worlds both visually and playfully accessible. Since 2008, Daniel has been teaching at the Graphic Faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. oladaniel.com
Carp City (The City of the Dancing Carp)
Aleksandra Miezilińscy
Illustration: Daniel Miezilińscy
240 pages, Moritz Verlag