we're making a small, gentle video game (kal's valley) where families from many backgrounds have resettled a green valley after a long drought. one of the characters is Vietnamese: wren (vietnamese; her grandmother is bà nội). we want someone who is Vietnamese - or grew up with it - to read their lines and tell us whether anything is wrong, odd, stereotyped or disrespectful, and what would make them feel more real.
all text in the game is lowercase on purpose (a style choice). the valley is vegetarian (family recipes are adapted). the game shows heritage quietly, through food, words and objects, not explanations.
about the character:
Heritage: Vietnamese. The tin is bà nội's, her grandmother's: rau răm, bitter melon, perilla, beans.
Who: the gardener, who keeps the greenhouse and the solar farm.
the lines (one per row, as they appear in the game):
- oh! you're the one in kal's old house. i'm wren - greenhouse, solar farm, whatever needs doing.
- the storm tripped the farm's junction box. the line to the drone base has been dead since.
- switch it back through? grey box at the far end of the poles.
- and the tin on the crate there - bà nội's seeds. take it. they've sat in the dark long enough.
- you did it - hear it hum?
- the first panels out there came off the old highway walls. everything here used to be something else.
- ...mira's here? from the city?
- we were together, in the city. years. i left. she didn't.
- mira came by the greenhouse. first time in ten years.
- we talked about seeds for an hour. like nothing happened. like everything did.
- ...she held my hand at the door. just for a second.
- rau răm, bitter melon, perilla... everything in that greenhouse started from bà nội's handful.
- she'd pinch a leaf of rau răm and make you smell it. every single time.
- if you've seeds to spare, the fallow plots could use them.
- there's always more to do than hands to do it.
- the first year, the show waited till every cottage down the lane was lived in. it should again.
- every cottage lived in. now we feed them.
- a show over an empty table? bà nội would never.
- i'm saving mira a spot at the overlook. don't tell her.
- next spring we plant bà nội's beans. all of us.
- rain! that's the watering done. i could kiss it.
- smell that? the perilla gives it all up after rain.
- dry all week, the board says. i'll be out with the can at dawn.
- up already? the panels like the sun before anyone's in it. so do i.
- is it lunch? i keep forgetting lunch.
- ah - the rau răm! in the rows, not on them!
- sorry, wren! we'll go round.
- you've got the can! the bed on the rise is always last. always.
- you could help, you know. or keep watching. both are nice.
- another family down the lane. more hands. more mouths, too.
- tonight. i've ironed a shirt. i never iron.
- seed, by the greenhouse. take what you need.
please send back (text):
- your connection to the culture (e.g. 'telugu, grew up in hyderabad' - no personal details needed)
- anything wrong or off: words, names (amma, tata, teta, lola...), dishes, customs, how family members are addressed - quote the line and say what you'd change
- anything that feels stereotyped or like a tourist's view
- 1-3 small, specific details that would make this family feel more real (a word, a habit, an object, a dish)
it's fine to say 'this all feels right' if it does - but please say why.