Spectacle And Environmentalism Combine In Jupiter & Mars

James Mielke tells us about his first project and new studio.

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There’s a burgeoning style of game that we’re increasingly being drawn to, one that promotes immersion and atmosphere over mechanics and wants to open minds more than challenge fingers. We’ve been referring to them as Sunday afternoon games and Jupiter & Mars is looking like a wonderful example of the form.

“One of the things I set out to do when we started designing this game is that we wanted to accommodate a variety of players,” creative director James Mielke tells us. “I would say that it’s easy to swim around and sort of explore and look around, but it’s also designed so that if you want to be the speed-run guy or you’re just interested in the story and seeing what happens, you can also power through it and stay on the critical path. We do recognise that there are going to be a lot of players who probably just dive in for that relaxing, zen element to it.”

You may remember Mielke from previous appearances in games™ from back in his Q Entertainment days working on Child Of Eden, Lumines: Electronic Symphony and the