From married couples to friends turned collaborators, designer duos tell us how they
rst started making games together and why two heads are often better than one
IN TWO MINDS
Words by Eric Watson | Inka and Markus Brand image by Ticketautomat38 February 2019
W
hile many games are designed
from the ground up by a
single individual, the iterative
process of board game
design can be perfectly suited to successful
collaborations between friends, colleaguesand even married couples. After all, one of
the biggest pioneers in modern board game
design, Wolfgang Kramer, produced many
of his best-known games alongside other
co-designers, including frequent partner
Michael Kiesling.Co-designer credits are not uncommon in
board game design, but frequent collaborators and
business partners represent a unique and special
partnership. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day we’ve
highlighted several prominent partnerships
joined by their love of creating games.THE CLIMBERS
DANIEL SKJOLD PEDERSEN & ASGER HARDING GRANERUDGAMES: 13 DAYS: THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS, FROGRIDERS, IRON CURTAIN,
RALLYE-TRUCKS, SHAKY MANOR, A TALE OF PIRATESHow they met: Granerud and
Pedersen rst met at a rock
climbing gym in Copenhagen back
in 2010, where they continue to
meet up to this day.How they got started: “We
discovered we also shared a
passion for board games, and
Daniel introduced me to Twilight
Struggle,” says Granerud.
“I recall Asger asking me one
day if I played any games or had
any interest in game design,”
adds Pedersen. “I had tinkereddesign games together, beginning
with 2016’s 13 Days: e Cuban
Missile Crisis.How they work: Pedersen admits
he frequently falls in love with new
game ideas, and the excitement
and passion to constantly bring
new ideas to the table.
“But sometimes it is better to
sit on an idea for a while and have
someone to bounce it o ,” he says.
“One of the best things about
working with Asger is that he has a
good eye for navigating the ocean
of ideas I toss at him.”
“Co-designing works very well
for us,” agrees Granerud. “Having a
co-designer means we can typicallya bit with creating my own maps
for games like Risk but had no
ambition to design a game from the
ground up. But why not!”
At the same time, the board
game community in Denmark was
beginning to grow. By 2012 the
pair were going to monthly board
game design meet-ups, and went
to Essen to pitch their rst game
designs. ey each successfully
signed their own games: Flamme
Rouge (Granerud) and Gold Fever
(Pedersen). From there they
decided to pool their skills andstart that test within a few hours of
the projects beginning. e back-
and-forth between two people
can also help weed out bad ideas
before we even have to test it.”What they like: “I like my games
to have a fun core puzzle,” says
Pedersen. “Like the DEFCON
tightrope in 13 Days, pushing your
agendas without causing nuclear
annihilation. Or the shared
puzzle in A Tale of Pirates of how
best to use the available time to
manoeuvre around the challenges.”
“I think a common thread
[in our games] is that we focus
on meaningful choices,” says
Granerud. “Smaller decisions
where the impact accumulates
over time, rather than a big single
decision. We tend to design
games that lean towards tactical
rather than strategical, though
the line is obviously blurry.”