What is Skylar's Run: An Inside Look at THYNK's Immersive Brain Training Game
Most of us have heard of games advertised as "brain games," be it non-digital types (crossword puzzles), digital types (puzzle video games claiming to help your brain), or combinations of digital types with equipment (neurofeedback games requiring you to use your attention to keep a balloon above the ground). It seems like brains games are everywhere and yet most people are not running home to announce how exciting these games are or how much clearer their brain is.
Skylar’s Run is a video game based cognitive skills training program that utilizes our AV headset technology to help users strengthen attention, impulse control, focus, and self regulation skills. The program is designed to support cognitive skills development in a way that is both engaging and effective. By combining advanced technology with interactive gameplay, Skylar’s Run delivers a personalized training experience tailored to each individual’s current abilities and goals.
What makes Skylar’s Run different from other brain training programs is its ability to combine cognitive training with real time attention visualization. Rather than relying on repetitive reaction based tasks, Skylar’s Run enables players to use their attention to influence gameplay in real time. The longer a player maintains higher levels of attention during each challenge, the greater the opportunity to strengthen the targeted cognitive skills that support success in learning, work, wellness, and everyday life.
Skylar’s Run includes a carefully designed cognitive skills curriculum embedded across a series of 15 interactive missions delivered over 6 to 8 weeks. The program dynamically adapts challenge levels according to each player’s current performance and progress. The 13 targeted cognitive skills can be grouped into three primary categories: 1) attention and focus, 2) impulse control, and 3) self regulation. Early missions emphasize foundational attention and sustained focus skills, while later missions build toward increasingly complex cognitive challenges.
The game missions use an interactive runner format in which the player influences the speed and responsiveness of the experience based on their current level of attention. Players encounter distractions, obstacles, and decision based tasks that require sustained focus and cognitive control. Gameplay continuously adapts in difficulty based on performance, enabling users to train at an appropriate level of challenge while progressing through increasingly advanced skills.
To encourage real world application, each gameplay module is paired with transfer activities designed to help users apply trained cognitive skills outside the game environment. These activities reinforce the connection between the attention and self regulation skills practiced during gameplay and their use in real life situations such as learning, productivity, emotional regulation, behavioral consistency, wellness routines, and everyday decision making.
Unlike traditional “brain games,” Skylar’s Run is a structured cognitive skills curriculum presented through an engaging interactive experience with our AV headset serving as both a controller and a real time attention visualization tool. Players are able to observe their progress throughout training while experiencing improvements that extend beyond gameplay into school, work, wellness, and daily life.