DRED cPoker integration

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Seomon Register

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

Entity (Not Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Requested funds in ada

200000

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

4

[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)

Empower developers by providing a concrete dApp integration example, enhance DRED docs, advance the development of the cPoker app, and organize community sessions for DRED use & integration in dApps.

[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

Fully Open-Source, available on our repositories on GitHub. The idea is to use a permissive license and allow for derivative work that can be used commercially, e.g. MIT License or EPL License.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

As there are no real-time applications in Cardano, we’re going to integrate DRED real-time messaging capabilities into an existing application, and create technical resources for other application developers to learn how to add real time communications to their dApps. 

Integrating cPoker with DRED, we will demonstrate that more secure, scalable, and interactive applications can be built on Cardano. We will also interact with the developer community to share information and ensure that the approach and messaging of our technical resources is fitting to the audience.

We will further develop the DRED node-to-node state-replication capabilities, fulfilling DRED's potential to operate in full decentralized fashion - different poker-game clients can connect to different DRED nodes in the poker neighborhood. The code and the process of making the changes will be shared with the community as Open Source.

We will update the poker-game demo to create and share transaction data for the in-game state, demonstrating the use of DRED as a transaction state channel for multi-user smart contracts.

Our project will primarily engage developers in the community and potential dApp users. Our impact will be visible in having a working poker demo-dApp, and in the the number of developers attending sessions, improved documentation, and enhanced functionality of cPoker.

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

Our solution develops an example with an enhanced infrastructure, which allows for real-time interaction between dApps. Here is how we positively impact the community:

• Learning Environment: Aimed to engage 20+ developers through interactive demo sessions and detailed documentation.
• Real-time Communication: Expected to reduce latency in multi-user dApps by 50%, enhancing user experience.
• DRED Enhancement: Projected to increase the adoption of DRED by at least 3 new dApps within the first year.
• Off-chain Transactions: Demonstrating a 30% improvement in transaction speed and efficiency in the cPoker application.
• Documentation: Publishing 5 detailed tutorials and hosting 3 webinars to educate the community.

[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?

Our capability to deliver can be demonstrated by what we have already done, what we are doing, how we are working together, and by the reputation of the team members:

• we developed DRED, a foundational library at the core of this proposal. The DRED project was managed and successfully delivered by this same team.
• we are developing a commercial gaming application using DRED, of which we have a working PoC. The example that we create with this proposal is simpler version of that application.
• the team is capable, meets regularly, and has a good track record of github commits, and of published documentation and videos for the current projects
• several team members are well-known in the community

The feasibility of our approach is validated according to our past accomplishments

• Research phase completed
• Incremental progress: we broke down the problem in subproblems, which makes it easier to solve different aspects:
• Cardano After Dark for Poker UI
• DRED to implement a State channel
• zkpoker: to enable zk-proof of validity
• and our latest PoC demonstrating we can run a poker protocol with encrypted cards.
• Pragmatic approach: incremental testing during development, incremental assessment of the deliverables for the project milestones
• Feedback loop from community sessions and from users.

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

M1: Setup and Prepare Integration (1 month)

• Tasks:
• Setup a DRED single-node neighborhood.
• Enhance DRED integration documentation.
• Broadcast and record the first community session.
• Timeline: Month 1
• Deliverables: Updated documentation, recorded community session.

M2: Single-node Integration (1 month)

• Tasks:
• Execute the first integration with DRED-single node / cPoker-test harness.
• Add in-neighborhood data-replication to DRED.
• Broadcast and record a community session.
• Timeline: Month 2
• Deliverables: Functional MVP, recorded community session.

M3: Tri-node Integration (1 month)

• Tasks:
• Augment the DRED neighborhood to 3 nodes.
• Add necessary improvements to DRED codebase and documentation.
• Split cPoker test harness into a single-player poker Agent (dApp) and integrate with simple UI.
• Broadcast and record a community session.
• Timeline: Month 3
• Deliverables: Functional tri-node setup, improved DRED codebase, recorded community session.

M4: Finalization and Packaging (1 month)

• Tasks:
• Complete the example by demonstrating two poker-dApp instances communicating through DRED.
• Make npm package, so people can 'npm install -g dred-cpoker' and test the working integration.
• Broadcast and record the last community session.
• Timeline: Month 4
• Deliverables: Completed poker demo application, npm package, recorded final community session.

Project close-out and public release (1 week)

For the Final Milestone, we present the results of M4, we provide all the source material, and we deliver the closeout report and videos.

• Outcome: completed Poker demo application with DRED integration.
• Outcome: Open an alpha version on testnet.
• Deliverable: Close-out report.
• Deliverable: Source code (dApp), demo video.
• Deliverable: Development sessions reports.

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

P.Suzzi, Developer, SW Engineer - www.linkedin.com/in/psuzzi

• Responsible for co-development of the dApp, and for integration and testing of the communication module.

Jake G. - Developer, SW Engineer - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-gonzalez-551306b4/

• Responsible for co-development, testing of the dApp, and the DRED integration components.

Randall - Software architect, 20+ years exposure to cryptography, accounting, and application development - https://www.linkedin.com/in/randall-harmon-aa52765/

• Designing the architecture and ensuring scalability and security of the system.

Seomon - Project Manager, IT Consultant, Cardano Ambassador

• Managing the project-, timelines, milestones, alignment, reports, and community engagement.

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

Our budget calculation is based on a detailed analysis of team size ,location, and market rates, ensuring we maintain a budget in the average in our respective locations, and considering additional costs and possible risks.

Core Team Composition:

• Team size: 4 members
• Locations: U.S. (CA, TX), E.U. (AT, DE)
• Total monthly expenditure: ADA 50k / month

Personnel costs:: ADA 40k / month

• 1 Software Architect: 80h / month
• 1 Project Manager: 80h / month
• 2 Developers, each working 80h / month

Additional costs: ADA 10k / month

• Infrastructure: covering server costs, sw licenses, and cloud services
• Professional services: code auditing through third party code reviews, and trainings where needed.
• Publicity, marketing, community engagement: Activities aimed at promoting the project, incentivizing, and engaging with the community.
• Contingency funds: 10% of the total, allocated for unforeseen circumstances such as team member replacements and market volatility

Additional funding:

If the project exceeds the initial budget allocation, alternative funding sources will be considered. This may involve requesting flexibility from the team, such as working additional hours without extra compensation.

Fund management: with the amount requested, we can complete the project and cater for unforeseen circumstances, like team memner replacement or market volatility. We are committed to properly managing the funds provided, adhering to the fund rules.

References

• salary sources: Glassdoor, Payscale.

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

Our project represent significant value for money for the cardano ecosystem for several key reasons:

• Long-term benefits for Cardano dApps:
• The project unlocks real-time interaction mechanisms for Cardano dApps, which is a crucial advancement for the ecosystem.
• This innovation will provide a foundation for future projects, thereby magnifiying the intial investment's impact over time.
• Reuse of completed projects:
• We are leveraging the outputs of two previously completed projects, maximizing reuse and reducing the need for redundant development efforts.
• Our team's otherwise unfunded efforts further contribute to cost-effectiveness, ensuring the invested ADA are directed to enhanche the project value.
• Team costs below market rates, considering locations, roles, and skills required:
• American Team Members: the average wages for contracting Sr. Software Engineers in the United States (e.g. California) are well above 10k USD/month (~22k ADA/month).
• European Team Members: Wages in Europe (e.g. Germany), are around 6.5k EUR/month (~15k ADA/month).
• This cost structure ensures we maintain high-quality work at a reasonable price.

Detailed cost breakdown:

• Personnel cost: ADA 160k
• This covers team salaries for 4 months, ensuring we attract and retain top talent essential for the project success.
• Infrastructure costs: ADA 10k
• This includes expenses for servers, tools, and software licenses needed to develop and deploy the application.
• Community engagement: ADA 10k
• These funds will be used for webinars, tutorials, documentation and incentives to engage the community, share knowledge, and foster adoption.
• Contingency fund: ADA 20k
• Allocated to cover unforeseen expenses, ensuring project resilience and continuity.

Total: ADA 200k

By carefully managing these costs and focusing on delivering a high-impact project, we ensure the investment provides substantial value for the Cardano ecosystem. The project adds utility to the Cardano ecosystem, advances technical capabilities, and also fosters community engagement, and paves the way for future innovation.