Wildcard for Cardano: Enabling Seamless Web3 Gaming

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

Wildcard for Cardano: Enabling Seamless Web3 Gaming

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

294644

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

12

[Proposal Summary] Translation Information

Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated

No

Original Language

en

[Proposal Summary] Problem Statement

What is the problem you want to solve?

Cardano lacks a fast, solution for real-time apps and games. Existing tools are slow, costly or custodial. Wildcard offers a scalable L2 with asset migration to unlock Cardano’s full potential.

[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation

Supporting links

• https://www.npmjs.com/package/@polycrypt/erdstall
,
• https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10190526
,
• https://polycry.pt/

[Proposal Summary] Project Dependencies

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

No

Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'

No dependencies

[Proposal Summary] Project Open Source

Will your project's outputs be fully open source?

No

License and Additional Information

Apache License 2.0

[Theme Selection] Theme

Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal

Gaming

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

Describe your established collaborations.

We work closely with Ajuna and its gaming studio network, including Game Pill, to share expertise, test our SDK, and align on blockchain-enabled game development. For example Battle Mogs is a card-battle game by Game Pill , featured in Game Pill’s April 2024 portfolio.This partnership leverages Ajuna’s ecosystem and relationships while enhancing our tech for asset management, scalability, and cross-platform use.

Describe funding commitments.

Wildcard’s Cardano expansion is supported by internal resources, partnerships, and grants:

• Internal – Two senior FTEs and Project Lead over 12 months plus infrastructure and IP (covered also partly by public funding 200K EUR).
• Ajuna & Gaming Studios – Collaboration with Ajuna Network and its studio network, incl. Game Pill (Battle Mogs), for expertise, SDK testing, and production readiness (X K EUR NDA).
• EU NGI TrustChain – Funding to enhance core tech benefiting Cardano integration (115K EUR).
• Cardano Grant – For Cardano-specific features: native assets, L2, and migration tools.

Describe your key performance metrics.

• On-time Delivery – All milestones met.
• Performance – <500 ms latency.
• Scalability – Runs smoothly from 50 to 50,000+ assets.
• Adoption – 10+ developers using the SDK in 6 months.
• Studios – 3+ game studios (incl. Ajuna partners) onboard in year one.
• Migration – 5,000+ assets moved to Cardano in year one.
• Marketplace – 2,000+ unique users.
• Reliability – 99.5% uptime, <1% failed transactions.

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

Wildcard is a non-custodial Layer 2 platform that enables secure, gasless, and near-instant asset interactions while keeping full ownership in the player’s hands. Its architecture is built for high throughput and low latency, making it suitable for real-time applications such as games, virtual worlds, and interactive marketplaces.

It's design is blockchain agnostic so allows crosschain transaction, initally started with Ethereum.

For Cardano, Wildcard will extend its existing multichain framework to deliver:

• Deep Cardano integration for native tokens and NFTs, enabling direct use on Layer 2 without custodial intermediaries.
• Asset migration tools to bring NFTs and tokens from other chains into Cardano, overcoming technology lock-in and expanding the Cardano ecosystem.
• Engine-agnostic SDKs and helper libraries — starting with Unity integration, while also supporting Unreal Engine and other platforms — to simplify blockchain feature adoption for developers.
• Scalable architecture adaptable to applications of any size, from projects with a few dozen assets to those with tens of thousands, with relevant programming models and utilities available through the SDK.
• Advanced asset functionality such as scriptable NFTs (e.g., via SAGE Engine) for dynamic behaviors and complex interactions, handled entirely on Layer 2.

By focusing on Cardano-first integration and non-custodial design, Wildcard will provide developers with a robust, performance-oriented blockchain infrastructure. This allows creators to build rich, player-owned economies on Cardano without sacrificing speed, security, or user experience — and ensures that existing assets from other chains can be migrated to benefit from Cardano’s capabilities.

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

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

Wildcard’s Cardano integration will deliver long-term benefits for the broader ecosystem by enabling fast, non-custodial, and developer-friendly infrastructure for digital asset use in real-time applications. By introducing a high-performance Layer 2 with native Cardano asset support, we will expand the range of viable on-chain use cases, particularly in gaming, virtual worlds, and interactive marketplaces — areas where Cardano currently has limited presence due to speed, cost, or custodial barriers.

Our solution will help overcome technology lock-in, making it easy for NFTs and tokens from other blockchains to be moved into the Cardano ecosystem. This will increase asset liquidity, grow the user base, and attract creators who otherwise could not leverage Cardano’s strengths. Through our engine-agnostic SDKs for Unity and other platforms, we will make blockchain integration accessible to a much wider range of developers, from indie studios to established game companies — encouraging more projects to choose Cardano as their blockchain backbone.

Impact will be objectively verifiable through:

• Adoption by Established Partners: Ajuna Network and its partner studios, including Game Pill (Battle Mogs), have committed to piloting the Cardano-enabled Wildcard SDK. Integration into these real-world projects will be documented through public updates and playable demos.
• Public Performance Benchmarks: Detailed, reproducible benchmark results will demonstrate <1s transaction latency, high throughput under load, and NFT migration from at least one external chain to Cardano.
• Open-Source Accessibility: All deliverables — SDKs, templates, and documentation — will be released open source under a permissive license, enabling immediate reuse.
• Transparent Usage Metrics: Within three months of launch, we will publish public reports covering SDK downloads, developer sign-ups, marketplace transactions, and active integration projects.

Partnerships with Ajuna and its studio network ensure our solution is tested and refined in real-world scenarios before public release, driving early adoption and community trust. In the long term, this project will help position Cardano as a leading choice for high-performance, user-owned digital economies, supporting sustained growth in developer engagement and active users.

[Your Project and Solution] Capabilities & 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?

Wildcard is developed by Polycrypt GmbH, a deep-tech spin-off from TU Darmstadt, one of Europe’s leading computer science research institutions. Our team combines academic expertise in cryptography, distributed systems, and privacy technologies with hands-on engineering experience in blockchain infrastructure. This academic foundation ensures rigorous design principles, peer-reviewed methodologies, and a culture of security-by-design.

Polycrypt has a proven track record of delivering production-ready blockchain solutions. We have successfully completed multiple Cardano Catalyst-funded projects, meeting all milestones, delivering on time, and earning strong feedback from the community. This demonstrates not only our technical competence but also our reliability and accountability in executing funded projects transparently.

We operate with high standards of documentation, open development practices, and milestone reporting, allowing stakeholders to follow progress and validate deliverables. All code relevant to the Cardano integration will be open-sourced under permissive licenses where possible, further strengthening transparency and community trust.

To confirm the viability of our approach, we will:

1. Prototype Early – Implement a working Cardano adapter for Wildcard Layer 2 early in the project to de-risk integration complexity.
2. Performance Testing – Conduct scalability and latency benchmarks under realistic workloads
3. Real-World Pilots – Test SDKs and migration tools with partner studios in the Ajuna network (e.g., Game Pill’s Battle Mogs) to validate usability and feature completeness.
4. Community Feedback Loops – Release developer previews and gather input from the Cardano community and early adopters to refine functionality before public launch.

By combining our research-grade engineering background, proven delivery track record, and a structured validation process, we ensure this proposal is both technically sound and realistically achievable.

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

Cardano Core Integration

Milestone Outputs

Development of a fully functional Cardano chain adapter integrated with the Wildcard Layer, enabling real-time interaction with native tokens and NFTs to support minting, transfer, and querying of Cardano assets.

Acceptance Criteria

Adapter handles native tokens and NFTs with <1s latency between the Cardano Network and Wildcard; It should support minting, retreiving and transfering NFTs from Wildcard to Cardano and vice versa.

Evidence of Completion

GitHub repo with open-source adapter code & Unity SDK; working example project; published documentation

Delivery Month

4

Cost

82883

Progress

30 %

Milestone Title

Engine-Agnostic Integration Layer & SDK

Milestone Outputs

Creation of a cross-platform integration layer for the Wildcard SDK that prioritizes Unity but is extensible to other game engines. Includes reusable templates for inventory systems, marketplaces, and asset management, designed for scalability across small and large applications.

Acceptance Criteria

Templates and SDK must function correctly, passing functional tests. Unity builds must compile and run without errors. Documentation must cover engine-agnostic integration concepts and explain how to adapt templates for various use cases.

Evidence of Completion

GitHub repo with updated SDK & templates; recorded cross-platform test results; developer guide for multi-engine integration.

Delivery Month

5

Cost

25047

Progress

40 %

Milestone Title

NFT & Asset Bridge & Marketplace

Milestone Outputs

Development of a white-label marketplace operating on Cardano Layer 2, enabling gasless minting, trading, and burning of NFTs and tokens. Implementation of an NFT & asset bridge to import assets from external blockchains into Cardano. Inclusion of an analytics dashboard for tracking asset usage and performance.

Acceptance Criteria

The marketplace must support listing, buying, and selling assets with transaction times under one second. The NFT & asset bridge must successfully migrate assets from at least one major external chain. The analytics dashboard must display live metrics on marketplace activity and asset usage.

Evidence of Completion

Recorded demonstration of the marketplace running on Cardano . Recorded asset migration tests via the NFT & asset bridge. Screenshots and live deployment of the analytics dashboard with real-time data.

Delivery Month

8

Cost

68310

Progress

60 %

Milestone Title

Privacy & Robustness Enhancements

Milestone Outputs

Implementation of encrypted NFT metadata and other useful privacy features. Addition of redundancy and fallback protocols to maintain service during Cardano network delays or outages, alongside intensive load and stress testing.

Acceptance Criteria

All privacy-related features must pass integration and functional tests. Redundancy and fallback mechanisms must trigger correctly in simulated outage conditions. Load tests must confirm stable performance at the targeted transactions per second (TPS) rate.

Evidence of Completion

Detailed test logs confirming privacy, redundancy, and performance criteria. Benchmark reports showing TPS performance under stress. GitHub commits and code reviews confirming implementation of privacy and robustness features.

Delivery Month

10

Cost

54648

Progress

80 %

Milestone Title

Reference Integration & Public Launch

Milestone Outputs

Full integration of the Cardano-enabled Wildcard SDK into a Unity reference project, demonstrating all features in a complete and playable scenario. Public release of the SDK, reusable templates, and comprehensive developer documentation to the Cardano ecosystem.

Acceptance Criteria

The Unity reference project must compile and run without errors, showcasing all implemented Cardano Layer 2 features. End-to-end functionality (including marketplace and bridge) must be verified in live testing. Documentation must be complete, clear, and ready for use by external developers.

Evidence of Completion

Public GitHub release containing SDK, templates, and reference project. Live demo video showing project functionality. Downloadable SDK package accompanied by a complete developer guide.

Delivery Month

12

Cost

63756

Progress

100 %

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

The entire budget is allocated to engineering and execution — no funds go to marketing, or unrelated expenses. Costs are calculated based on personnel effort (engineering, architecture, testing, project management), infrastructure needs, and validation activities.

Resource Use by Category:

• Core Engineering & SDK Development: ~70% Implementation of Cardano adapter, SDKs, bridge, marketplace, and L2 optimizations.
• Architecture & Protocol Design: ~10% Designing integration patterns, ensuring scalability, and protocol correctness.
• Testing & Validation: ~10% Intensive functional and load testing, security feature validation, real-world pilot with Ajuna partners.
• Project Management & Delivery Coordination: ~10% Ensuring milestone delivery, developer documentation, and ecosystem alignment.

Milestone | Description | Duration | Cost (ADA) | Resource Allocation

---

M1 | Cardano Core Integration & SDK | 3.5 mo | 82,883 | Cardano–Wildcard L2 adapter, Unity SDK integration, base documentation

M2 | Engine-Agnostic Integration Layer | 1 mo | 25,047 | Unity & Unreal interface design, reusable templates, cross-platform testing

M3 | NFT & Asset Bridge & Marketplace | 3 mo | 68,310 | NFT/asset bridge, gasless L2 marketplace, analytics dashboard

M4 | Privacy & Robustness Enhancements | 2 mo | 54,648 | Encrypted metadata, TEE integration, redundancy/fallback protocols, load testing

M5 | Reference Integration & Launch | 2.5 mo | 63,756 | Unity reference integration, live testing, SDK release

---

Total | | 12 mo | 294,644 | 100% allocated to engineering & delivery

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?

The total project budget of ~294,644 ADA is fully allocated to engineering and execution — ensuring that every ADA directly contributes to building, integrating, and delivering the proposed solution at production quality.

This investment produces:

• Enabling Wildcard integration into the Cardano network, providing a high-performance, non-custodial Layer 2 for real-time applications — a capability currently absent in the ecosystem.
• Open-source SDKs for Unity, Unreal, and other platforms, lowering the barrier for game and application developers to build on Cardano.
• NFT & asset bridge, allowing creators and users to bring their digital assets from other blockchains into Cardano, increasing liquidity, adoption, and ecosystem growth.
• Battle-tested implementation through real-world pilots with Ajuna Network’s studio partners, ensuring immediate applicability.

The cost-to-impact ratio is highly favorable because the deliverables are reusable building blocks, not one-off applications. Every future Cardano developer building interactive apps, games, or marketplaces will benefit directly, without needing to solve these infrastructure challenges from scratch.

By combining long-term ecosystem utility, cross-sector applicability, and open development, this project ensures each ADA invested delivers lasting value through increased developer adoption, user growth, and ecosystem diversity.

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

Terms and Conditions:

Yes