Saluton!

I'm still not sure if the wording on this is right but I saw this tumblr comment and went with it

play dead plate.

"I heard this place is popular around here."

im allowed to miss him sometimes

Their sexualities were already a part of the characters back in February 2023 long before the game was developed and released. For example Rody being bisexual was always there as a fact as shown in the screenshot below which is from my private discord server where I store character infos/drafts:

Their sexualities weren't brought up in the game because it wasn't relevant to the story + they are characters who just happens to be queer and regardless of their sexuality the events in the game would still happen/remain the same, one doesn't effect the other. Instead of heavily highlighting it we wanted to treat it as another piece of fun fact since their sexualities doesn't define their character/personality.

@yallemagne Saw your tags and wanted to say that interpretations that incorporate the sexualities are totally fine! Thanks for being so interested in the game and thank you for asking, I appreciate it- Personally, when writing for Vince his queerness was apart of his character but just wasn't a defining aspect of his arc. I don't mind people shipping them or writing about them being romantic or exploring that at all, I think it's a cool thing that blooms from fandom and exploring those character dynamics are what I find most engaging making the games in the first place. Don't feel anxious to post your thoughts on our games, even in the off-chance its not something I would agree with it's still enlightening to hear peoples interpretations of the stories I work on.

The thing with queerbaiting I wanted to address [spoilers ahead] was specifically people feeling cheated out of an ending where they get together.

I've seen people say that they were expecting a possible ending where Rody and Vince become romantic partners and that it felt like the story was pushing in that direction with the implication that they were queerbaited. I think it's alright to feel upset by an ending of a story and a lot of the criticism towards Dead Plate has been things I think I should take into account with future projects- but to expect an ending where two queer characters ultimately get together purely because the story explores ideas of queerness with the characters doesn't mean you were queerbaited when you didn't get that ending.

Because any ending where Rody and Vince got together wouldn't be indicative of the story we were trying to write. If Rody and Vince were to be romantic with eachother by the end it would undo all of the build up and kind of erase the entire point of their dynamic- Rody's entire issue was that he only knew how to live for others while Vince's issue was that he only knew how to live for himself. Their dynamic allowed each of them to see things from the other perspective, giving Rody the chance to change and grow by living for himself and ultimately punishing Vince due to his inability to change despite wanting to.

But yes- To answer your concern, it's fine to explore different interpretations of the game. I don't want people to be scared off from expressing their feelings on a story because they're worried its not what the authors were going for- Stories arent some secret problem to be solved, theyre an ongoing discussion with the media and the audience. Even with what I've written here I still think if people disagree it's a net positive for them to explore that opinion. And also a discussion on Rodys internalized biphobia contributing to how he treats Vince and Manon sounds sick as hell

So Beelzebub is non-binary AND moronsexual?

From Mingjue Helen Chen, the Production Designer for Kpop Demon Hunters

From Mingjue Helen Chen’s Instagram, @mingjuechen