[JeuxNco.org] Interview de Wolfgang KRAMER

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« I heartily greet all French game players! »

Auteur de jeux depuis plus de 35 ans, Wolgang KRAMER a publié plus de 200 jeux !!

Jeux’n’CO : Can you introduce yourself to people who do not know you yet?

Wolfgang Kramer : My name is Wolfgang Kramer. I live in Stuttgart, Germany. I am a game designer since more than 35 years. I have published more than 200 games in many languages.

I got for five games the award “Game of the Year” in Germany.

1986: Heimlich & Co (Top Secret)

1987: Auf Achse

1995: El Grande

1999: Tikal

2000: Torres

My most sold game is the card game “6 nimmt!” (Take six) with more than 2 millions sold copies. The total editions of my games are more than 10 millions.

Since 1995 I often publish my games with co-authors like Michael Kiesling, Richard Ulrich, the KRAG-Team (Kramer, Raggan, Grunau) and other co-authors.

Jeux’n’CO : Can you brief us on the last game you created?

Wolfgang Kramer : My last games I have published in autumn 2010 are

- ASARA (Ravensburger) and

- TIKAL II (GameWorks, Asmodée).

Both games I have developed with Michael Kiesling.

ASARA is a demanding and entertaining family game for 2 to 4 players, age: 9 up.

TIKAL II is a challenging game for 2 to 4 advanced players, age: 12 up.

I like both games very much.

Jeux’n’CO : « Les Marchands du Moyen-Age » is the French version of the revisited game « Die Händler »: many players describe it as being one of the best trading game. What do you think about it?

Wolfgang Kramer : I have developed “Die Händler” as a trading game together with Richard Ulrich. It was published 1999 (in the same year as TIKAL) only in Germany by Queens. Now Filosofia published the game in autumn 2010 in many languages. I like trading games and I like “Les Marchands du Moyen-Age” because the target of the game is not to be the player with the most money. The winner is the player who has the most successful career, who climbs up to the highest social position and can keep it.

Jeux’n’CO : In your impressive ludography, it does not appear any cooperative games … Is this a type of game you don’t like playing or creating? Maybe you’ve got one in a project?

Wolfgang Kramer : That is not right! I developed some cooperative games for children:

- Tabaijana, Corsaro, Augen auf! (Herder)

- Das Piratennest (Jumbo)

- Wir machen mit! – a environment game (Neckermann)

- Team AG (Consulting Company)

- TOP (Siemens)

- Think Chronos (Ravensburger)

Corsaro got the award “Children Game of the Year”.

Jeux’n’CO : When your creative work is completed and the game goes into the hands of the editor, do you maintain relationships with illustrators or is it fully supported by the publisher? What are the illustrations that you have been most pleased to discover the outcome?

Wolfgang Kramer : Developing a game has four important sections:

- Investigation for theme and title

- Developing

- Testing

- Working together with the editor

The working with the editor is very important for me inclusive the illustrations. It is the search for the optimum of the game.

I like many illustrations of my game. For instance:

Tikal, Java, Mexica, Celtica, Asara (all Ravensburger), Princes of Florence (Quined),

El Capitan (Quined Games), Alcazar (Kosmos), Tikal II (the cover is excellent).

Jeux’n’CO : What are your future plans?

Wolfgang Kramer : On the fair in Nuremberg 2011 alea will publish a game from Michael Kiesling and me.

Now I am working on a game for the tiptoi brand of Ravensburger. I think this new technique could be very successful in future. Ravensburger started with five children games this autumn (one is from me) and will publish some more games next autumn.

I believe that this technique could also be very interesting for family and adult games.

Jeux’n’CO : I thank you on behalf of the association Jeux’n'CO for the time you spent on me. Any last words?

Wolfgang Kramer : I heartily greet all French game players!

Fait votre jeux! Beaucoup saluts!

Mes meilleurs compliments et au revoir

Wolfgang Kramer

14th November, 2010-11-14

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