股市老人币圈新

Recently, the explosive popularity of "Black Myth: Wukong" has not only brought AAA games back into the spotlight but also sparked heated discussions among players and developers. The continued success of Web2 games has led some Web3 players to switch sides. In contrast, Web3 games face issues such as short lifecycles and unclear business models, especially under the current cryptocurrency market conditions, raising questions about their significance.

In fact, blockchain games have yet to achieve breakthroughs since their explosive growth in the last market cycle. They still lag far behind Web2 games in terms of game content and experience, remaining in a primitive stage. The root cause of this predicament lies in the lack of underlying infrastructure.

The current Web3 stack struggles to support complex game logic and high-quality game content, which has led Web3 games to rely on "Finance" to attract players, a problem that has become a common topic of discussion. Compared to the "stylish and powerful" Web2 games, Web3 games have consistently struggled to gain prominence. Additionally, the lack of unified standards and common game development tools makes Web3 game development more complex and raises the entry barrier, which is a significant reason for the low quality of many blockchain games.

The Zypher Network project aims to improve the aforementioned issues from the infrastructure level and stand out in the industry by building a series of zero-knowledge proof-based solutions. This article will provide a comprehensive analysis of Zypher Network to enhance readers' understanding of the project.

TL&DR

• Zypher Network has built a foundational stack based on ZKP, significantly lowering the barriers for developers to develop and migrate games on-chain, while providing an efficient, trustworthy, and low-cost operating environment for games based on server abstraction solutions, making it possible for AAA games to run on-chain.

• Zypher Network is currently market-facing and has launched the Zytron Layer3 mainnet based on Linea, signaling the official start of its ecosystem.

• The Zytron engine currently supports developers to deploy games on TON using Cocos Creator, allowing easy entry into a new wave of mini-game frenzy.

• Zypher Network has introduced a staking-based economic model, allowing both users and miners in the network to capture resources, increase income, and promote a positive value cycle within the game ecosystem.

• Compared to competitors, Zypher Network's solutions offer advantages in flexibility, customization, and efficiency, aligning with the overall narrative of the industry.

• At this stage, Zypher Network has launched multiple Web3 games and over a dozen TON mini-games, further siphoning users and attention from the TON ecosystem. Conversely, this also means that Zypher Network is an important value oasis for developers, crypto investors, and players alike.

• Backed by a broader market, Zypher Network is expected to see its ecological valuation rise with the continuous growth of its ecosystem games, users, and developers. Its innovative paradigm will bring more possibilities and opportunities for innovation to the Web3 ecosystem.

1. Project Fundamentals

Zypher Network is a Web3 game infrastructure based on zero-knowledge proof solutions, aiming to address the challenges faced in the Web3 gaming sector from two levels:

By launching the AW Engine, it provides a complete set of ZKP-based developer tools, empowering game developers to create high-quality games and seamlessly migrate games with low barriers. Additionally, it constructs a dedicated Layer3 APP Chain through its Zytron engine in a customized and modular manner.

After development, based on server abstraction solutions, games can run entirely in a Web3 manner without relying on centralized servers. Whether it's on-chain mini-games or large AAA games, they can operate efficiently, securely, and reliably at a very low cost.

1.1 Game Engine

• AW Engine

During the game development phase, Zypher Network launched the AW engine, which provides developers with a Services SDK toolkit. This toolkit includes various small tools used in game circuit development, such as basic hashing, elliptic curve encryption, masking, shuffling, etc. It also supports using application-specific Plonk as the basic solution for zk proofs to write specific game circuits and compile them directly into wasm, which can run in browsers or applications.

Furthermore, it offers verification contracts on different virtual machines (EVM/WASM/…) that can run across various blockchain systems, enabling off-chain proofs and on-chain verification. This includes optimized wasm for provers and verifiers, supporting common Solidity verifiers for all EVM chains, as well as Move-lang verifiers based on the Move language ecosystem. For game logic writing, the framework will further support third-party domain-specific languages (DSL) and zero-knowledge virtual machines (ZKVM). It also provides on-chain verification SDKs customized for these systems, offering more flexibility and customization options.

With this toolkit, developers can "assemble" with minimal coding effort, similar to building with Lego blocks, deploying in a modular way without needing to understand the complexities of zero-knowledge circuits. It can also be customized to meet specific requirements and gradually build more complex logic to match their needs.

• Z4 Engine

The Z4 engine is a solution built by Zypher Network to support PvP game scenarios. In some PvP game scenarios, players can enter game rooms through online matchmaking. These rooms are stateless and driven by nodes within the Z4 engine. In these rooms, nodes do not store game data; they only package and sort players' actions using ZKP and upload them to the on-chain Zytron engine for verification and execution of results. Therefore, from the perspective of the nodes themselves, they do not need to broadcast global state on the source chain, only requiring local state changes.

To further enhance efficiency, the Z4 engine is also programmable, meaning Z4 nodes can run game logic using virtual machines (wasm/evm/…) without involving transactions and gas fees. If higher efficiency is needed, game logic can be written directly in the nodes without using virtual machines, gaining on-chain support. Thus, for large games with PvP gameplay, the Z4 engine can ensure efficient operation with very low latency, providing players with an excellent gaming experience.

• Secret Engine

Zypher Network has created a secret engine using ZKP solutions, providing optional privacy solutions for different games. This engine implements a Shuffling SDK through optimized WASM and precompiled contracts, enabling a high-performance, low-cost decentralized shuffling process. The shuffling circuits and protocols ensure the security of verifiable encrypted computations executed on-chain, maintaining the confidentiality of strategic elements. Besides poker, Monopoly, and collectible card games, the SDK can also be applied to other SLG use cases that require trustlessness and randomness.

At the same time, Zypher Network uses this engine to ensure the security and privacy of player information in games, including in-game information and player identity information, which will be kept confidential on-chain based on ZK solutions to ensure fairness in games and hide player information.

1.2 Deploying Layer3 Infrastructure Based on Zytron Engine

The Zytron engine is Zypher Network's Layer3 stack, supporting developers to deploy Layer3 layers (sovereign Rollup layers) in a customized and modular manner, which can serve as dedicated APP Chains for games. Developers can choose different DA layers, settlement layers, etc., in a plug-and-play manner to match the characteristics of their games. Currently, the Zytron engine has launched the Linea Layer3 mainnet, meaning that the current Layer3 layers are built around the Linea Layer2. As Zytron launches mainnets on different Layer2s in the future, developers will be able to choose to deploy on different mainnets and gain security and finality guarantees from the root chain. Meanwhile, it also provides plug-and-play features such as precompiled contracts, server sharding, and data compatibility.

From the perspective of game development, based on the Zypher Network stack, developers can build autonomous worlds and small strategy games at the lowest cost without a steep learning curve, or migrate AAA games on-chain while retaining production-grade UE. Notably, the Zypher Network stack has integrated Cocos Creator, allowing developers to create mini-games and deploy them on TON. Currently, dozens of TON mini-games have gone live, enabling players to participate through Telegram.

1.2.1 Transactions and Verification

When developers build games based on Zypher Network, the game logic is deployed in ZKP circuits on-chain (based on the Layer3 chain built on Zytron). When the game runs, the action logs generated by players' continuous gaming behaviors are aggregated over a certain period, and zero-knowledge proofs are generated by an off-chain computing network (each computing node has the capability to generate zero-knowledge proofs and communicate, providing strong computational support for the game, driven by token economics). These proofs are ultimately verified on-chain, significantly enhancing the game's smoothness and allowing for 0 Gas participation, greatly improving the gaming experience.

In terms of verification, the Zytron engine has also made some optimizations. It has deployed a large number of precompiled contracts and built a sharded P2P on-chain communication node network specifically for executing contract verification. By connecting the P2P network, it ensures that nodes can communicate directly and efficiently. This approach effectively reduces intermediate transmission steps, making data transfer faster. Additionally, communication and address location between nodes use the Kademlia algorithm, which allows for quicker and more precise node discovery and contact.

In execution, Zytron also shards the contract execution process based on the distance rules defined in the Kademlia algorithm. This means that different parts of the contract will be assigned to different network nodes for execution based on the distance between nodes. This distance-based allocation helps evenly distribute computational loads across the Zytron network, thereby improving the overall speed and efficiency of the system.

At the same time, the Zytron engine has integrated with EigenLayer and deployed an AVS computing layer to further enhance the security and decentralization of verification.

1.2.2 Data Storage and Communication

The Zytron engine has introduced an important component for data storage abstraction, integrating more user-friendly relational and caching databases to accelerate game data processing, meeting the needs for efficient data management and quick access, and maintaining a smooth gaming experience.

In terms of data communication, the aforementioned P2P network enables rapid data transmission, and sharding technology allows contract execution to occur simultaneously across multiple nodes, significantly enhancing data and transaction processing efficiency and reducing latency.

1.3 Server Abstraction Solutions

Traditional Web3 games typically rely on centralized servers, deploying game logic on centralized servers while deploying economic models and contracts on-chain. When the game runs, it depends on cloud service providers for computation and storage, while on-chain and off-chain data must remain synchronized at all times. This approach does not align with the principles of Web3 and has certain limitations in terms of trust, security, and efficiency.

Zypher Network has pioneered a server abstraction solution that can completely replace the utility of traditional centralized servers in a decentralized manner based on the Zytron engine and its off-chain computing network. This solution not only frees developers from reliance on centralized servers but also achieves better results.

Thus, we see that the on-chain part of Zypher Network (Zytron) and the off-chain part work together to support game operations, providing a series of resources such as computation and storage, effectively serving the role of a server, but both parts operate in a decentralized manner. Therefore, there are no actual server facilities in this system; we can understand that it abstracts the server while still achieving better performance than traditional servers.

2. Current Market Development Status

Under the influence of factors such as the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts, the cryptocurrency market has shown signs of recovery, especially with the rise of the TON ecosystem and the push from some leading CEXs, further igniting the enthusiasm for the blockchain gaming market. As an important infrastructure ecosystem in the blockchain gaming market, Zypher Network has made significant progress both technically and ecologically.

From a technical perspective, with the integration of Risc Zero and Celesita, as well as the launch of the Zytron Layer3 pre-mainnet based on Linea, it can now support developers in building and deploying game applications through the underlying stack, and the ecosystem is essentially market-ready. Recently, with the integration of the Zytron engine and Cocos Creator, developers can easily deploy games on TON using Cocos Creator, and with the current trend of "mini-programs" on Telegram, its gaming ecosystem is entering a new phase of prosperity.

From an ecological perspective, Zypher Network has already launched dozens of mini-games, attracting hundreds of thousands of active users during the previous testnet phase.

2.1 Technical Aspects

• Collaboration with Risc Zero

Earlier this year, Zypher Network partnered with Risc Zero to integrate Risc Zero's general ZK virtual machine into the Zypher game engine, expanding Risc Zero's use cases through the included game-specific SDK. Developers can now support more realistic, complete, and effective autonomous worlds.

• Integration with Celesita

Zypher Network has partnered with the modular DA facility Celesita, using Celesita's Roll Kit tools to build the Zytron Kit while making Celesita the default DA layer for the Zytron engine. As Zypher Network integrates with more modular DA facilities, developers will be able to choose and replace components in a plug-and-play manner to match their game's fundamentals.

• Launch of Zytron Layer3 Pre-Mainnet

Zypher Network has launched the Zytron Pioneer Layer3 pre-mainnet (zytron.zypher.network/layer3) based on the Layer2 network Linea, allowing developers to build their own Layer3 APP Chains based on the Zytron modular stack. This pre-mainnet has also integrated with Cocos Creator, enabling developers to deploy Telegram mini-games directly on TON.

At the same time, in the new Layer3 system of Zytron, players can earn SBT assets by participating in activities, and holding these assets allows for 0 Gas participation in games. Additionally, features such as wallet abstraction and chain abstraction have been introduced to provide users with a seamless experience, maximizing the reduction of barriers for players and meeting their intentions.

It is reported that during the early game testing phase on Linea, Zytron Network attracted over 1 million participants and generated millions of transactions. After the mainnet launch, especially with the rollout of more comprehensive features and rights, it will further drive user participation. The launch of the Zytron mainnet signifies the full activation of the Zypher Network ecosystem.

Zytron Layer3 Mainnet Information:

2.2 Ecological Aspects

Currently, the Zypher Network ecosystem has seen developers deploying a series of games based on its AW Engine, with a majority being TG games and a few Web games.

Currently launched Telegram games:

Rainbow Journey

"Rainbow Journey" challenges players to control a color-changing ball that must pass through color-matching circles. Successfully passing through matching circles earns points, while encountering mismatched colors results in failure. The game's on-chain features ensure a transparent and engaging experience.

Game Link: t.me/RainbowJourneyBot

Bingo

In the Telegram Bingo game, there is a 5x5 grid, and players take turns marking numbers. The first player to connect two lines wins.

Game Link: t.me/zBingoBot

Dogs Jump

In "Dogs Jump on Telegram," players control a dog character that jumps between platforms. By collecting bones and successfully passing levels, players can earn points.

Game Link: t.me/dogsjump_bot

Dogs Eat Dogs

"Dogs Eat Dogs" requires players to swap patterns in a grid to match three identical patterns. Eliminated patterns help players earn airdrop points.

Game Link: t.me/dogsjump_bot

z2048

"z2048" challenges players to slide and merge blocks to form higher values. The goal is to reach the highest block value before the board fills up.

Game Link: t.me/zypher2048bot

Assistent Jump

Assistent Jump is a Telegram-based game where players control a ninja character that jumps between platforms, collecting shurikens to earn points. The game's integration with Telegram and on-chain technology ensures a dynamic and verifiable gaming experience.

Game Link: t.me/assassinsjump_bot

Stick Cat

In "Stick Cat," players extend a stick to connect gaps between platforms, allowing the cat to move forward. Successfully jumping earns points, while misjudging the length results in failure.

Game Link: t.me/zStickCatBot

Ten Sum Rings

Ten Sum Rings is a puzzle TG mini-game. Players use a number grid to circle adjacent groups of numbers that sum to ten, and the circled numbers disappear, increasing the score. Players aim to score as many points as possible within a fixed time.

Game Link: t.me/TenSumRingsBot

Airdrop Battles

Airdrop Battles is a plane combat mini-game where players control a plane to shoot down opposing enemies. Defeating enemies earns points and random items to enhance attack power. The game ends when the plane's health reaches 0.

Game Link: t.me/AirdropBattlesBot

BigWhale

A skill-based, strategy mini-game where players control a fish that falls to the bottom of the screen, merging with similar fish to grow larger. The goal is to become the biggest fish while avoiding obstacles.

Game Link: t.me/zBigWhaleBot

Crypto Rumble

A match-three RPG game where players attack and charge up to defeat opponents for rewards. This game combines classic block-matching rules with SLG mechanics. Players summon heroes to battle, earning rewards to upgrade and summon new heroes.

Notably, the Crypto Rumble game was launched by the Zypher Network team at the BNB Chain Hackathon held in Istanbul last year, where it won first place.

The game is set to launch a TG version soon.

In addition to the aforementioned games, it has also launched some web games, including the card game Divine Cataclysm: Oblivion (dc.game/) and the card game Poker Base. As more developers join the Zypher ecosystem, an increasing number of TON mini-games will be available in the market.

Tool Applications

Zytron Bridge, Zytron DEX, etc.

3. Economic Ecology

3.1 Token Economic Model (temporarily using $ZYPHER as a placeholder)

$ZYPHER is an important asset in the Zypher economic system, with potential application scenarios including:

Proof Mining: $ZYPHER rewards players and miners to promote network utility and incentivize true decentralized DePin, supporting various hardware for decentralized ZK mining and computation, while providing on-chain shuffling and other in-game zk services.

Governance: $ZYPHER holders can vote on governance decisions, participating in proposals related to DAO/foundation treasury, funding committees, in-game tax rates, reward rates, etc.

Economic Guarantee: $ZYPHER can serve as rewards for LST/LRT re-staking, enhancing the cryptoeconomic security of its zk services (registered as Eigen Layer and Bounce Bit AVS).

Game Revenue Sharing: $ZYPHER stakers can benefit from governance decisions regarding supported game expansions, redistributing game revenue in the form of platform-wide game tokens.

Meanwhile, the Zypher gaming platform has a self-sustaining incentive model driven by a universal game token (backed by ETH/LST) that can be used across different games on the platform.

3.2 Staking-Centric Economic Ecology

Zypher Network has established a staking-based economic model, allowing both users and miners in the network to capture resources and increase income. For more details, refer to this document: docs.zypher.network/pozk/overview/

• Miners

In the Zypher Network, miners play a crucial role in providing computational power, with decentralized computing miners collectively forming the off-chain computing network. To become a miner, one must stake a certain amount of tokens in a PoS manner, and the Zypher Network will assign zk tasks to them. Completing computational work (PoW) will yield rewards.

The more tokens a miner stakes, the higher the probability of being assigned tasks by the network, and the greater the rewards for each task. On the other hand, the staking of tokens also serves as an economic barrier to deter malicious behavior by miners.

• Players

From the players' perspective, staking tokens grants access to some high-quality games and the opportunity to participate for free in premium on-chain games.

Additionally, staking tokens represents the ability to enjoy better game services and rewards. For instance, the more tokens a user stakes, the faster the proof generation during gameplay and on-chain transactions, leading to a better gaming experience and potentially more rewards.

Through economic incentives, the model encourages both miners and players to actively participate in staking, rapidly forming a staking scale for the network. This not only boosts the market demand for tokens but also enhances the security and scalability of the computing network, ultimately providing positive feedback for the development of Zypher Network.

3.3 Introduction of LRT Staking Model

Zypher Network also plans to introduce the LRT model into its economic system, accepting LRT tokens as collateral within the network. For example, the native network staking mentioned earlier can be conducted using LRT tokens, significantly improving the capital utilization and liquidity of tokens.

From a gaming perspective, both the game logic and economic model are built on the Zytron engine, allowing for deep nesting and combination with the LRT model to create more innovative and driving economic models. Meanwhile, the Zytron engine will also accept LRT tokens in exchange for game tokens, similar to an automated decentralized gaming guild, injecting further liquidity and value into the game economic ecology and accelerating token adoption. This is expected to further ensure the integrity and transparency of the games.

4. Competitive Landscape

In this market cycle, besides Zypher Network, notable projects in the gaming infrastructure space include Mud and Dojo.

MUD

MUD is a highly regarded game engine from last year, known for its versatility. It can seamlessly operate on any EVM-compatible chain, not just the Ethereum mainnet.

Internally, it provides structured data management, utilizing the Store database to make on-chain data storage and management more efficient, which is beneficial for developing complex applications. Through the "World" framework, the MUD engine enables partitioned management of stateless logic, supporting interactions and collaborations between multiple contracts, enhancing developer flexibility. It also supports automatic introspection and rapid data synchronization, offering various query tools, including SQL, for easier data access and front-end synchronization.

Built on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), the MUD engine leverages the ecosystem of Ethereum and its compatible chains, making it particularly strong in data management through the on-chain Store database. However, the logical partitioning of MUD relies on the "World" framework, which, while increasing development flexibility, may also be limited by the performance and scalability of the EVM.

In contrast, Zypher Network adopts a technology route independent of the EVM. Based on the Zytron Layer3 engine, Zypher Network provides a flexible and highly customizable on-chain environment, unaffected by the inherent limitations of the EVM. Additionally, the ZKP solutions are expected to excel in privacy and security performance, especially by further optimizing the efficiency of off-chain computation and on-chain verification without relying on centralized servers, making Zypher Network more advanced.

Dojo

Dojo is a verifiable game engine on the Starknet chain, providing developers with a toolkit to create high-quality games, where all assets, user actions, and transactions occur on the Starknet chain.

The engine is built on Cairo's ECS architecture, making game logic design and development more efficient and suitable for complex gaming environments. Its Torii automatic indexer and Katana sorter components provide excellent support for game real-time and data processing. It also offers developers toolchain support, such as the Sozo toolchain, which simplifies the development and deployment process, lowering the entry barrier.

Both Dojo and Zypher are zk-based solutions, but the former is limited by its language dependency on Cairo. In contrast, Zypher offers more flexible customization and modular support for Layer3.

Overall, whether it's MUD, Dojo, or Zypher Network, each has unique advantages and strengths in their respective solutions. However, Zypher Network, as an emerging engine, aligns more closely with industry development narratives in terms of solutions and technological means, and is expected to expand into more fields.

From an ecological perspective, Zypher Network currently has a deep integration with the TON ecosystem, capturing a large number of active players through Telegram, making its gaming ecosystem more vibrant compared to other competitors.

4. Key Points to Note

Full-chain games and autonomous worlds are becoming a significant trend in the blockchain gaming market. In fact, this sector still lacks comprehensive solutions, and the number of infrastructure projects is limited. More advanced and higher-quality solutions are more likely to stand out in this space, which means Zypher Network is backed by a broader market and is expected to see its ecological valuation rise with the continuous growth of its ecosystem games, users, and developers.

From the perspective of the TON ecosystem, it is becoming a hot topic in the industry, especially with popular games like Catizen and Hamster Kombat frequently launching on leading exchanges like Binance, further fueling the enthusiasm for Telegram mini-games. As more developers enter and attention value converges, it is expected to become a new traffic entry point in the gaming market. More and more developers are eager to enter TON to capture users and attention.

Currently, Zypher Network is providing an important channel for game developers to enter the TON ecosystem with low barriers through its integration with Cocos Creator. By laying out early market strategies and deeply binding with TON, it will accelerate the siphoning of the developer community and is expected to attract more users and attention from the TON ecosystem as ecological applications continue to innovate and a series of airdrop expectations arise. Conversely, this also means that Zypher Network is an important value oasis for developers, crypto investors, and players alike.

In the long term, the server abstraction narrative of Zypher Network is particularly noteworthy. This innovative solution is expected to fundamentally improve the operation of current games and DApps, becoming a significant driving force for a new Web3 stack paradigm. As technology continues to improve, Zypher Network may not only stand out in the gaming infrastructure field but also expand into broader application areas, competing with other dimensions of infrastructure, such as App Chain as a Service. Such development trends will bring more possibilities and innovative opportunities to the Web3 ecosystem.