Most of us can remember that first moment of artistic awakening in our childhood. It can take many forms—a book that blows our minds, a song unlike anything we’ve heard before, a painting that seems to wake us up to reality… a piece of media that opens our eyes to the power of creativity, and the realization that we, too, have the power to create something truly beautiful.
For Will Lewis, it was Kirby’s Adventure.
“It opened my mind to how art interacts with code,” he said. “From that moment on, I knew I wanted to make games.”
Lewis is the founder and president of Portland Indie Game Squad—or “PIG Squad,” as it’s affectionately known—a local nonprofit focused on supporting and expanding the ever-growing indie game scene in town.
This weekend, May 30-31, PIG Squad is throwing its very first PIGCON—a convention for gaming enthusiasts and creators alike to gather, play games, and relish in the glory of an entire showfloor lined with ready-to-play creations by local developers. After the first PIGCON attempt was canceled due to COVID concerns, it’s a hotly anticipated happening for the PIG Squad community—in fact, there’s now a waiting list for all-access passes and Saturday tickets. Sunday tickets are still available, but free entry may be limited depending on capacity.
“It’s basically a lot of really cool events that PIG Squad has done in the past, but all stacked on top of each other in the same weekend,” said Lewis. “We want to get local games and game developers on peoples’ radar in Portland.”
PIG Squad was formed in 2011, when Lewis and his friends decided to turn their monthly meetups into something further-reaching. Now, the team hosts anywhere from three to five events a month. You’ll find workshops, “game jams” (meetups where video game developers gather to each create a game from start to finish in a set amount of time, sometimes to hilarious results), and even the occasional chiptune concert on their event calendar.
The mission of PIG Squad, according to Lewis, is to “support people in Portland who are interested in making things together.” That can look like anything from video games and tabletop roleplaying, to video game soundtracks and new business startups.
But while community-building and collaboration between developers is a central part of PIG Squad, PIGCON is just as much about bringing together creatives as it is showing off the creations to the non-coding-brained among us.
Here are the top five things to do at 2026 PIGCON:
Play Games (On Weird Controllers)
Throughout the whole weekend, there will be games to play everywhere you look on the main floor. Scattered among them, you’ll find “ALT CNTRL” games – video games featuring strange, homemade controllers. Think the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn toddler toy converted into a standard controller, or—in a real example from the PIG Squad community—a box with switches that you flip up and down to enter binary code.
On Sunday, the showroom floor is open to the public for anyone who wants to show off a game they’ve developed, for free! Expect to see fresh-off-the-press creations from the hour-long game jam the night before in all their unpolished glory.
Look out for a brand new game from local developer Lorenzo Moon, collaborating with Portland celeb Mike Bennett. Their creation is shrouded in mystery so far, so you’ll be experiencing it for the first time with everyone in attendance. “I know it’s going to be great,” said Lewis.
Attend a Panel
Game developers are flying in from as far as Australia to give talks and workshops throughout PIGCON. While these are more geared toward the development-minded attendees, Lewis stresses that it’s a great space to learn about making games if you’ve been curious but haven’t known where to start.
Featured panels include Aggro Crab showing off their new game, Crashout Crew; Lilith Walther presenting a PSX remake of the much-beloved Bloodborne; and the team behind Slay the Spire 2 diving into the development behind the new, explosively popular follow-up to the original. (Fun fact: Will Lewis “voiced” most of the characters in the game. Buying something from the shop merchant? That’s Will making strange noises at you while you do!).
Go to a Dungeon-Synth Dance Party
“Saturday night is going to get weird,” warned Lewis. There will be live music, including a dungeon-synth dance party. Have you ever wished you could get sweaty to an electronic subset of black metal music inspired by traditional fantasy themes? Now’s your chance!
There will also be a live, “strange” tabletop roleplaying “game” available to play with other attendees. “Is it a shouting game? Is it a cheering game? It’s… weird,” said Lewis. That one you’ll have to experience for yourself.
Mourn at a Game Funeral
Also on Saturday night: a “game funeral.” Developers will get on stage, and give eulogistic presentations on games they were once working on, but have decided to finally lay to rest.
“Some people are really cathartic with it,” said Lewis. “Some people make fun of it the whole time. Some people talk about what they learned. And then finally, they say goodbye.”
Bring Kleenex.
Learn How to Make a Game (With Your Kid!)
If you’ve ever been interested in making a game yourself, Sunday at PIGCON is the perfect time to get your feet wet. The creator of the PICO-8 engine – a wildly popular, easy to learn game engine that’s highly relied upon in the indie scene – is flying in from Japan to teach a workshop geared toward beginners.
If your STEAM-minded child has expressed interest in learning how to make games, be sure to check out the youth game-making workshop Sunday morning. They’ll teach kids how to make games using new software developed by a PIG Squad community regular.
“You can learn a whole lot about your personal vision and interest around art or technology through games,” said Lewis. “I think that games as a medium really do speak to self-efficacy, self-motivation, and how to connect and collaborate with other people.”
Portland Indie Game Convention (PIGCON) is at Norse Hall, 111 NE 11th, May 30-31, $0-45, tickets and more info at pigcon.pigsquad.com, all ages
