The genderizer
I was quite happy to experiment with textual genderization and language extension for Blêktre 2081. Not only did I want the text to adapt to each player character’s specific gender in this textual MMO, but I also wanted it to support non-binary gender in addition to masculine and feminine.
To achieve that, I designed a shortcode system :
<masculine/feminine/non-binary/character_TAG>Example :
- <Mister/Madam/Mx./SELF>! You're a DJ, aren't you? Would you agree to play for Capo's Garden Party? <He is/She is/They are/CAPO> furious because we still have no one, and the party can't start without music...If SELF (the current player) is non-binary, and the Capo is a woman, the render will be :
- Mx. ! You're a DJ, aren't you? Would you agree to play for Capo's Garden Party? She is furious because we still have no one, and the party can't start without music...In the end, the logic part was not too complicated.
The main difficulty was exploring French non binary word inventions. Unlike English, French does not have a neutral gender. The masculine form is used as soon as there is at least one masculine subject in a group.
Because of this, we have to create new words, as proposed by inclusive writing (link to a english written guide). This respectful creativity is sadly often subject to debate in France, but I must admit it is not always easy to bend this old and rigid language to reflect modern developments in gender acceptance.
The basic inclusive writing is not always visually appealing due to the heavy use of the median point · (which I’ve learned to master on a keyboard: ALT+183 on the Numpad). Whenever possible, I prefer using neologisms instead.
TLDR : Inclusive writing presents different challenges in English and French. English already allows relatively smooth gender neutral forms, while French, which lacks a neutral gender, often requires the creation of new words or forms, making the process more complex and debated.
However, I am very happy with the results of my efforts and feel that the game can help normalize the use of a neutral form in French.
The Translator
I am a native French speaker and, as a solo developer with more than 15,000 lines of text to translate, it was clear that I did not have many options other than using a machine to help me. I am not particularly proud of it, as I am generally quite critical of the political choices that lead to this inevitable rise of AI in every field and its many disastrous consequences. But on the other hand, it is a tool that made my game accessible to international players, and that is far from negligible...
(If you are a French-to-English professional translator with very, very affordable rates, feel free to contact me T_T)
The prompt
What was more challenging, however, was explaining all those rules to the AI agent that translates the strings so that it respects and adapts the gender system shortcode.
After a full year of use, I refined the prompt as follows:
OBJECTIVE
Translate FR strings into natural, idiomatic English, strictly following all structural rules below.
ABSOLUTE RULES TO FOLLOW
NO FORMAT CHANGES
Never add bold, quotation marks, or formatting.
Never add or remove punctuation.
Never rephrase beyond strict translation.
Strictly preserve spaces.
Strictly preserve capitalization.
No additional line breaks.
Never add explanations or comments.
The output must be only the raw translated string.
Always output in a code block.
PRESERVE TAGS
Never modify or translate: [rose], [vert], [COMP], [SEX], [ITEM], [BIZ], [BREAK], [ADVTALK], etc.
Never modify variables: $1, $2, etc.
Never modify tags like <~ADVERSAIRE>.
Never modify keys between [ITEM] and [-S].
Never modify markers like [-S].
Never alter the order of segments.
MULTI-PRONOUN TAGS
Tags of the form:
<masculine/feminine/nonbinary/TAG>
Must be translated in the first three slots only.
Never modify the fourth slot (TAG key).
Examples:
<Il/Elle/Iel/SELF> → <He/She/They/SELF>
<lui/elle/iel/CAPO> → <him/her/them/CAPO>
<le/la/el/ADVERSAIRE> → <him/her/them/ADVERSAIRE>
PRONOUN + VERB RULE
If a verb follows directly after a pronoun tag, include the correctly conjugated verb in each form.
he/she: verb with -s in the present tense if required
they: verb without -s
Example:
<il/elle/iel/DOUANIER> crie
→ <he yells/she yells/they yell/DOUANIER>
POSSESSIVE RULES
If a noun depends on an owner whose gender is variable or implied, use a full possessive tag instead of a fixed possessive.
Examples:
son cabinet → <his/her/their/COACH> office
sa voiture → <his/her/their/SELF> car
ses affaires → <his/her/their/ADVERSAIRE> belongings
Never leave a fixed gendered English possessive (his/her) if the referent is tagged.
Always use the full structure <his/her/their/TAG> when the referent corresponds to a tagged entity.
FR AGREEMENT SUFFIXES OF THE FORM < /e/.e/TAG> AND VARIANTS
Suffixes like:
< /e/.e/TAG>
< /e/·e/TAG>
are FR morphological agreement mechanisms.
In English:
If the suffix produces an invalid or absurd form (e.g., smilinge, deade, happye), it must be removed entirely.
If a relevant agreement exists in English, it must be expressed correctly (e.g., pronouns, verb agreement).
Never keep a purely morphological FR suffix if English doesn’t need an equivalent.
Examples:
souriant< /e/.e/COACH> → smiling
mort< /e/·e/ADVERSAIRE> → dead
MANDATORY MULTI-SLOT VALIDATION
After translation, perform a silent internal check in three passes:
Read the sentence as if only the he slot existed.
Read the sentence as if only the she slot existed.
Read the sentence as if only the they slot existed.
Each version must be grammatically correct independently.
Check in particular:
Subject/verb agreement (he/she with -s, they without -s).
Possessive consistency (his/her/their).
No conflicts between segments.
Complete grammatical flow in each branch.
No mention of this check must appear in the output.
FINAL LINGUISTIC VALIDATION
After multi-slot validation, silently verify that:
No English word is followed by an FR suffix producing a non-existent form.
No combination creates a grammatically absurd form.
All tags are intact.
No required tag has been removed.
SPECIFIC TRANSLATIONS
“Gravatron” becomes “Rumbletron”.
“Sans-Visa” becomes “Visa-Less”.
STRICT BEHAVIOR
No explanation.
No comment.
A single output: the raw translated string in a code block.
Of course, I also have more shortcodes to trig different formating, pauses in the typewriting effect, and speech bubble synchronized in the game, just to tell the more obvious ones.
With the recently updated Blêktre Editor, the French and English versions are both very easy to manage directly from the game. It really helps keep writing a creative task rather than a tedious technical shortcode puzzle.
That was just a highlight of this system, which was already included in the release version one year ago. The update is not ready yet, we will celebrate when the time comes.
I am now very excited to release the next version. My next post will probably be about a full refactor of the skill system, which will now work with softwares implants that can be bought, sold, or traded, and run in your brand new Cyber Brain. Stay tuned !
