The developers at Old City game studio Cipher Prime knocked down a wall and created the city’s first coworking space for game developers.

Meet the Philly Game Forge.

Cipher Prime knocked down the wall between its office and nightlife site Drink Philly, whose staffers will now be telecommuting, said Cipher Prime cofounder William Stallwood. Its first members are Final Form Games, previously based in Center City, and Flyclops, previously based out of Indy Hall. Stallwood hopes to have five studios total in the space.

The effort aims to support Philly’s indie game developer scene, Stallwood said. The Philly chapter of IGDA and the Philly game developers meetup will happen there at 3rd and Chestnut too.

“This is an incredible opportunity for us and the Philly game dev scene as a whole,” Stallwood said in an email.

If you want to join the space, email both will AT cipherprime.com and aaron AT cipherprime.com

The space is not associated with the Philadelphia Game Lab, a coworking space for game developers that has been in the works for the past year and a half. While that effort, led by Nathan Solomon, has been trumpeted as one bringing together various institutions, including university programs often criticized as isolated, it has been slow-going.

Consider the symbolism of the two different approaches.


A video game startup seized on the opportunity of another tenant’s departure to get a landlord’s approval to literally knock down a wall. In one fell swoop, they declared it had started a coworking space to house a community they had been helping to build for years. Theirs is a startup way embraced by the ideals of N3rd Street: ready, fire, aim.

That comes in considerable contrast with the Game Lab, which has an advisory board, stakeholders and mounting expectations. No word on its location, after a deal fell through for the former Springboard Media offices on Walnut Street in Rittenhouse.

Aside from being a spot for game studios and solo game developers to work, the new space will host Cipher Prime’s dev night, where developers come together to work on projects, and meetings of the Philly chapter of the International Game Developers Association. It’ll also host quarterly game showcases. There are no hard dates yet, but if you’re interested in participating, sign up here.

Expect a big opening party later this fall, said Stallwood, and sign up here if you’d like to present there.

Find more pictures below, courtesy of Stallwood. Read more on Geekadelphia here.

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