Philadelphia Game Development meetup group hosts small May meetup, serves as ‘beginning’

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods Program, the capstone class for the Temple Journalism Department.
The Philadelphia Game Development meetup group held their monthly meeting Saturday at Cosi on 9^th and Chestnut streets.
The group, which was established in 2003, is an informal network of professional and amateur game developers from the Philadelphia region. The group has 200 members, according to its site, ranging from established developers to hobbyists.
There is no strict attendance policy, as members can RSVP for the meetups at the group’s website or just show up. The informality leads to fluctuating attendance numbers and topic discussions. Saturdays meeting covered topics ranging from 3D modeling applications to animation programs among only three attendees, though the group has had dozens at other events.

“Even if you don’t get people to work with, it’s a place to bounce ideas off of each other,” said Shawn Pierre an amateur game developer who demonstrated for attendees a game he is developing .
Keeping the growing game development community of Philadelphia connected is important to local developers with events such as this and groups like the Philadelphia branch of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA).
“Every time I go to IGDA meetings, I see new people talking about how they have a new game coming out,” said Tom Rodriguez a software engineering student at Drexel University who was one of the meetups attendees, “I see all this opportunity around and it’s exciting.”
Amateur visual artist and group organizer George Harris describes the group as a ‘beginning.’
“These meetups give an opportunity to network and get inspiration from other people working around here,” said Harris.