Disney Lorcana is a joyful trading card game. Beyond the initial adrenaline rush of opening new booster packs, for those players who grew up watching Disney films, there’s an added wave of fun, nostalgia, and recognition that comes with discovering new characters.
In a pack, you might find Winnie the Pooh as a honey-powered wizard. You might find a giant Tinkerbell getting revenge on Captain Hook. For my fellow Atlantis and Treasure Planet pals, you’ll find representation for Jim Hawkins, Morph, Milo, and Kida – and in a mainstream game!
According to Ryan Miller, brand manager and co-designer of Disney Lorcana, it’s that sense of pure joy and shared connection the Ravensburger design team aims to evoke with this swiftly-growing TCG. “If we’re making smiles, that’s the influence I want,” Miller told GamesHub. “I want to make smiles. I want to bring people together. That’s my favourite thing.”
Designing Disney Lorcana
The idea for the game began simply: Ravensburger wanted to further expand its storied relationship with Disney, with a new project initially codenamed Project Famous. Having previously worked at Wizards of the Coast (Magic: The Gathering), Miller was well-familiar with TCG design – but had reservations about designing a new TCG in an increasingly crowded market.
“I’ve worked on many trading card games, and so I know that it is a very tough market to make a splash in. It is very difficult … and so my initial feeling was a bit skeptical, I have to admit. I had talked a few companies out of doing trading card games in the past, when I was consulting with them.”
What changed Miller’s mind on co-designing Disney Lorcana was Ravensburger’s long-standing, 60-year relationship with Disney, which includes projects like the excellent Disney Villainous (one of GamesHub’s favourites), and the overall high quality of games being produced at the company.
“When I started looking into it, my cynicism faded away, and I came to this realisation that [Ravensburger] is the only company that can do this right. There’s three ingredients, I think, to a great experience – and it’s love, attention to detail, and hard work. That’s what I saw there with Ravensburger.”
Read: Disney Lorcana review – Pure tabletop magic
With doubts pushed aside, work on Disney Lorcana began with great enthusiasm around 2021. Miller was bolstered in his ambitions by a childhood love of Disney, and a history with both traditional board game design and TCG design. Working alongside co-designer Steve Warner, a range of Lorcana iterations were developed, with some “crazy ideas” on the table. At one point, Miller had the idea to create an “engine builder” style game, where you line up cards and then resolve particular effects – but eventually, Miller and Warner settled into the idea of expanding on more familiar mechanics.
Speaking to GamesHub, Miller described a realisation that Disney Lorcana “couldn’t be innovative” from a mechanical standpoint, because too-complicated mechanics or unfamiliar gameplay would ultimately “take attention away from all [the] wonderful characters and stories.”
“What we really wanted to do was have a game that elevates the theme, and gets out of the way to let the theme do the fun and strategy,” Miller said. “About five months into this process, we started to crystallise the game design that became Lorcana.”
Diving deep into Disney lore
Working alongside Disney, Miller and Warner worked to create a framing narrative that would allow fan-favourite characters to thrive. There were few bounds for the inclusion of these characters, beyond maintaining hero / villain alignments, and that meant the team was free to get wild with character ideas and designs.
“We’re kind of kindred spirits, because we just want to make smiles,” Miller said of working alongside various Disney teams in Orlando, Glendale, and beyond. “Working with them has been great.”
Per Miller, creativity and experimentation has been key to the whole game design process. While the Ravensburger team aims to stay true to Disney characters, fun Lorcana plot twists have also allowed for a reimagining of classic characters. In the case of Beauty and the Beast‘s Gaston, he’s got a Lorcana card subtitled “Intellectual Powerhouse.” While this appears to defy his canon nature as a goon, the twist here is that magic is involved – and in a world of stranger magics, Gaston may become a genius.
Miller also described Winnie the Pooh, Hunny Wizard as an example of this canon-tied creativity. In the context of Disney Lorcana, Winnie the Pooh is still a good-aligned hero – but magic clearly changes the character. In Miller’s mind, it made total sense that if Pooh were to encounter magic in his own world, he would use it to become a wizard of his favourite food.
“We love these characters too, so we’re not going to take them in directions that would show we don’t love them, and show that we don’t understand them,” Miller said. “He’s super happy and chill. Of course, if he learned magic, he world learn a way to summon honey. That’s what Winnie the Pooh would do, right? It’s a good example of the kind of ethos that we employ when we’re looking at characters, and deciding what we want to do with them.”
Read: Disney Lorcana: Into the Inklands is the game’s best expansion yet
“We definitely want to be true to who they are, show our love for them. But also, we want to surprise and delight you, and show things that you might not have expected – that’s a really fun aspect.”
For Miller, that also motivates the inclusion of new cards and franchises players may not be familiar with. To that end, he was really keen to include his own niche favourites in Disney Lorcana – like the underrated classic The Sword in the Stone. This film is famously regarded as one of Disney’s biggest critical failures, with audiences at the time labelling it too scary for kids, and too difficult to grasp. In recent years, the film has undergone a cultural reassessment, and louder voices proclaim its brilliance.
“Of course, I abused my power to get The Sword in the Stone in there,” Miller joked. “It’s so great to spread more of the Disney wonder and fun out to folks, and show some of these movies people haven’t seen before.”
The Ravensburger team has been delighted to see Disney Lorcana players discovering new movies based on card pulls, exploring the deeper caverns of Disney’s world – including films that deserve more time in the sun. If Lorcana makes even one more person watch Atlantis or Treasure Planet, the TCG has certainly done its job.
Introducing new players to Lorcana
Ravensburger aims to engage even more players with Disney Lorcana as it grows, without sacrificing the core pillars of what makes the game great: fun and joy, but most importantly – approachability. A common bugbear with legacy TCGs is that new sets bring in consistently more complex mechanics, so that it’s fairly difficult to understand every aspect of gameplay.
While Disney Lorcana appears to be treading a similar path to its major competitors, with new sets adding in more complex mechanics like Floodborn Shift and Location cards, the team is very keen to maintain the game’s approachability with every new release, keeping in mind that any Lorcana set could be a player’s first.
“We must never forget every set is someone’s first set. Every single one. So, we always have to make sure we’re looking at every set through the lens of a new player,” Miller said. “We absolutely have a plan to take care of our new players, and make sure they’re having fun, too. Part of that plan is that we don’t introduce brand new mechanics with every set … that’s a slippery slope, and before you know it, you’ve got a game that’s really struggling under its own weight.”
To further support growth of the game, and ensure new players feel comfortable with rulesets and special abilities, Disney Lorcana will get a new “Gateway” set shortly. This set is described as “the best way for people who’ve never played a trading card game before to learn more” as it contains two smaller 30-card decks, and a step-by-step structure that teaches new mechanics with great care.
As described by Miller, you’ll start out with 30 basic cards, and then you’ll be introduced to new mechanics via special card packs that slowly increase complexity. By the time a player finishes their Gateway introduction, they’ll have a full 60-card deck, and a better grasp of the rules.
Given TCGs have become incredibly popular and more mainstream over the last few years – perhaps driven by a need for more social connection, post-pandemic, as well as a renewed desire for collecting and self-expression, as posited by Miller – these steps are necessary to provide an open door and welcome mat for newbies.
Will Disney Lorcana ever need a proper ban list?
The Disney Lorcana team is also keeping an eye on maintaining balance and difficulty levels for all players, ensuring cards are cohesive and harmonious in battle, while also being fun and engaging to play with. To date, the team has only needed to change one card – Bucky, Squirrel Squeak Tutor was reworded to keep the fun of the game – but it hasn’t ruled out banning cards in future, should they prove to be overly disruptive or overpowered.
“We only have so many playtesters … no matter how dedicated they are, they will never play the game as much as our players will,” Miller said. “Inevitably, cards are going to get into the world that have more power and more synergy than we initially had assessed them to have.”
“One of the ways you can control that is making sure that all your cards are super balanced. That, however, has a cost of fun and excitement. The more balanced your set is, it’s less fun, less exciting, in my opinion. Let’s say there’s a world where you could make a 100% balanced set of 200 cards. First of all, I think that any trading card game is too complicated for this to actually ever happen … but the hidden problem is that makes deck building nearly impossible.”
The Disney Lorcana team is taking a more realistic attitude to potential future bans. While it does extensive playtesting to ensure cards aren’t fundamentally broken, it will step in where necessary, to ensure that Lorcana continues to spark joy, and that competitions are inherently fun.
“I would rather live in a world where sometimes those things [reworks or bans] are necessary, than live in a world where they never are,” Miller said.
Looking to a brighter future
Looking to a brighter future, Miller and the Ravensburger team are very enthusiastic about everything on the way for Disney Lorcana in the coming months. The headliner for the tail end of 2024 is the launch of August’s Shimmering Skies set, which will introduce new characters from the world of Wreck-It Ralph, and dazzling new card designs.
Miller is a self-described big Wreck-It Ralph fan, and is particularly excited about seeing the characters of this franchise finally debuting in Lorcana. The framing story of this set is also a particular excitement for Miller, who described it as a “really fun” chapter defined by the defeat of the sea witch, Ursula.
Across the last few sets, Ursula has been positioned as a major villain, with heroes coming together to finally defeat her – and in Shimmering Skies, her defeat is celebrated with a variety of activities, like fireworks shows, feasts, and parties.
There’s no new mechanics introduced in this set – which, as Miller mentioned, makes it great for newer players – but there is a new mystery to solve, as the titular Shimmering Skies celebrations hide a strange mystery. “It’s a return to what Lorcana does best,” Miller described. “There’s a lot of fun, and I’m really excited about it.”
Players keen to dive into the next chapter of Disney Lorcana, whether new or returning, can look forward to seeing all the drama unfold when Shimmering Skies launches worldwide on 9 August 2024. As for what else Ravensburger has in store, it’s just a matter of sitting back and letting them cook. Per Miller, there’s plenty of surprises on the way.
