StarStarter

To play the game, simply swipe the spaceship to collect stars. By reacting quickly and swiping the ship earlier, you will go faster, travel farther, and earn more stars. At the beginning of each turn, two faces appear – a happy face and an angry face. The spaceship will always show up underneath the happy face.

People with excessive anxiety pay too much attention to negative thoughts, experiences, and social interactions that can distort their outlook. StarStarter retrains these patterns of attention subconsciously through gamified interactions with facial expressions. Even before babies can crawl, they can recognize the difference between a smiling face and an angry one. Facial expressions are unique in their ability to capture our attention and drive an emotional response. Through the repetition of interactions that focus attention on a pleasant face, our technique re-trains the associated neural pathways to reduce anxiety symptoms. To review our research see https://arcadetherapeutics.com/research/

You should play StarStarter 6 or more minutes a day, four days a week, for at least a month to see results. After completing a 6-minute session for a day, you can choose to play again that same day up to three more times if you’d like. You will be able to continue playing StarStarter for up to 90 days from your first gameplay session.

Each gameplay session is meant to be completed in one sitting, but StarStarter allows you to pause for up to an hour before you will have to restart your session. We recommend that you block out a consistent time in your day to focus on playing the game. It could be after breakfast, during a coffee break, on your commute, or after you finish your work and decompress. Set a recurring reminder on your calendar so you don’t forget!

Not to worry! Much like in life, we all have off days. Just pick up where you left off and try your best to complete all four sessions in the next week.

StarStarter’s point system is designed to help keep you engaged and motivated while playing. Additionally, earning points gradually levels up your spaceship’s magnet power, allowing you to grab stars from even greater distances and earn more points.You can even unlock new powerups and special items that add new layers of fun and complexity. Try to shoot for a high score each session!

You can pause the game by tapping the game console button at the bottom of the screen. From here, you can toggle Audio and Haptic Feedback on and off by tapping their respective icons. Please note that you must have the volume and sound of your device turned on to be able to hear StarStarter’s music and sound.

Visit https://arcadetherapeutics.com/support/ to submit a message.

If you receive StarStarter through your employer or organization, we only share de-identified, aggregated data on usage and mood at the population level. If you receive StarStarter through your provider, you may opt in to provide your usage data to your provider.

StartStarter supports the current iPhone iOS version and previous 3 major release versions. StarStarter supports the current Android version and previous 7 major release versions on devices with 2GB of RAM and a 64-bit processor. iOS users can refer to https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/supported-models-iphe3fa5df43/ios and select your device’s iOS version to find out if their device is supported.

By virtue of our intervention being a calming and brief exercise, StarStarter’s risks are relatively low. We do not anticipate and have never reported any app-related adverse events. Still, major risk areas associated with our products include:

• Discomfort
  • We acknowledge that, as with any mobile application, there is potential for causing some level of emotional or physical discomfort. While we have not observed or documented this in studies to date, we are cognizant of the risk and have several controls in place to properly monitor and manage these adverse effects.
• False expectation of benefit
  • There is some risk that users may expect clinical benefit and not receive said benefit. In such a case, the disappointment may cause some level of adverse effects on their mental health.
  • Assessments regarding suicidal ideation and symptoms of depression could lead to emotional discomfort from some participants.
• Misuse
  • Misunderstanding how to play
  • Over-usage. Controls are in place to limit the number of sessions that can be attempted each day.
• Cybersecurity
  • There is always the possibility of breach in confidential data, but Arcade follows best-practice standards for handling data in accordance with HIPAA, 21 CFR Part 11, and applicable cybersecurity standards.

At Arcade Therapeutics, we are committed to ensuring that StarStarter and our related digital services are accessible to as many people as possible, including individuals with disabilities.

We believe mental health tools should be inclusive, welcoming, and easy to use for everyone.

We are actively working to improve the accessibility and usability of StarStarter in alignment with widely recognized accessibility standards, including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 where applicable.

Our goal is to:

• Provide clear, readable content
• Support assistive technologies where possible
• Maintain strong contrast and legible typography
• Ensure navigation is intuitive and consistent
• Reduce cognitive overload through thoughtful game design
• Offer simple onboarding and clear instructions

StarStarter includes:

• Short, structured gameplay sessions (6–12 minutes)
• Simple, guided onboarding tutorials
• Clear visual cues and feedback
• Readable text and structured content
• Mobile-optimized design
• Secure, HIPAA-compliant infrastructure for data privacy and protection

While we are continuously iterating based on user feedback and accessibility best practices, the following features have not been implemented in StarStarter: 

• Compatibility with additional screen readers
• Adjustable text sizing
• Contrast and other visual display settings
• Alternative input methods
• Enhanced accessibility settings (e.g., audio controls, motion sensitivity options)
• Expanded language support

If you experience any difficulty accessing StarStarter or have suggestions for improving accessibility, we welcome your feedback.

Please contact us at: support@arcadetherapeutics.com