Asteria by TxPipe: A bot challenge to showcase the capabilities of the UTxO model

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Santiago Carmuega

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Requested funds in ada

191572

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

5

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

A bot challenge, incentivized by ADA rewards, that showcases the capabilities of the UTxO model by participating in a compelling on-chain strategy challenge.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

We'll use Apache 2.0 License.

All artifacts will be open source, including:

• on-chain validator code
• map generation code
• documentation
• visual assets

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

Executive Summary

• Asteria is an open hackathon, a bot challenge that leverages the eUTxO model.
• Players participate by moving a ship across a 2D grid and gathering resources. ADA rewards are available to players that reach the center of the gird.
• All interactions from participants happen through on-chain transactions, forcing the developer to learn about the UTxO Model.
• With ADA reward incentive and a compelling experience, we hope to attract developers from both inside and outside of the Cardano ecosystem

Mechanics

In this bot challenge you compete by moving a ship (your bot) through a 2D grid. The ship that reaches the center is allowed to collect the rewards.

Ships are implemented as UTxOs with a datum holding a pair of (x, y) coordinates that represent their position in the 2D grid. To move a ship, a transaction must consume the UTxO and create a new one with holding the new position.

Movement of the ships is constrained by a Space-Time on-chain script that limits their velocity. Strictly speaking, the max distance that a ship can move in any given transaction has a constant upper bound. Distances are defined using [Manhattan distance] to simplify the math.

Movement of the ships is also constrained by a fuel token that is required for any change in position. An specific amount of fuel is required per distance unit. The lack of the required fuel amount will block the movement of the ship.

To accumulate fuel, ships must gather these tokens which are distributed randomly across the same grid. To gather a fuel token, your ship needs to be in the same coordinates as the fuel.

To create a ship, a participant must mint the corresponding NFT from the valid policy id. A minimum amount of ADA will be requried for the mint. This ADA used to mint the ships will be increment the rewards locked for the winner. The initial position of the ship is decided by the player but is contrainted to the external boundary of the grid.

A unique UTxO will be place at the center of the grid to hold the rewards for the winner of the challenge. To claim rewards, a ship must be located at the center of the grid. Each claim is allowed to collect 1/2 of the total rewards.

More information

If you're interested in learning more about the project, even outside the scope of the Catalyst proposal, please bookmark our git repository. We'll make sure to maintain the README updated with relevant information and news.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

Educate developers about the UTxO model

This bot challenge is a compelling and fun way to introduce developers to benefits and complexity of the UTxO model. This knowledge will lower the entry barrier for these developers to start building Cardano dApps.

Attract developers from other ecosystems

By incentivizing participation through rewards, this challenge will attract developers from inside and outside the ecosystem, increasing the number of developers with technical knowledge about Cardano.

Fund developers directly

The beneficiaries of the rewards of this challenge will be developers. By funding developers directly, we foster a community of specialized builders with the potential to continue building in Cardano.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

TxPipe is an active member of the Cardano ecosystem

TxPipe has been developing open-source tools for the Cardano ecosystem for over 2 years and we're not going anywhere. Evidence of our commitment can be found by evaluating the continuous activity of our public code repositories.

Experience developing in the Cardano ecosystem

TxPipe has helped developed several dApps for the Cardano ecosystem. This experience allows us to evaluate the feasibility of the project and its potential benefit from a developer's perspective.

Succesful Catalyst proposals

We have successfully completed 2 prior Catalyst proposals. This may serve as evidence that our team has the required capabilities to fulfill these type of projects.

Development process will be public and open-source

Both the output and the development process will be public and open-source. This approach provides an easy way for the Catalyst team and the Cardano community to evaluate the progress at each step of the process.

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

On-chain development

This milestone is about building the smart validators that will govern the transactions of the challenge that are executed on-chain.

Outputs:

• a set of Aiken on-chain validators to enforce the rules of the challenge
• documentation describing the rules of the challenge
• example transactions executed on preprod demonstrating different interactions

Acceptance Criteria:

• a technical reviewer / developer is able to understand the rules of the challenge
• example transactions can be verified on-chain

Map generator development

This milestone is about developing an algorithm to create fairly distributed maps of resources to be used by the challenge.

Outputs:

• a script that can be used to generate random 2D maps for the challenge
• a script that can be used to submit the map on-chain
• an initial map for the preprod network
• a document explaining how to explore the on-chain map

Acceptance Criteria:

• a technical reviewer / developer can use the scripts to generate their own maps
• transactions representing the map can be verified on-chain

Frontend development

This milestone is about developing a web frontend that allows participants to enter the challenge and visualize the overall progress.

Outputs:

• a web frontend to serve as entry-point for the challenge
• a basic map visualizer to show the locations of the ships in real-time
• detailed instructions on how to participate of the challenge

Acceptance Criteria:

• a developer can understand how to participate by browsing the Hackathon frontend
• any user can appreciate the status of the game by looking at the visual map

Mainnet release

This milestone is about auditing the on-chain contracts and releasing the official challenge on the Cardano mainnet network.

Outputs:

• an report of the audit process of the on-chain code describing the findings and applied changes.
• the official challenge publicly available on mainnet
• all rewards from sponsors deposited on-chain
• communication of the challenge through all social media channels available to TxPipe

Acceptance Criteria:

• a technical reviewer / developer can participate of the challenge using mainnet
• there's reasonable awareness of the challenge on social media
• sponsor rewards can be verified on-chain

Completion Report

This milestone is about wrapping up the project and providing relevant insights for the Catalyst team and larger Cardano community to evaluate the result of the proposal.

Outputs

• a detailed report showing participation metrics (devs, activity, progress, winners) so far
• a video recording summarizing the process and results of the whole project
• publicly available source-code containing all artifacts custom-built for the challenge

Acceptance Criteria

• report activity can be verified on-chain by sampling procedures
• a technical reviewer / developer is able to assess the extent of the source code with reasonable accuracy

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Active Development (Blue Team)

• Santiago Carmuega, TxPipe: Developer Relations Manager - Github
• Federico Weill, TxPipe: Community Manager - Linkedin
• Rodrigo Suaya, TxPipe: Project Manager - Linkedin
• Florencia Luna - TxPipe: Technical Writer - Linkedin
• Paulo Bressan, TxPipe: Backend Developer - Github
• Rodrigo Santa Maria - Frontend Developer - Github
• Manuel Gunther, TxPipe: Aiken Developer - Github
• Franco Luque, TxPipe - Aiken Developer - LinkedIn

Code Audit (Red Team)

• Lucas Rosa, CF, TxPipe: Blockchain developer - Github
• Kasey White, CF, TxPipe: Blockchain developer - Github

Additional Members

• We'll recruit a UI / UX designer with experience in responsive web design and pixel art graphics (not mandatory)

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

FTE = Full-time equivalent

Total budget = ₳ 191,572

Software Development

• Aiken developer: 2 FTE x 2 months = ₳ 91,429
• Backend developer: 1 FTE x 1 month = ₳ 22,857
• Frontend developer: 1 FTE x 1 month = ₳ 11,429
• Technical writer: 1/2 x 2 months = ₳ 8,571
• Contract auditor: 1 FTE x 1 month = ₳ 22,857

Marketing & Communication

• Graphic designer: 1 FTE x 1 month = ₳ 8,571
• Community manager: 1/4 FTE x 3 months = ₳ 6,429
• Developer Relations Manager: 1/2 x 3 months = ₳ 17,143

Infrastructure

• Cloud hosting: 1 x 4 months = ₳ 2,286

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The bulk of the budget falls under the software development category. TxPipe has extensive experience in the field, allowing it to provide good value for money. The hourly rates are defined using fair market prices. The estimation for the level of effort takes into account all of the optimizations that our team is capable of providing after years of experience developing software solutions in the Cardano ecosystem.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund Rules and also that data in the submission form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept