Zypher Network: A full-stack Web3 game engine, a leader in server-abstracted storytelling

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 in the current cryptocurrency market environment, raising questions about their significance.

In fact, blockchain games have not achieved breakthroughs since the last market cycle's boom, remaining far behind Web2 games in terms of game content and experience. They are still in a primitive stage, and the root cause of this predicament lies in the lack of underlying infrastructure.

Because the Web3 underlying stack currently struggles to support complex game logic and high-quality game content, Web3 games tend to capture players through "Finance" when they cannot win through quality. This has become a well-worn issue that requires no further elaboration. Compared to the "cool and powerful" Web2 games, Web3 games have always struggled to gain prominence. On the other hand, compared to Web2 games, the lack of unified standards and common game development tools makes Web3 game development more complex and has a higher threshold, which is also 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 panoramic analysis of Zypher Network to enhance readers' understanding and knowledge of it.

TL&DR

• Zypher Network has built a foundational stack based on ZKP, significantly lowering the threshold 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 in deploying games on TON using Cocos Creator, allowing for low-threshold 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 in the gaming ecosystem.
• Compared to competitors, Zypher Network's solutions have advantages in flexibility, customization, and efficiency, aligning with the overall narrative of the industry.
• At this stage, Zypher Network has not only launched several Web3 games but also introduced a dozen TON mini-games, further siphoning users and attention from the TON ecosystem. Conversely, this also means that whether developers, crypto investors, or players, Zypher Network is an important value oasis.
• Zypher Network is backed by a broader market, and its valuation is expected to increase as its ecosystem of games, users, and developers continues to grow. Its new paradigm solutions will bring more possibilities and innovative opportunities to the Web3 ecosystem.

1. Project Fundamentals

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

By launching the AW Engine, it provides a complete set of ZKP-based developer tools, empowering game developers with the ability to develop high-quality games and seamlessly migrate games with a low threshold, while building a dedicated Layer3 APP Chain in a customized and modular manner based on its Zytron engine.

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 games with AAA features, they can operate efficiently, securely, and trustworthily 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.

Additionally, it provides verification contracts on different virtual machines (EVM/WASM/…) that can run across different blockchain systems and achieve off-chain proof 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 using Lego blocks, deploying in a modular way without needing to understand the complexities of zero-knowledge circuits, while also being able to meet specific requirements in a customized manner 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 a game room through online matchmaking. This room is a stateless room built on the Z4 engine and driven by nodes within the engine. In this room, the nodes themselves do not store game data; they are only responsible for packaging and sorting players' actions in a ZKP manner and uploading them to the on-chain Zytron engine for verification and execution of results. Thus, from the perspective of the nodes themselves, they do not need to broadcast global state on the source chain but only need to make local state changes.

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

• Secret Engine

Zypher Network has created a secret engine using ZKP solutions to provide optional privacy solutions for different games. This engine implements a Shuffling SDK through optimized WASM and precompiled contracts, achieving a high-performance, low-cost decentralized shuffling process. The shuffling circuits and protocols ensure the security of verifiable encrypted computations executed on-chain, keeping strategic elements confidential. Besides poker, Monopoly, and collectible card games, the SDK can also be applied to other SLG use cases requiring 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 in deploying Layer3 layers (sovereign Rollup layers) in a customized and modular manner based on this stack, which can serve as a dedicated APP Chain 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 a game development perspective, based on the Zypher Network stack, developers can build autonomous worlds, small strategy games, or migrate AAA games to on-chain at the lowest cost without a steep learning curve, while retaining production-level UE. It is worth mentioning that the Zypher Network stack has also integrated Cocos Creator, supporting developers to create mini-games and deploy them on TON. Currently, dozens of TON mini-games have gone live, allowing players to participate through Telegram.

1.2.1 Transactions and Verification

When developers build games based on Zypher Network, the game's logic is deployed in the ZKP circuits on the 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 optimized designs, deploying a large number of precompiled contracts and building a 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 transmission faster. Moreover, communication and address localization between nodes use the Kademlia algorithm, making the structured design quicker and more precise when nodes search for and contact other nodes.

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 within the Zytron network, thereby improving the overall speed and efficiency of the system.

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

1.2.2 Data Storage and Communication

The Zytron engine has launched 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, ensuring 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, achieving parallel execution and significantly improving data and transaction transmission efficiency, 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 Web3 philosophy and has certain limitations in terms of trust, security, and efficiency.

Zypher Network has pioneered a server abstraction solution, which, based on the Zytron engine and its off-chain computing network, can completely replace the utility of traditional centralized servers in a decentralized manner. This solution not only frees itself 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 together support the operation of games, providing a series of resources such as computation and storage, collectively fulfilling the role of a server, but both parts operate in a decentralized manner. Therefore, in this system, there are no actual specific server facilities; we can understand it as abstracting the server while still achieving better results than traditional servers.

2. Current Market Development

Under the influence of factors such as the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts, the overall 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 heat of the blockchain gaming market. As an important infrastructure ecosystem in the blockchain gaming market, Zypher Network has made good progress both technically and ecologically.

From a technical perspective, with the integration with Risc Zero and Celesita, as well as the launch of the Zytron Layer3 pre-mainnet based on Linea, it can now support developers in developing and deploying game applications through the underlying stack, and the ecosystem is basically ready to face the market. With the recent integration of the Zytron engine with Cocos Creator, developers can easily deploy games on TON through Cocos Creator, and under the current trend of "mini-programs" on Telegram, its game ecosystem is ushering in a new wave of prosperity.

Further 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, integrating Risc Zero's general ZK virtual machine into the Zypher game engine and expanding its use cases through the included game-specific SDK. Developers can now further support more authentic, complete, and effective autonomous worlds.

• Integration with Celesita

Zypher Network has currently 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 them in a plug-and-play manner to match their game's fundamentals.

• Launch of Zytron Layer3 Pre-Mainnet

Currently, Zypher Network has launched the Zytron Layer3 Pre-Mainnet based on the Layer2 network Linea, allowing developers to build their own Layer3 APP Chain based on the Zytron modular framework. 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 players' gaming thresholds 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 benefits, it will further drive more 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: https://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: https://t.me/zBingoBot

Dogs Jump

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

Game Link: https://t.me/dogsjump_bot

Dogs Eat Dogs

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

Game Link: https://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 Address: https://t.me/zypher2048bot

Assistent Jump

Assistent Jump is a Telegram-based game where players control a ninja character jumping between platforms, earning points by collecting darts. The integration with Telegram and on-chain technology ensures a dynamic and verifiable gaming experience.

Game Address: https://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 leads to failure.

Game Address: ++https://t.me/zStickCatBot++

Ten Sum Rings

Ten Sum Rings is a puzzle TG mini-game. In the game, players use a number grid, aiming to circle groups of adjacent numbers that sum to ten. Once circled, the numbers disappear, increasing the score. Players need to score as much as possible within a fixed time.

Game Address: https://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 Address: https://t.me/AirdropBattlesBot

BigWhale

A skill-based, strategy mini-game where players control a fish falling 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: https://t.me/zBigWhaleBot

Crypto Rumble

A match-three RPG game where players attack and charge 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 at the end of last year, winning first place in the hackathon.

The game is set to launch its TG version soon.

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

Tool Applications

Zytron Bridge, Zytron DEX, etc.

3. Economic Ecosystem

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

$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 also benefit from governance decisions related to supported game expansions, redistributing game revenue in the form of platform-wide game tokens.

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

3.2 Staking-Centric Economic Ecosystem

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: https://docs.zypher.network/pozk/overview/

• Miners

In the Zypher Network, miners are crucial roles providing computational power to the network, 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. The Zypher Network will assign zk tasks to them, and completing computational work (PoW) will earn 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, staking tokens also serves as an economic threshold to limit 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.

At the same time, staking tokens also represents the ability to enjoy better game services and returns. For example, the more tokens users stake, the faster the proof generation during gameplay and on-chain transactions, leading to a better gaming experience and potentially more rewards.

Through economic means, this will encourage both miners and players to actively participate in staking, rapidly forming a staking scale for the network, which will not only drive market demand for tokens but also enhance 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 in its economic system, accepting LRT tokens as collateral in the network. For example, the native network staking mentioned above can be conducted using LRT tokens, significantly enhancing the capital utilization and liquidity of the tokens.

From a gaming perspective, the game logic and economic model are built within the Zytron engine, allowing for deep nesting and combination with the LRT model, creating more innovative and driving economic models. Meanwhile, the Zytron engine will also accept LRT tokens in exchange for game tokens, similar to a decentralized gaming guild operating automatically, injecting further liquidity and value into the gaming economic ecosystem and accelerating token adoption. Based on this, games are also expected to further ensure integrity and transparency.

4. Competitive Landscape

In this market cycle, besides Zypher Network, well-known 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. In addition to the Ethereum mainnet, MUD can seamlessly operate on any EVM-compatible chain.

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

The MUD engine is built on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), fully leveraging the Ethereum ecosystem and its compatible chains. This architecture makes MUD particularly outstanding in data management, achieving structured data management through the on-chain Store database, making it more suitable for existing Ethereum ecosystem developers. However, the logical partitioning of MUD relies on the "World" framework, which increases development flexibility but 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 fixed limitations of the EVM, while 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, Zypher Network is 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 game assets, user actions, and transactions occur on the Starknet chain.

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

Both Dojo and Zypher are zk-based solutions, but the former is limited by its language dependency on Cairo, while 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 technical means, and is expected to expand into more fields.

From an ecological perspective, Zypher Network currently has a deep binding with the TON ecosystem, capturing a large number of active players through Telegram, making its gaming ecosystem more vibrant than other competitive ecosystems.

4. Key Points to Note

Full-chain games and autonomous worlds are becoming a significant trend in the blockchain gaming market. In fact, this track still lacks a comprehensive solution, and the overall number of infrastructure projects is limited. More advanced and higher-quality solutions are more likely to stand out in this track, which also means that Zypher Network is backed by a broader market and is expected to see its ecological valuation increase as its ecosystem of games, users, and developers continues to grow.

From the perspective of the TON ecosystem alone, it is becoming a hot spot in the industry, especially with popular games like Catizen and Hamster Kombat frequently launching on leading exchanges like Binance, further igniting the heat of Telegram mini-games. As more developers enter and attention value converges, it is also expected to become a new traffic entry point in the gaming market. At this stage, an increasing number of developers are eager to enter TON to capture users and attention.

Zypher Network is currently providing an important channel for game developers to enter the TON ecosystem with low thresholds through its integration with Cocos Creator. By laying out early in the TON market and deeply binding with it, this will accelerate its siphoning of the developer community and is expected to further attract users and attention from the TON ecosystem with continuous innovations in ecological applications and a series of airdrop expectations. Conversely, this also means that whether developers, crypto investors, or players, Zypher Network is an important value oasis.

In the long run, the server abstraction narrative of Zypher Network deserves special attention. This innovative solution is expected to fundamentally improve the operation of current games and DApps, becoming a significant driving force for creating 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. This development trend will bring more possibilities and innovative opportunities to the Web3 ecosystem.