Dual Reference dApp: Cardano vs Midnight Privacy Features

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

Dual Reference dApp: Cardano vs Midnight Privacy Features

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

3

[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?

There is no reference dApp with two parallel prototypes that can be used as practical reference showing precisely why Midnight is needed for private applications.

[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?

Yes

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

All project outputs will be released under the Apache License 2.0, a permissive open-source license.

[Theme Selection] Theme

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

Education

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

What is useful about your DApp within one of the specified industry or enterprise verticals?

Battleship Game is inherently a selective-disclosure application. This maps perfectly onto Midnight’s privacy features.

The domain is simple and globally familiar. Developers understand the rules instantly, allowing attention to remain on privacy mechanics, not gameplay complexity.

This approach maximizes educational value while staying compact and developer-oriented.

Provides a paired implementation:

• Cardano version: commit–reveal, Merkle proofs, fully public state.
• Midnight version: private state, ZK-verified game logic, selective disclosure.

Demonstrates concrete differences between public-state and Midnight’s privacy-enhancing model:

• Private board storage
• Zero-knowledge proof validation of moves
• Hidden game logic
• Role-based data access
• Minimal public disclosure

Acts as a developer reference for:

• Private state machines
• Privacy-preserving games
• Selective-disclosure flows
• Compact contract architecture patterns
• Migrating existing Cardano dApps to Midnight
• Easy to understand (Battleship board) → excellent teaching tool for privacy concepts.

What exactly will you build? List the Compact contract(s) and key functions/proofs, the demo UI flow, Lace (Midnight) wallet integration, and your basic test plan.

1. Cardano Implementation (Baseline Demo)

Purpose: Show what is possible without Midnight.

Includes:

• Cardano Plutus-based commit–reveal game
• Merkle-tree commitments
• On-chain validation of revealed cells
• Game state fully public

Educational docs:

“Where privacy breaks down on Cardano”

This version is intentionally limited to highlight Midnight’s advantages.

1. Midnight Implementation (Main Deliverable)

Purpose: Show what only Midnight can do.

Includes:

Private-state compact contract

ZK proofs for:

• Board validity
• Hits/misses
• Ship sinking
• Game-over

No cell values ever need to be revealed

Selective disclosure tools:

• Reveal to opponent only
• Reveal to 3rd party
• Reveal only proof, not data

This demonstrates Midnight’s privacy model perfectly.

How will other developers learn from and reuse your repo? Describe repo structure, README contents, docs/tutorials, test instructions, and extension points. Which developer personas benefit, and how will you gauge impact (forks, stars, issues, remixes)?

1. Comparative Developer Documentation (Key Output)

A dedicated section:

“Cardano vs Midnight: Why Privacy Matters”

Includes:

Side-by-side architecture diagrams

Side-by-side state representations

Side-by-side data flows

Comparison of:

• Public state
• Private state
• What gets revealed
• Who sees what
• ZK vs Merkle proofs
• Trust assumptions
• Table of “Features only possible with Midnight”

Migration guide:

“How to take a Cardano dApp and migrate it to Midnight”

README.md will include:

• Quickstart (Cardano → Midnight) with exact commands
• Repo map + explanation of each folder
• Minimal examples
• API references
• Local test commands

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

Battleship Game naturally models selective disclosure since each turn reveals exactly one cell, making it an ideal teaching example of Midnight’s privacy model compared to Cardano’s public commit–reveal.

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Build a dual implementation of the same Battleship game.

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A single reference dApp with two parallel prototypes, Cardano vs Midnight.

Cardano Version

• Hash-based commit–reveal
• Public turn-by-turn state
• Merkle proofs
• Full transparency except unrevealed cells

Midnight Version (Privacy-Enhancing Compact Contract)

• Private contract state
• Zero-knowledge proofs for move validation
• Selective disclosure (player chooses what to reveal and to whom)
• Hidden game board for the entire match
• zk-verified logic for hit/miss, ship sinking, and game completion
• Terminal-only interface for clarity and reproducibility

Plus:

Documentation that explicitly highlights the advantages of Midnight over Cardano for this exact use case — making the educational comparison crystal clear.

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What This Achieves

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By contrasting the two implementations, developers immediately see:

• What Midnight uniquely enables that Cardano cannot
• How to design apps with private state
• How selective disclosure works in practice
• How zk proofs replace public data
• How to migrate an existing UTXO dApp into a privacy-enhancing one

This is not a game project — it is a developer reference demonstrating the core privacy patterns of Midnight.

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Why This Approach

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• Battleship is inherently a selective-disclosure application. Only a single cell needs to be revealed per turn. This maps perfectly onto Midnight’s privacy features.
• The domain is simple and globally familiar. Developers understand the rules instantly, allowing attention to remain on privacy mechanics, not gameplay complexity.
• It creates a minimal, code-first PoC. A terminal-only interface ensures the submission adheres to:
  • small scope
  • three-month delivery
  • code-first requirements
  • reproducibility without UI overhead
• Enables apples-to-apples comparison.
• Both implementations share identical rules, so all differences arise directly from the underlying platform (Cardano vs Midnight).

This approach maximizes educational value while staying compact and developer-oriented.

Future work (*not included in the scope of this funding) :

Demo Website + Selector (“View Cardano Version / View Midnight Version”)

• A simple educational UI that lets developers:
• Play the Cardano (public) version
• Play the Midnight (private) version
• Compare experiences
• Inspect the underlying proofs or reveal flows
• Load the documentation directly from the interface

This is extremely valuable for onboarding developers and teaching privacy concepts.

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

Please define the positive impact your project will have on Midnight ecosystem

The project fills a current gap: there is no open-source PoC demonstrating practical programmable privacy with clear contrast to Cardano.

By providing both implementations plus full documentation, the project becomes a template for future Midnight builders, accelerating adoption and lowering entry barriers.

Summary of Impact

Provides a trusted reference Compact DApp demonstrating programmable privacy.

Helps new developers understand why Midnight matters through comparison with Cardano.

Creates reusable building blocks for private games, auctions, quizzes, and other private workflows.

Encourages experimentation and learning via a simple CLI.

[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?

I have previously implemented a commit–reveal game on Cardano with extensive documentation (https://raffleize.art/ )

This proposal is a natural extension of my existing skills.

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Total Requested: $10,000

Team: One developer (myself) completing all work.

The effort is split according to both complexity and personal learning curve:

although Milestone 1 is substantial, it is faster for me due to prior Cardano experience, while the Midnight milestones involve new design and implementation patterns.

1. Cardano Functional Spec + Baseline Implementation - 2000 $
2. Midnight Design (architecture + zk design) - 3000 $
3. Midnight Implementation (Compact contract + zk + CLI + docs) - 5000 $

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

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

This project delivers two complete reference prototypes and full documentation for only 10,000 USD, providing developers with a practical and reusable example of how Midnight’s privacy features improve on Cardano’s public-state model.

By contrasting the two implementations, developers immediately see what Midnight uniquely enables that public blockchains cannot and better understand how to design apps with private state.

[Self-Assessment] Self-Assessment Checklist

I confirm that the proposal clearly provides a basic prototype reference application for one of the areas of interest.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal clearly defines which part of the developer journey it improves and how it makes building on Midnight easier and more productive.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal explicitly states the chosen permissive open-source license (e.g., MIT, Apache 2.0) and commits to a public code repository.

Yes

I confirm that the team provides evidence of their technical ability and experience in creating developer tools or high-quality technical content (e.g., GitHub, portfolio).

Yes

I confirm that a plan for creating and maintaining clear, comprehensive documentation is a core part of the proposal's scope.

Yes

I confirm that the budget and timeline (3 months) are realistic for delivering the proposed tool or resource.

Yes

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

I Agree

Yes