Our Team
Gabe Pappalardo, PhD
FOUNDER, CEO, CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Gabe spent early parts of his childhood with a pencil and paper turning household objects into Mega Man Robot Masters and cardboard boxes into tabletop versions of Donkey Kong Country. He then did a hard-right turn through a PhD program in I/O Psychology and landed in the world of corporate HR. Oops. The following existential crisis led him to burn out and crash-land in a yoga ashram where he discovered the profound power of meditation and first explored the concept that would become The Fog of Maya, a game that would reveal meditations benefits to its players. Several years, a yoga teacher certification, and a stint in tech entrepreneurship later, Gabe founded Six Wing Studios and received the Guinness World Record for "Most Roundabout Career Path to Game Design".
Gabe leads the team with the creative vision for The Fog of Maya series. He fever-dream-rambles about the many characters inside his head, the worlds they live in, level design, game mechanics, and the psychological experiences he wants to produce for gamers. He is eternally grateful to the team of talented people around him who manifest these dreams into tangible reality. He leads the business and manages production, and has to date led the team to execute two crowdfund campaigns, deliver merchandise to hundreds of fans in a dozen countries, and develop Amaru: The Self-care Virtual Pet from an adorable idea to a product enjoyed by tens of thousands of players.
Games that left an impact:
The Legend of Zelda Series (LoZ, AoL, OoT, MM, and BotW in particular), Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest, Super Metroid, Mario 64, Super Smash Brothers (Melee, WiiU, Ultimate), Hollow Knight, Celeste, Final Fantasy (VII and X in particular), MegaMan X, Chrono Trigger, Resident Evil 1-4, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Psychonauts, Portal, Portal 2, Shadow of the Colossus, Heroes of Might & Magic III, Everything, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.
Eric Sydell, PhD
ANgel investor
Eric Sydell, PhD is a veteran entrepreneur with 17 years experience leading and developing products. He is also a graduate of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program developed by the Jon Kabat-Zinn, a leading mindfulness authority from the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. With cutting edge knowledge of the power and capability of technology and data, Eric seeks to support entrepreneurs with a pro-social mission. Gabe and Eric bonded over their shared interest in mindfulness and desire to use tech to benefit humanity. Eric is the angel investor who has made everything at Six Wing Studios to date possible. He has provided critical early stage funding and guidance to support the team.
Lexie Flock
Artist
Lexie dreams as a snake living in a cave made of obsidian glass, as a winged beast living impatiently among mortal men, and as a phantom discovering the secrets of a long-dead civilization. Her artwork reflects these dreams, and vice-versa, as she has always maintained an interest in creating monsters. Lexie also gained an interest in immersive open-world storytelling, and over the past decade or so, she has been slowly but surely developing a world of her own, complete with its own biomes, monsters, and magic systems. One such monster happened to catch Dr. Gabe's eye at Imurj, an "artist's bar" they both visited, and Lexie has been a part of Six Wing Studios ever since.
Lexie has spent the last two years putting Dr. Gabe's loose ideas on a canvas and bringing characters to life, be it through concept art, illustration, or animation, and has even picked up new skills, like Spine animation, to do so. Being a part of the creative team behind a game has always been an ideal career for her, and she is excited to bring this new idea to life.
Games that left an impact:
Niche: A Genetics Survival Game, Hollow Knight, Skyrim, Oblivion, Undertale, Portal 1-2, Minecraft, Subnautica, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Borderlands 2, Warlord's Battlecry III, Spore, WolfQuest, Cattails, Save The Light, Spyro The Dragon, and Final Fantasy Tactics
Ryan Shiel
Developer
Ryan built his first custom game console at the age of 15. In trademark humility, he'll assure you it was "No big deal." This was one of many projects spurned on by an affinity for computer systems and technology; an affinity which would take him from his literal "baby's first computer" toy all the way to a computer science undergrad program, which he would then promptly drop out of. All the better, since the subsequent chance to fill the void of meaning and passion that college had rent open within him led Ryan more or less straight into Dr. Gabe's fledgeling party of adventurers, Six Wing Studios. He and Gabe figured they would work well together when Gabe saw Ryan's "Hollow Knight" T-shirt upon their first meeting, and initiated a lengthy mutual geek-out session over the game.
Ryan brings his technological prowess and coding experience to the table, and stitches together his talented teammates' ideas and efforts into the interactive form for which they were destined. He is powered by wine and coffee and has achieved 100% completion in every Metroid game aside from that one. He keeps telling Dr. Gabe that he'll do more yoga, but hasn't gotten around to starting on that yet.
Games that left an impact:
Metroids, Skyrim, Hollow Knight, Final Fantasy (IV and VI in particular), Dark Souls, Marathon 1-3, The Witcher 3, Garry's Mod, Elite Dangerous, Undertale, Mother 3, Mass Effect 2, Halo 1-3, Chrono Trigger, Patapon, Starcraft, The Legend of Zelda (mostly Wind Waker and Majora's Mask), Stardew Valley, Cultist Simulator, Fallout: New Vegas, Knytt Underground, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, and Shadow of the Colossus
Nathaniel Riley
QA Lead
Nathaniel has dabbled in a few different career fields in his life. After high school he spent a few years working a gas station and being a manager. He decided he needed a change of pace after an argument about apples. Setting his sights on engineering, he then made a hard right turn into culinary and baking. After a few years, and a lot of flour, later, he headed back to school to start the dream he had after high school, game development.
Games have been a part of his life for as long as he can remember. Making the commitment to give back to the gaming community, he spent two years at Wake Tech’s Simulation and Game Development program. Having a more determined drive to follow through with this career, he finished the program and got his Associate’s degree. Nathaniel has taken the reigns of QA for the studio. He will strive to make the games this studio creates the best they can be and not super buggy. Perhaps you may see some of his 3D modeling work one day.
Games that left an impact:
Minecraft, Diablo (2 & 3), Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls (1, 2, & 3), Fallout (1, 2, 3, 4, & New Vegas), Hollow Knight, Stepmania, Osu!, Borderlands (1, 2, Pre-Sequel, 3), The Binding of Isaac, Prey, Doom, Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale, Turok (2, & 3), Deus Ex (1, 2, 3, & 4), Life is Strange, Bioshock (1, 2, & Infinite), Transistor, Omensight, Deemo, Sonic Series, Ori and the Blind Forest, Factorio
Chloe Christley
Developer
Chloe got started with video games at the age of 4, starting with an old PC game called Sky Roads. When middle school came, coding on her trusty TI-84 would serve as both an introduction to programming, as well as a quicker way to get through math homework to get back to coding Garrysmod addons. Years of complaining about how different game's developers SHOULD have done things landed her in summer camp learning GameMaker at 14 years old. After a long string of jobs including restaurant management and HVAC, she had acquired a taste for meditation and mindfulness, and decided to go to college and start a career that she could be passionate about. With a few years experience with the Unity game engine, she soon found herself in college for game programming, delivering a catering to the exact spot she once sat and ate a PB&J during that summer class. That schooling would soon be put on hold by the end of her engagement and a gender crisis coinciding with a global pandemic. Now focusing more than ever on self-care, she found a reference to 'Fog of Maya', a name that spoke to her. She excitedly got an email over to Dr. Gabe to poke him about working on a self-care game with included meditations, and now spends her time converting coffee into code, and trying to help do some good in the world.
Games that left an impact:
Celeste, Bastion, The Stanley Parable, Portal, Garrysmod, Super Mario Bros 3, Borderlands, Castle Crashers, Dark Souls, The Elder Scrolls (3 & 4), Half Life 2, Ori and the Blind Forest, Spiderman 2, Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong 64, Megaman X, Super Smash Bros, Pokemon Blue, Kirby Super Star, Phantasy Star Online, LoTR: Return of the King, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Rocket: Robot on Wheels, Guitar Hero 3, Goldeneye: 007, DOOM II
Sam (BeeYoo)
Community Developer
Samantha has been playing games as long as she can remember! After trying out various jobs and careers she went back to her roots in gaming. That led her into a career of streaming. It started out like most streams. Playing games and chatting with the community. Eventually she started doing cooking shows and sharing self-care practices like yoga, meditations, organizing and more. After quite a few years of fulltime streaming and obtaining community management skills Sam moved into the indie game scene when she landed a job with an up and coming indie game publisher where she was able to further sharpen her skills. After meeting Gabe at PAX East Samantha stayed in touch with Six Wing and followed and supported the launch of Amaru! After taking some time off from work to focus on self-care Sam was searching for a job in-line with her values and interest and found herself accepting a Community Management/Social Media marketing job at Six Wing Studios! With her skills in the industry and a passion for helping people she has been able to guide the voice of the studio and connect with the audience. You will catch her sharing silly Amaru memes along with positive messages to get you through the day. She’s also quick to help answer any questions and help players get the most out of their experience. Outside of work Sam loves hiking, cooking, yoga, caring for her many pets and traveling
Games that Left and impact
Curse of Monkey Island, Fatty Bear’s Birthday Surprise, Putt-Putt Joins the Parade, Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead, World of Warcraft, Neopets, Runescape, Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, and a plethora of newer indie games (too many to name)
Chris Kennedy, PhD, MBA, CFA
Adviser
Chris is on a mission to help people be their best through the innovative use of technology and data science. With a special interest in human capital, technology, and resource allocation, Chris has been a co-founder of two startups in the technology space and been an advisor to several startups including Oak City Mindfulness, Scoutr, and Six Wing Studios. At least three startups have received multiple angel investor rounds or offers for investment.
Chris is committed to advising on topics such as finance, strategy, fundraising, operations, marketing, technology, data science, and talent.
Chris’s education and credentials includes a PhD of nuclear engineering from North Carolina State University and an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. He also holds several industry certifications, including the CFA. Chris is also a coordinating adjunct professor of modeling and analytics at UNC Kenan-Flagler for the MBA and MAC programs.