PGM NEWS
January 2025 Playtest Night, Special Announcements, and Upcoming Events
Playtest Night
The Philly Game Mechanics hosted another successful playtest night at Majux Hub in Old City on Thursday, January 9th. The regularly hosted meet is usually the first Thursday of each month but was pushed to the second week this time to accommodate the holidays. Turnout was great with a lot of new faces!
There were a variety of projects showcased during the show-and-tell portion of the event.
Above: Heather Flowers shows off their new game, Fish Fear Me.
Brandon Celentano reminded the group that Too Many Games, Pennsylvania’s longest-running video, arcade, and tabletop gaming convention, is now open for applications to the Indie Games Showcase! Brandon reminded us all he’s available for questions if anyone is interested in showcasing their game.
Jon Dare and Sam Philip showed off their respective musical talents and made the whole group feel like they were on a quest. It was great!
You can hear a battle sequence from Sam here on SoundCloud.
And Jon shared one of his jazz-inspired pieces on Bluesky.
Heather Flowers showed us the progress on her nearly completed game, Fish Fear Me. Catch fish, use your anchor as (a possibly ill-advised) weapon, and get eaten by a giant sea monster or emerge victorious to sell your fish!
Tom Sennett shared his new game One Million Stars, which is just about to go live on Steam and will hopefully make it into this February’s Next Fest, so be sure to wishlist it when you can!
Finally, Max Mandrych shared his game ShakiShaki Island, which was made for the 2024 Game Off Jam. It’s a cute, retro-style puzzle game that involves drawing your way to victory.
Above: People enjoying the networking and playtest portion of the evening.
Special Announcements
Newsletter
We’re starting a newsletter. Hey, that’s this! Let us know what you think of the first issue and what sort of things you’d like to see covered in the future.
Website
The new-and-improved PGM website is up and running! Check it out, let us know if you notice any bugs or errors, and enjoy the new sleek and updated design! It’s a work in progress, but there is a calendar on the site which should help keep you updated on PGM events if you prefer a more visual layout or aren’t as active in the Discord.
Testimonials
Has PGM meant something to you? Did we help you playtest your game, make new friends or industry connections, or encourage you to learn something in a PGM-hosted jam? If so, we’d love to hear about it. Leave a testimonial to help boost PGM’s notoriety through our website!
Transfer of Leadership
Upcoming Events
Global Game Jawn 2025
The page for signing up for the jam is live! Game jams are a great way to make friends, practice old skills or try new ones, and everyone is welcome! There will be two parts to our 2025 Global Game Jawn:
Online
The online portion of the jam will kick off Monday, the 20th of January at 7pm in the PGM Discord server. The kick-off will include a reveal of the theme, some introductions between attendees, and a brainstorming session to help folks find like-minded teammates. This jam will run all the way to the official end of the GGJ, January 26th. This online jam lasts longer than the in-person version we’re running, but the spirit is still to spend about two days(ish!) of work on the game. This is a great option for folks who are busy with other responsibilities and would like to work a little here and there over a longer period of time, or for people who might prefer to stay home due for any reason.
In-Person
The in-person portion of the jam will kick off on January 24th at Indy Hall (709 N 2nd St, 3rd Floor). It will have the same kick-off structure of the online jam, but this portion is for those folks who like the more intense do-it-in-a-weekend jam style. You will be welcome to come and go or stay the night at Indy Hall if you’re up for pulling an all-nighter with your crew.
Those who participate in the online jam are also welcome to join at Indy Hall if they want to put the finishing touches on their game with their teammates in person. Both jam versions will end at the close of the GGJ on January 26th and games will be uploaded to the PGM GGJ page so everyone can play all the submitted games!
Usually after a jam, some portion of the next month’s Playtest Night is dedicated to allowing folks to show off their jam games as well!
PGM Town Hall
The PGM Town Hall is a recurring meeting to help organize events for PGM. These events are open to everyone who would like to attend and are hosted in the Discord server. The next one is Wednesday, January 15th at 8pm.
Playtest Night
The next playtest night will be Thursday, February 6th at 7pm at our usual spot, Majux Hub (230 N 2nd St).
Narrascope
NarraScope is an event that supports interactive narrative, adventure games, and interactive fiction by bringing together writers, developers, and players.
This year, Narrascope will be hosted here in Philly at Drexel University! The conference runs from June 20th-22nd, 2025, and all talks will also be streamed live via Discord with recordings eventually being made available on their Youtube channel. If you would like to submit a talk for Narrascope, submissions are open! The deadline for submissions is February 7th.