In 2011, she began developing Nevermind as part of a grad school thesis project, with a concept that centered around fear and feedback. Reynolds was eager to integrate sensors for measuring physiciological functions not only to track how users were responding to the extreme situations in the game, but also to use that data to alter the action in real-time.

The successful Kickstarter campaign Reynolds launched to fund the early R&D included this bold statement: “If you let your fears get the best of you, the game becomes harder. If you’re able to calm yourself in the face of terror, the game will be more forgiving.”

And that gets at Reynolds’s commitment that Nevermind would have a positive impact on players. “It would be entertaining, but also benefit them in some way, shape, or form,” she says. Reynolds believed that by understanding their body’s response to unnerving scenarios and rewarding players for keeping their cool, they would then be able to better handle real life’s unexpected stressors and panic points.

At the time, the only consumer gear with the kind of monitoring capabilities she required were chest straps used to track heart rate during exercise. The system required gameplayers to lift their shirts up, rub a little conductive gel on their chests to ensure a clear signal, and strap on the device before starting the game. “The tech itself worked great for our purposes, but that is a lot to ask of a lot of players,” she says. So while it wasn’t entirely practical, the chest strap did provide enough of a proof of concept for Reynolds, whose timing and entry into the industry could not have been better.