Episode 48 - How do you make queer characters feel real? - Interview with Kelly Gilkes (Matchmaker: Dungeon Heart)

Episode 48 - How do you make queer characters feel real? - Interview with Kelly Gilkes (Matchmaker: Dungeon Heart)

This week is a bit of a shorter episode, True Avatars (I may or may not have speedran the news…), but it’s still a great one!

This week I had the chance to interview the lovely Kelly Gilkes, the Lead Artist behind the 9 amazing romanceable NPCs in the enjoyable queer indie, Matchmaker: Dungeon Heart! She and I discussed body positivity, gaining many perspectives to create honest, relatable characters, and even the voice acting!

In the first half, of course there’s the headlines. For this, it’s just me this week. Gamescom Opening Night Live had a bunch of queer and queer-adjacent announcements, two queer games are doing a collab, The Last of Us Online may live on in a different form, Kirby Air Riders and Hollow Knight Silksong both finally have release dates, Games Done Quick is getting a little queer, and so much more!

And thankfully, no scary developments on the payment processor/game censorship front!

 

00:00:00 - Intro and What We’ve Been Playing

00:02:42 - News

00:21:47 - Interview with Kelly Gilkes (Matchmaker: Dungeon Heart)

 

This episode was recorded on August 24 2025. The interview was recorded on August 20 2025.

 

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74oh7zD_jxI&ab_channel=thegameawards

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/08/psa-sonic-racing-crossworlds-open-network-test-for-switch-announced

https://asia.sega.com/SonicRacingCrossWorlds/en/news/open-network-test.html

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2863680/ZERO_PARADES/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2058730/The_Darkest_Files/

https://www.ign.com/articles/cronos-the-new-dawn-stars-you-as-a-soul-collecting-time-traveler

https://www.ign.com/articles/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-legacy-of-the-forge-dlc-trailer-reveals-september-release-date-and-henrys-new-home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XGeJwsUP9c

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-08-21/why-silksong-team-cherry-s-sequel-to-hollow-knight-took-so-long-to-make?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc1NTc4NjYzOSwiZXhwIjoxNzU2MzkxNDM5LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUMUNMTUpHUFdDUFcwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.oTN8q1m9pNWFv7oW-n3vzq-hRWAxrDx9B7iF80RdTzk&leadSource=uverify%20wall

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/yoshi-p-reveals-positive-discussions-over-nintendo-switch-2-final-fantasy-14-port/

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/director-of-scrapped-the-last-of-us-online-says-his-new-us-japan-studio-is-making-a-cinematic-multiplayer-title/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-20/take-two-guts-bioshock-studio-after-a-decade-of-development?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc1NTcxNDU0NSwiZXhwIjoxNzU2MzE5MzQ1LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUMUIxVEZHUFFRN1cwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.zVepbosqQPRpkHaMvUcaBAlKk73_0IkMGOvNKaKU6mE&leadSource=uverify%20wall

https://www.instagram.com/p/DNjJspJsFh5/?igsh=MXQ1aDB1ZmtycjV5dA%3D%3D

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/dragon-age-and-gears-of-war-headline-xbox-game-pass-august-line-up/

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/playstation-is-officially-getting-halo-content-in-the-form-of-helldivers-collab/

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/08/its-almost-showtime-for-overwatch-2s-new-persona-collab

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtkHiB7WKf4