CapsLoc — Game Localization & LQA Triage Hub

A high-performance internal communication hub built for Game Localization teams and LQA workflows.

Live Demo • Architecture Breakdown

⚡ When It's a Lot, use CapsLoc: The Localization Context Gap

In AAA game development, game localization requires fast-moving multi-disciplinary cooperation between the linguistic, literary, technical, and audio teams in order for a Game Project to deliver a consistent identity across the various target locales & global contexts. In the middle of those workflows are:

• The Tooling Fracture ("Alt-Tab Fatigue"): Localization teams lose hours context-switching between disconnected tools: studio chat (Slack/Discord), CAT suites (memoQ, Trados), 80,000-row master Excel spreadsheets, and Jira bug trackers.
• The Context Gap: Translators localize dialogue in isolation without knowing text-box engine boundaries, leading to catastrophic UI text clipping in length-heavy languages (e.g. German compound expansions). LQA testers flag defects with cropped screenshots lacking string keys, forcing hours of string-key archaeology.

🎬 CapsLoc's QoL Upgrades

1. The LocString Inspector

Game strings for dialogue like #LOC-MH-003 or UI strings like $STR_ITEM_DEMONDRUG are auto-detected via regex and linked relationally in PostgreSQL. Clicking opens the Inspector drawer displaying the Japanese source text, context notes, and 1-click clipboard copy.

Live Character Limit & Hazard Gauge	Role-Based RBAC & Transactional Audit
Dynamic gauge that scales with character limit overflows and renders a warning to prevent UI clipping.	Strict RBAC: audit approvals are locked to LOC_PM or SOLUTIONS_DEV roles. Every status change commits in an atomic $transaction with collapsible audit history.

Canonical Glossary Search

Sub-millisecond case-insensitive search across approved game and series terminology providing contextual Do Not Translate (DNT) flags right inside the drawer, preventing franchise naming divergence.

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2. QA Screenshots and Attachments Staging

Paste or drop bug screenshots with QA defect tags ([UI-OVERFLOW], [LINE-BREAK]). Staged files are claimed atomically when the message posts, with a built-in lightbox supporting multi-level zoom (1x to 2.5x).

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3. Zero-Reflow Bilingual UI Engine

Instant EN <-> JA language toggle with 100% compile-time dictionary parity across 228 strictly-typed keys and zero layout reflow.

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🏛️ System Architecture

CapsLoc is structured as a strict pnpm monorepo sharing compile-time TypeScript contracts across backend and frontend targets:

flowchart LR
    subgraph CLIENT["Client Tier (React 19 + Vite)"]
        UI["Tailwind v4 HUD"]
        SocketC["Socket.io Client"]
        AxiosC["Axios (JWT Refresh)"]
    end

    subgraph PROXY["Edge Gateway"]
        Nginx["Nginx Reverse Proxy (:80)"]
    end

    subgraph SERVER["Application Tier (NestJS :3000)"]
        REST["REST API (/api/*)"]
        ChatGW["ChatGateway (Socket.io)"]
        Services["Domain Services (Auth, LocStrings, Messages)"]
    end

    subgraph DATA["Data Tier"]
        Prisma["Prisma 7 ORM"]
        Postgres[("PostgreSQL 16")]
    end

    CLIENT --> Nginx
    Nginx -->|"REST"| REST
    Nginx -->|"WebSockets"| ChatGW
    REST --> Services
    ChatGW --> Services
    Services --> Prisma --> Postgres

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For complete technical specifications, see architecture.md.

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👥 Standard Localization Roles & Studio Hierarchy

CapsLoc models authentic AAA game studio workflows with strict Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) across the localization and LQA lifecycle. The Live Demo is seeded with sample localization personas (default password: Password123!):

Studio Role	Authority & Responsibilities	Seed Persona	Domain Focus
TRANSLATOR	Drafts and revises dialogue. Proposes translations; approval mutations restricted.	Dante Sparda	Lead JA $\rightarrow$ EN Translation
LQA_TESTER	Flags text overflows, clipping, and font corruption; uploads tagged defect attachments.	Jill Valentine	German & English HUD Triage
SOLUTIONS_DEV	Engineers text containers and RE ENGINE boundaries; full approval authority.	Leon S. Kennedy	RE ENGINE UI Containers
LOC_PM	Localization Project Manager; reviews audit trails and grants final string approvals.	Ada Wong	Localization Production Lead
AUDIO_SPECIALIST	Manages voice-over line lengths, subtitles, and character audio cues.	Nero	Voice-Over & Lip-Sync Alignment
GENERAL_USER	Studio observer / read-only stakeholder (writers, directors, script coordinators).	Chun-Li	Script Coordination

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🚀 Quickstart

Method A: Production Docker Compose (Recommended)

git clone https://github.com/createles/capsloc.git
cd capsloc
docker compose up --build

• Web App: http://localhost (Port 80)
• Database: PostgreSQL on localhost:5432

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Method B: Native Local Development

# 1. Install & configure
pnpm install
cp .env.example apps/server/.env

# 2. Database migration & clean seed
cd apps/server
pnpm exec prisma migrate dev
pnpm exec prisma db seed
cd ../..

# 3. Build & Run
pnpm build
pnpm dev:server   # Terminal 1: Backend API (Port 3000)
pnpm dev:client   # Terminal 2: Frontend SPA (Port 5173)

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🧪 Verification Commands

pnpm build      # Full workspace compilation
pnpm lint       # Oxlint across all 100+ files
pnpm format     # Prettier code formatting check

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⚖️ Legal & Trademark Disclaimer

CapsLoc is an independent, non-commercial portfolio and educational project developed to demonstrate high-performance full-stack architectures and game localization tooling workflows.

• Trademarks & IP: All game titles, character names, and franchise references (Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, Pragmata, Mega Man, etc.) are registered trademarks and intellectual property of Capcom Co., Ltd.
• No Affiliation: This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or connected to Capcom Co., Ltd.
• Original Architecture: All software architecture, backend services, database schemas, and frontend interfaces are original implementations created by the author for technical demonstration and learning purposes.

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📄 License

Distributed under the MIT License. Copyright © 2026 Justine Castillo.