The Syzygy Cult is (at present) an association of six high school students, forming the Syzygy Cult itself, along with Brett Thayer as an independent contractor for the Syzygy Cult. Mostly located in and around Portland, Maine, they were shocked to discover that their regionalism was shattered by the inclusion of a resident of Utah.
About the Individual Members of the Syzygy Cult
Dustin Mitchell is one of the main Syzygy Cult programmers. He has an annoying tendency to remain on the phone with Jake for several hours at a time, sometimes stretching into those wee hours of the morning when the real programming gets done. As a matter of fact, it's 8:52 PM right now, and with just a little Pepsi he feels great! Dustin is a Junior at Waynflete High School by day, taking far too many courses to have a life this year. One of these days he plans to finish some of the hundreds of applications, games, and utilities he has begun and never finished. It always seems that just when an application is getting good, something more important comes up and it gets stuffed away in “backed up projects.”
Jake Beal is another of the programmers for the Syzygy Cult, and holds responsibility for the primary ideas for little extensions and utilities like Don't Stop. Why he does it, nobody knows, but they think that it may have something to do with the moon. Jake lives in Portland, Maine and also goes to Waynflete High School, where he is a Junior and a fixture in the computer room. His other interests include theater, piano, lording his driver’s licence over other cult members, and writing.
Macneil Shonle is yet another programmer for the Syzygy Cult. Also a Junior at Waynflete High School. He likes: computers, weight lifting, philosophy and hanging out. And, like Jake Beal, Mac has his driver’s licence already. His best advice to someone is: “Take it easy,” something that he himself should do more often… Anyway, things are on the up and up for him, and he looks forward to future projects from The Syzygy Cult.
Gabe Ganberg is the Syzygy Cult's chief game designer, and is also a Junior at Waynflete High School. He is not a programmer, although he plays one on TV.
Ben Cote is the tallest member the Syzygy Cult. His interests include theatre, show tunes, shiny things and twiddling with his fancy hardware. His main contribution to The Syzygy Cult's “Accidental Compilation” series were plugging and unplugging keyboards while the programmers were working, not to mention dancing Irish jigs while quoting Andrew Lloyd Webber shows. He can be reached at “benyc@biddeford.com".
Ben Birney was born in Washington DC in 1979. He grew up in North Yarmouth, Maine, using Apples and Macintoshes. He attended public school until eighth grade, when he finally became fed up with being taunted as a computer nerd, and transferred to Waynflete School, where he is currently a sophomore. He learned to program in C and has used his ten years of piano experience to write MODs. After finishing the MODs for Mantra, his current projects include a tactical war game, an arcade style spaceship game, and an in-play aid for Dungeons and Dragons called DM’s Aid.
