PGM NEWS
2025 Global Game Jawn, February 2025 Playtest Night, New Games, and a Special Collaboration Opportunity
2025 Global Game Jawn
This year’s bubble-themed Global Game Jawn, which ran from January 20th to the 26th, was a very pop-ular event! (Ha!)
PGM ran a week-long and 48-hour version of the jam, both of which began with a combined kick-off in the Discord Server There, jammers got to know each other and share about their interests and expertise before taking part in a collaborative brainstorm. Once people began to bond through a shared enthusiasm over the presented ideas, folks broke off into teams and decided amongst themselves if they wanted to do a slow jam (the week-long version), a crunch jam (a 48-hour sprint to make their game) or if the team would have members doing both.
Above: Part of the furious and fun brainstorming that kicked off the jam.
Everyone, whether they’d been working all week or just wanted to do the 48-hour crunch, was welcome to attend the in-person portion of the jam, which was hosted over the weekend at the Indy Hall Clubhouse in Northern Liberties.
Jammers who gathered in person spent some time meeting their fellow PGMers, and those who couldn’t make the kick-off were quickly welcomed to join up with already formed teams, though a few choose to forge new alliances together instead.
Above: Jammers working on their games at Indie Hall in Northern Liberties.
Playtest Night - Game Jawn Edition
Playtest night at Majux Hub in Old City on Thursday, February 6thsaw a ton of new faces as we showed off an celebrated the project that came out of the 2025 Global Game Jawn. There were nine ham teams who each had unique and inventive ideas on the year’s theme–which was “bubbles”–from a gumball machine to a virtual “bubblegotchi” to a turn-based tactical bubble-popping game and more!
Here are the entries for this year’s Jawn:
Gumball Clicker
Bubble Fish
Bubbles and Blood
Cauldron Clash
Bubble Up
Bubble Daddy
Personal Bubble
Bubblegotchi
Pop! Echoes of the Damned
The Games can also all be found on our Global Game Jawn page.!
Above: People enjoying the networking and playtest portion of the evening.
Upcoming and Newly Released Games from PGM Members
Just Released
The first paid episode of of the Devil by nth Circle Studios has just been released!
“Immerse yourself in neon, smoke, and high-stakes legal gambles as a Defense Attorney with uniquely Killer insights in this diabolically stylish visual novel adventure game.”
You can also checkout the free prologue if you’d like to give the series a try.
Coming Soon
Fish Fear Me by Heather Flowers is dropping on February 21st!
“A top-down action roguelite about catching fish, fighting them, selling their bones, and catching more fish. Upgrade your boat and weapons, hunt down sea monster bounties, delve into eldritch mysteries, and try to pay off cosmic debt millennia in the making.”
Don’t forget to wishlist!
One Million Stars by Tom Sennett Games was featured in our last newsletter, but now its Steam page is officially live!
“Get stars, avoid monsters. The rules are simple, but the goal massive. Pilot 4 different ships, choose stackable upgrades, and grab wild powerups in an endless, dynamically generated roguelite arcade space adventure. Take each run as far as you can, banking progress on the road to ONE MILLION!”
Don’t forget to wishlist!
Special Announcements
Possible Indy Hall Collaboration Opportunity
Alex from Indy Hall attended this month’s Playtest Night in order to extend an offer to the PGM community. Alex is interested in PGM and Indy Hall having a relationship beyond them opening their space to us for jams and special events. Alex wants to hear directly from PGM members about what kind of collaboration between our organizations would be useful to us. Is there a coworking or community building opportunity you see for Indy Hall together with PGM? Is there something that’s stopping you from making use of a co-working space that you think Indy Hall + PGM could help change?
Alex asks that anyone with ideas please feel free to contact him directly at alex@indyhall.org.
PHL Gaming Task Force
The PHL Gaming Taskforce convened to deliver testimony and recommendations to Philadelphia’s City Council on January 22nd. The Taskforce, convened and pushed forward by Council Member Isaiah Thomas’s office, aims to grow the gaming industry in Philadelphia through legislative and non-legislative programs that will create opportunities for people like you. PGM leaders, IGDA leaders, studio heads, and more provided actionable suggestions to spur the growth of gaming in Philly. They discussed grant programs, serious game development for non-gaming partners, the use of libraries and other shared spaces for game development activities, e-sports programming, and more! You can view the whole session here.
Discord
The Philly Game Mechanics Discord server hit 1,000 members in February! We’re so glad to have such an active and amazing community of gamers, game devs, and game enthusiasts in the Philly area. We look forward to running more events, providing more opportunities, and connecting more folks with friends, mentors, and collaborators!
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!”
Upcoming Events
PGM Planning Session
The PGM Planning Session is a recurring meeting to help organize events for PGM and keep operations running smoothly. These events are open to everyone interested in volunteering and are hosted in the Discord server. The next one is Monday, March 3rd at 7pm.
Playtest Night
The next playtest night will be Thursday, March 6th at 7pm at our usual spot, Majux Hub (230 N 2nd St).