Earlyverse Organization
Earlyverse Organization (EVO) believes in an attainable, more impactful version of our current universe. A version of what its potential once was when it first began 13.8 billion years ago. A universe that values the collective and community. One that is culturevated for all people. One that uses business for purpose, not for profits. One that values transparency. One that has imagination, creativity, and humor.
Our Three Universes of Culturevation
As Earlyverse Organization grows, we also want to grow these three core “universes” or initiatives. We have certain priorities for running the organization and values we live by that live within these universes. These will continuously evolve. We are a young organization and are so excited at the prospect of bringing each of these universes to life in the future!
Playverse priorities
Culturevating play, fun, creativity, and laughter for everyone.
Playverse is a universe completely devoted to the culturevation of play! Within this universe, we answer questions like, “How can we make Earlyverse even more fun than it currently is?” And “Are our players having too much fun?” A seemingly good problem to have!
It’s in this universe where we prioritize all aspects of the game and ensure it’s always evolving, enjoyable, and accessible.
-
Let’s be honest, making games is incredibly fun. Playing them is just as if not more fun. And so we plan to continue to find new and exciting ways to up-level Earlyverse’s fun. Over time we’ll create new planets and origins with new characters, new Ethos, new abilities and mechanics, and so much more to keep the game fresh while also grounded in its roots.
One of our pie-in-the-sky goals is to eventually have a completely digital version for people to play as well as a video sharing platform if players want to play with their physical cards remotely with friends.
-
Accessibility is something we want to be innovators for in the trading card game universe and an area we will be dedicating time and resources to as the game grows.
Anatomically speaking, how do we ensure our game is accessible to people who are vision impaired, color blind, and/or neurodiverse? Financially speaking, how do we ensure our game is accessible to all socioeconomic statuses?
-
Typical trading card games are developed in a way that can cause addiction and excessive waste through the use of chase cards, high-value cards, and boosters. There are inherent “good” cards and “bad” cards that players seek and avoid to make the best decks possible. Finding these cards are based on chance and probabilities, often requiring players to spend more money than intended to chase “good” cards. Or they purchase them through third party websites for high values. The purchase of cards in this type of structure can be addictive. Inevitably, “bad” cards do not get played and become wasteful.
Earlyverse is an “expandable card game" with no boosters and no chase cards to avoid these issues. This means that you receive all printed cards in your box without the need to chase “good” cards. All future cards are printed as “expansion sets” with all new cards available at once. This avoids excessive spending on boosters. Because there are restrictions around building decks, all cards are “good” and this avoids the need to chase cards.
We will continue to review and revamp our model over time to always ensure we’re avoiding addiction and waste!
Peopleverse priorities
Culturevating a universe that leads with empathy and puts people first.
Peopleverse is a universe completely devoted to the culturevation of people, community, and empathy! Within this universe, we focus on the humans that live outside of the Earlyverse, because they need a little more support than our Earlyans and Mischievents do!
It’s in this universe where we prioritize the people that create and inspire Earlyverse, the people and voices that are represented through the game, and artistic communities often overlooked.
-
Even in a universe that has completely made up and fantastical creatures, it’s important to ensure all communities feel seen and represented. Often, in worlds such as these, historically marginalized communities are forgotten.
We ensure all people can feel connected to the Earlyverse universe. It may feel silly to some, the idea that someone can identify with and see themselves in a completely made up creature and species, but not to us. We know biases exist when creating characters, even fictional.
We will always make representation our first priority so that every kid and adult can see themselves in the Earlyverse, just as the creator can.
-
EVO is currently a team of one (the creator), though that has not stopped him from dreaming about a future team that receives benefits from an organization that rejects capitalistic norms.
Beyond standard benefits, this includes a 4-day work week, shaping work around life and not life around work, profit sharing/worker-ownership, menstrual cycle time off, DEI hiring practices, and much more.
-
Breaking through and getting noticed for anyone in any industry can be difficult, but it’s amplified for historically marginalized individuals in creative spaces where there are systemic barriers for them to succeed.
For our part, we plan to release regularly cadenced special edition designs of our characters as collector cards designed by artists and graphic designers representative of these communities. Artists will be featured on our website and profits will go to the artists and/or a nonprofit of their choice.
Planetverse priorities
Culturevating a healthy, thriving, and long-lasting planet for all living things.
Planetverse is a universe completely devoted to the one planet that is outside of the Earlyverse - Earth! Because, like Earlyverse planets, planet Earth should be a safe haven for all living things and should avoid deculturevation by money-hungry fossil fuel companies!
It’s in this universe where we prioritize making a sustainable and eco-friendly game that doesn’t add additional waste or unnecessary “stuff” to our planet.
-
Our goal is to make our cards and all of our game components 100% compostable. Unfortunately, we have not found a manufacturer that develops compostable games - yet! If we are unable to find one, we’ll work with an organization to make this dream a reality.
In the meantime, we are prioritizing sustainability in a few other ways. Once we launch the Beta Set, our cards and all game components will be FSC Certified (Forest Stewardship Council), recyclable, coated in non-plastic coating, and use plant-based ink. The Game Crafter doesn’t offer this options, and so the Alpha Set is produced as cleanly as possible without FSC Certification.
Most importantly, we have no elements that are made of plastic nor do we make foil cards. Foil cards use metallic and plastic foil layers and are never recyclable. Unless foil technology becomes clean, you will never see our game use foil cards.
-
Community and human connection is incredibly important to the ethos of Earlyverse. Earlyverse was originally designed to be played with four people to promote togetherness.
In that light, we want to encourage a continued communal and sustainable mindset through game gifting. If you are no longer interested in your Earlyverse cards, we first and foremost encourage you to gift them to a fellow community member. We also are considering and working out the details of an eventual buy-back program.