Today we’d like to introduce you to Erika VanArsdel.
Hi Erika, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I will keep this relatively brief. The path to making Fractal Force real has been quite convoluted so it still runs a little long.
It took a while to recognize the core drive of my life: teaching. Looking back, the drive actually manifested at a young age. I’d take notes in class in a way that was potentially for many people, not just myself. While on the road to graduating college with a microbiology degree, I edited a wiki for a beloved online game (again, this is for the knowledge of others) and got into extremely basic databasing from that wiki coding as a side hobby. As to “why microbiology?” Had a few teachers in high school which were very inspiring, and that’s that. I vibed with the material but have to say graduating was one of the hardest things in life I’ve ever managed. Besides micro, I’d also always loved nature, thanks to my father taking us on hikes all the time. So, I sought to be closer to nature in general at any opportunity, seizing a job as customer service in a lodge situated in a nearby state park after a few (quite miserable) in-town minimum-wage positions.
Eventually, in large part thanks to social networking, I landed a job with the DNR of that park as an “interpretive naturalist” where I was teaching people on a nearly daily basis about topics I learned to care for deeply: the ecology of the natural world, and how humans are a part of it. My databasing skillset grew alongside this work, at times out of necessity, so that I could easily parse information about native species and answer audience questions quickly. I even got myself certified through NAI; such was my investment and passion for the work. During this employment, it was the norm to develop “programs” (how we host the educational material), and I figured out what formats I did and did not like, how best I could teach my audiences. The beginnings of Fractal Force were thus taking root as a tabletop booth-style program format, then under a different format and name.
Sadly, I soon saw that my current employment track had a dim financial future, being seasonal work with few full-time opportunities in my local range… and that while I had a large audience, it wasn’t going to be enough. My audience will be the world. No joke.
So, I started taking development into my own hands, looking into how to run things myself on my terms, turning my labors at home into a mirror of my vision. I worked almost every day on Fractal Force for many months. If you’re not hustling in your spare time, then do you really want to arrive at your goals? I’m not talking about never taking breaks and resting when you need to. Take breaks and SLEEP. Burnout is real. But if too much spare time is wasted, you’ll take forever to go nowhere.
Research. Legal needs. What is an LLC? Why found one? What about taxes? Research and development, development and research. Work and work. I learned to recognize needed steps in tandem and took to the dance: I kept developing, hired lawyers, and found a great job related to my microbiology major which provided financial stability, and dropped the Interpretive Naturalist track. I knew being an interpretive naturalist had helped get me started, but seasonal work would never be enough to keep me going in this economy. But through the research, I knew which steps to take and when.
I learned the vast and tedious world of entrepreneurship truly has its doors wide open, but there are many hurdles to pass on the way to success. As long as you recognize and pursue your dream, most of these issues are simply financial. Honestly, the greatest barrier against your dreams is yourself (assuming your dream is not something abrasive to reality, such as time travel machines).
I have not yet reached famous success, though I am far from failure. There are many safeguards and checkpoints helping people along in this world as long as we follow the rules. So here I am, after years of work, with my own LLC, a very real educational card game product and a trademark in the works.
Two key factors outside of relentless pursuit of the dream were knowing how and when to outsource and to just hire a good lawyer when I needed to. The future is bright, and really, it always was. It certainly takes a massive effort to recognize how a dream can become real… and stay on track, day after day, with research and step-by-step goals ever in mind. But I do think that this is how anyone’s dreams can come true, by patience and trusting in one’s momentum. Doubt is always there; the trick is to never let it take the wheel.
The takeaways are: be in good financial positioning; if you need help from your family and can get it, take it, pay it back as soon as you can. Countless successful people are rarely so if they are alone. This would have been much more difficult than it already is if I were not already situated with years of knowledge and a safe, reliable place to live. We do not exist in isolation. Your ideas branch from somewhere else, and life grows from many resources: learn to recognize the path they take toward the sun and lead the way.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Mostly never smooth. Sometimes you get a resting spot on this road, such as a breakthrough research moment or actually finishing a facet of the endeavor… Or simply being forced to breathe in a slowed-down space while you wait for responses from production partners and/or legal processes. Really the only smoothness one can forge is ensuring you’re financially stable. The rest is work made more efficient by practice and skill. Prototypes especially failed prototypes over and over, cost money. Money costs money (hello, sales tax). As I mentioned before, the worst struggle, the strongest barrier, is yourself and your doubts. Acknowledge the task is not one task but many, that the road is long and arduous, and simply keep walking. Comprehend the whole but do not shoulder it all at once. Rest when needed but keep walking.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ve described how I got here but did not dive into the wild, creative aspects of my life. There is, within me, an insatiable wonder at the knowledge of existence, and from this comes the drive to find the unknown. To find and share (teach) the truths of our world is my pride and joy. And within this drive are, surprisingly, artistic needs. A form of expression, communication. The truth wears many faces and speaks in many voices; how the truth is heard and seen paves the path of knowledge, comprehension, understanding for each individual in a unique manner. Creating something from nothing, in a way, makes the unknown within known without (outside). I’ve always doodled on the sides of my notes, and almost always in a geometric style. This seemingly restrictive creative mindset fit into databasing, designing interfaces, and finally, combined with Fractal Force; I drew most of these silhouettes myself; they are vectored SVG creations with high symmetry and precision. Yet from a stable foundation, much can diverge and flourish. The periodic elements are predictable; what they can make together? A seemingly endless array of possibilities, many discovered, yet more hitherto unknown.
My need for the stability of truth honed a deep respect for the scientific method, cross-referencing works, and research. This respect reflects in all my behaviors and mannerisms and fuels my pursuit of solutions in the face of problems. In fact, we all have a giant problem worth solving: In a world full of people with shadowy agendas and easy access to social media, the truth needs help to spread against misinformation and conjecture. I have a deep concern for the future of humanity regarding the issues so perfectly portrayed in the “Social Dilemma” (2020). I believe the only way for us to have the best future is to be on the same page, together, moving forward. And that means giving time and effort towards truths, as opposed to having knee-jerk reactions to the news and/or what others claim with no evidence. There are many other people with these concerns, and how they go about moving toward solutions are what make them unique. And I am one of them:
This is what sets me apart from others… that I can draw from so many closely beloved resources and consolidate a lifetime of these skillsets into my pursuit of a singular goal, a solution for my concern. By this paradigm, I made Fractal Force: an educational game which teaches humanity (more than just human minds… our HUMANITY, our empathy) about our world, and in doing so, inspire its players to pursue truth on their own terms, seeing clearly a path forward together.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
Outsourcing is one of the most powerful tools available to an entrepreneur. Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor was it built by one person. I also have worked hard to create platforms for people to feel involved in Fractal Force, as it’s a game for everyone after all. “Everyone” is actually a weak target audience; that’s just the truth of it. I could talk more about niches… those are important too… when you try to be too inclusive, you actually alienate ideal audiences because you have something that they’re not sure “is what they’re looking for.” Keep your goals privately broad and cater to niches… for example, my main niche is “educators,” especially freelance educators looking for a solid teamwork-building activity regarding natural sciences.
Outsourcing as a business involves finding production partners and employees, normally. As I am an LLC solely run, I am limited to commissions and contracts in every respect there. But these are excellent options, depending on what you need to do! Instead of spending a fortune on a camera with no experience, I commissioned a photographer. Instead of buying huge machines and dealing with all the inventory myself, I found a company to produce and distribute my card game. We are in legal agreement to distribute my copyrighted work. Learn to dance; the floor is open.
As far as the players of Fractal Force (my customers, my audience)? I have established a community on Reddit to perform as a forum, and there are many links on the Fractal Force website for people who would like to submit work to the database, propose scientific connections, and of course… email me! The “Contact” section of any website should be extremely obvious and easy to find. Mine certainly is.
For vendors interested in wholesale resale, that’s definitely on the table (as a TABLEtop game should be), and I’d love to talk about it!
As far as supporting me goes, buying the game and having your friends, loved ones, and even strangers is the best thing you can do for “me,” as well as the game itself. There’s a way for you to “Host” the game as an educator as well (hence, strangers). I’ve truly done my best to open the doors for Fractal Force, inside and out.
Pricing:
- Free = access to database and website, gameplay instructions, community forums, and if there are any Hosts, those are supposed to be free gameplay sessions!
- $74.99 = about the price, considering shipping and tax, of the complete game (as the “core pack”) + its box.
- $54.99 = about the price of the “core pack” game without its box.
- $27.99 = about the price of “mini core,” a very playable pack of 19 cards.
- Variable Pricing = wholesale options for vendors
Contact Info:
- Website: https://fractalforce.carrd.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fractalforce_thecardgame/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DracoVisionsLLC
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dracovisions
- Other: https://www.reddit.com/r/FractalForce/
Image Credits
DracoVisions LLC
