Adding grammatical sub-features for variables (e.g. plurals, a vs. an)?

[lulamorashi]

Hello! I'm trying to work out how to change the associated words with a variable, e.g. a vs. an.

As an example, if my variable is "job" and this can be set throughout the game as "actor", "builder" or "cartoonist", is there a way that I can make it so that this sentence:

"I am {job.a} {job}."

Can print out:

"I am an actor"; "I am a builder"; "I am a cartoonist" depending on the variable "Job".

I'd like to be able to extend this functionality beyond a vs. an to things like pronouns, e.g. for a character whose gender can variably be "Man", "Woman", "Non-binary person", the sentence "{gender.they} opened {gender.their} eyes" could print "He opened his eyes"; "She opened her eyes"; or "They opened their eyes" depending on the variable "gender".

I know how to do this with a very tedious:

{
-gender == "man": He <>
-gender == "woman": She <>
-else: They <>
}
<> opened <>
{
-gender == "man": his <>
-gender == "woman": her <>
-else: their <>
}
<> eyes.

But obviously this is pretty unsustainable for a long piece! Any tips or advice?

[joningold]

I'd like to be able to extend this functionality beyond a vs. an to things like pronouns, e.g. for a character whose gender can variably be "Man", "Woman", "Non-binary person", the sentence "{Character.they} opened {character.their} eyes" could print "He opened his eyes"; "She opened her eyes"; or "They opened their eyes" depending on the variable "gender". I know how to do this with a very tedious: { -gender == "man": He <> -gender == "woman": She <> -else: They <> } <> opened <> { -gender == "man": his <> -gender == "woman": her <> -else: their <> } <> eyes. But obviously this is pretty unsustainable for a long piece! Any tips or advice

This is a great opportunity for a function: {They(gender)} opened {their(gender)} eyes. == function They(gender) { gender: - "man": He - "woman": She - else: They } === function their(gender) { gender: - "man": his - "woman": her - else: their } And if you only have one character whose gender is assignable this way, you don't even need to pass it as a parameter, so can just write {They()} opened {their()} eyes.

[lulamorashi]

Thanks so much! I'll have a go with that... I'm guessing for the "a" vs. "an" example it would be something like:

=== function aorAn(x)
{ x:
- "actor" or "optometrist" or ...[list of all the other variables starting with vowels]... or "undertaker": an
- else: a
}

[joningold]

You can be really clever here using the string contains string operator ? : I put {a("cat")} and {a("ape")} into {a("old box")} with {a("elephant")}. === function a(x) ~ temp stringWithStartMarker = "^" + x { stringWithStartMarker ? "^a" or stringWithStartMarker ? "^A" or stringWithStartMarker ? "^e" or stringWithStartMarker ? "^E" or stringWithStartMarker ? "^i" or stringWithStartMarker ? "^I" or stringWithStartMarker ? "^o" or stringWithStartMarker ? "^O" or stringWithStartMarker ? "^u" or stringWithStartMarker ? "^U" : an {x} - else: a {x} } prints I put a cat and an ape into an old box with an elephant. Message ID: ***@***.***>

…

[lulamorashi]

Oooh I didn't know about that functionality – I'll play around with that too!