Gabriel Pappalardo

About Gabriel Pappalardo

Did you know there\'s a secret passage into the videogame industry? Knock on the 3rd brick to the left of the vending machine on the 7th floor of Poe Hall while getting a doctorate in I/O Psychology. It\'ll open a passage with a slide that goes through a Yoga Teacher Training into a ballpit. Climb the rope ladder through a recruiting tech startup, say the magic word, and you might just be 7 years into running a pro-social videogame studio. I mean. it worked for me. Your mileage may vary.Hi. I\'m Dr. Gabe, Founder and Game Designer at Six Wing Studios. Check out our adorable release Amaru: The Self-care Virtual Pet for iOS and Android or say hello if you\'d like to join the happy group of clients for whom we do game design and development. Specialties: game design, game development, Unity Game Engine, gamification, UX, human-centered design, Miro, Figma, agile development, mindfulness, meditation, neuroscience, leadership, communication, product management, yoga, teaching, entrepreneurship, research design, crowdfunding, startups, fundraising.

Experience

1. CEO, Game Designer, and Creative Director

   Six Wing Studios

   Aug 2017 — Present · Raleigh-Durham, NC, US

   I am the Founder, CEO, Game Designer and Creative Director of Six Wing Studios. I lead a team to develop our own titles and provide design and development services on a contract basis.Accomplishments:• Recruited and led a team of developers, artists, and supporters to take Amaru: The Self-care Virtual Pet from an idea to 1MM downloads on iOS and Android with a 4.8/5.0 rating, endorsements from mental-health gaming organizations, and datasets validating that the game helps players build focus and resilience to stress, anxiety, and depression. • Winner: Social Impact Award at the 17th Unity Game Awards (2025)• Nominated: Best Social Impact Project at the 16th Unity Game Awards (2024)• Designed all features and narrative. • Authored all in-game copy and voiceover. • Served as producer with agile/scrum methodologies. • Raised funds by winning the NC IDEA Seed Grant and Unity for Humanity Community Grant, successfully fulfilling multiple crowdfund campaigns, and raising investor capital. • Led the design and delivery of digital and physical merchandise including stuffed animals, artbooks, and storybooks of the Amaru character.• Spun up a client-services arm through which we assist clients with game design and development. Clients include(d)- Monster Theatre on their project, Atomic Owl- Integrated Reality Labs on their project, SLAP- Meaningfull Games on their project, Crab Blast- Thank You, Goodnight on their project, Halfwild

Education

• North Carolina State University

  BA, Psychology

  2005 — 2009

• Universidad de Cantabria

  Study Abroad, Spanish Language and Culture

  2007 — 2007

• North Carolina State University

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Industrial/Organizational Psychology

  2009 — 2015

Skills

• Academic Writing
• Organizational Development
• Interviews
• Leadership Development
• Research
• Training
• Analytical Skills
• Personnel Selection
• Teaching
• Spss
• Microsoft Excel
• Powerpoint
• Statistical Modeling
• Irt
• Research Design
• Survey Research
• User Experience
• Structural Equation Modeling
• Higher Education
• Pranayama
• Technical Reports
• Task Analysis
• Leadership
• Human Factors
• Employee Engagement
• Meditation
• Job Analysis
• Data Analysis
• Data Collection
• Linear Regression
• Microsoft Office
• Survey Design
• Experimental Design
• R
• Statistics
• Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
• Sas
• Public Speaking
• Factor Analysis
• Psychometrics