Latest Posts
Tap a post to read it. More posts land after Plaguefest wraps.
Prepping the Infestation
Plaguefest goes live October 17. Here’s what the run-up has looked like from inside the Nest.
Read more →Plaguefest Year 6 recap
Totals, highlights, and thank-yous once the Infestation ends.
Game Dev School Series 2
Dev and education posts arrive after Plaguefest.
Prepping the Infestation
Plaguefest goes live October 17. Here’s what the run-up has looked like from inside the Nest.
Every October I tell myself this is the year Plaguefest prep will be calm. Every October I am wrong. Year 6 of the Grand Infestation kicks off on Twitch on October 17 and runs through October 30, and this time I decided to launch something else alongside it: the website you’re reading right now.
Why a website, why now
For five years, Plaguefest lived in a scatter of places. The schedule was in one spot, the guest list in another, the donation link pinned somewhere in chat, and the history of the event mostly lived in my head. I wanted one home where a brand-new Mischief could land and understand everything in a minute: what Plaguefest is, who’s coming, where the money goes, and how to join in.
So I designed and built nezuyaki.com myself. Every page, every sticker-tilted card, every redacted lore bar. Building it during event prep was either brilliant or unhinged, and I’m still deciding which.
What’s new this year
The Plaguefest page now pulls straight from our Tiltify campaign, so the raised total, recent donations, milestones, and rewards update live while we stream. The Twitch player sits right next to the schedule, and the schedule shows every block in your own time zone, so nobody has to do time-zone math at 2am.
There’s also the Guest Roster. Seventeen guests are joining Year 6, from game developers and artists to fellow streamers and the Girls Make Games community, and you can filter the roster by year to see everyone who has helped infest the stream since the beginning.
The Hall of Infestation
This is the part I’m most excited about. The Hall of Infestation is a permanent wall for every donor who has backed Plaguefest. Last year, 23 of you raised $2,250 for the Girls Make Games Scholarship Fund, and every one of you now has a plaque. If you donated last year and donate again this year, your new plaque gets a ribbon for each year you’ve come back. It’s my small way of saying: I see you, and I remember.
The cause
Plaguefest has always been about one thing under all the chaos: helping girls and gender-diverse youth get into game development through the Girls Make Games Scholarship Fund. Since 2021, our October charity streams have raised more than $12,000 together. Our goal for Year 6 is $2,000, and every milestone we hit unlocks something ridiculous on stream.
What the run-up actually feels like
Honestly? Like stage fright and a sugar rush at the same time. There are guest schedules to confirm, overlays to test, incentives to double-check, and a hundred tiny website fixes that only I will ever notice. But every time a guest says yes, or a returning Mischief asks if Plaguefest is happening again, the nerves turn back into excitement.
See you on October 17. Bring snacks, bring friends, and bring your best infestation energy.
Written by Nez. Catch Plaguefest live on Twitch October 17–30.