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 community during the process, to 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.

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

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

How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

Our proposal directly addresses the challenge of developing and enhancing infrastructure for Cardano dApps ‘Development & Infrastructure’ challenge by providing a concrete example of scalability solutions and technical documentation in these directions:

• Demonstrate and explain to developers how to add real time communications to their dApps, such that more secure, scalable, and interactive applications can be built on Cardano
• Enhance DRED's decentralized communication capabilities, realizing the potential that we'd intended from earlier phases of development.
• Provide a concrete example of off-chain transaction- and other interactive state-sharing opportunities for group-interactive dApps.
• As we provide additional features and documentation for those features, we intend to show people outside the Cardano community good reasons to join up.

How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

Success will be measured by tracking increased adoption rates, the number of developers attending sessions, the number of dApps integrating DRED, the usage of our technical documentation, the functionality enhancements in cPoker, and community feedback. We also aim to contribute to Cardano’s long-term productivity and growth by fostering a developer-friendly environment where people can make richer applications, create interactive experience and attract more end-users to Cardano.

Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

We will make commits in our open-source repository, engage actively with the community (~1x per month), taking feedback opportunities to further develop, clarify and enhance community-facing resources.

As we continue development (either with our other F10 proposals or as a result of future funding) of cPoker, the real-time communication channel will enable further product development within the poker protocol (e.g. zero-knowledge state-sharing connected to on-chain), as well as within the application itself - for example, by using it for real-time voice and video communication, enhancing a sense of trust for poker players.

We look forward also to tokenizing operations of the DRED protocol, so that node operators can share revenues with DRED-using dApps.

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

Our capabilities are best demonstrated by what we have already done. We developed DRED, explored the Kaleidoscope paper, designed and coded some of the poker protocol with the help of Catalyst. We have shown resilience when practically things didn’t work out as in the paper described by pivoting to a zk-proof solution. When the ADA exchange rate fell, and Catalyst was waiting for Fund 10 we put our heads down and worked on solutions with the money we had gratefully gained. We also have a strong network in the community to fill key-positions given we can pay them for their work.

What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

Our main goals:

• Increase developer knowledge
• Enable dApp developers to build interactive real-time applications
• Increase number of dApps using DRED
• Enhance DRED's functionality and documentation
• Develop the cPoker/zkpoker protocol further

Because most of the research efforts with DRED have been completed, we don't see any significant feasibility risk. Our work-planning front-loads key technical development to the first milestone, so that we can get prompt feedback and decide how to respond to any discovered challenges.

We will validate our approach's feasibility through feedback from community sessions, improvements in the technical documentation, and the successful integration and functionality of cPoker/zkpoker.

Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

Our main tasks and activities by milestone:

M1 (1 mo) : 75 k ADA

• Develop & refine the documentation for DRED
• First community session
• Successful when: enhance DRED docs and organize community session to raise awareness about DRED and explain integration in dApps

M2 (1 mo): 90 k ADA

• Initial DRED neighborhood (single node)
• First integration with DRED/cPoker
• Add in-neighborhood data-replication to DRED
• Successful when: minimum infrastructure is running a DRED neighborhood, and a concrete real-time communication example can be demonstrated.

M3 (1 mo): 80 k ADA

• Conduct community learning sessions
• Augment cPoker DRED neighborhood to 3 nodes
• Any needed DRED refinements to support these results
• Successful when: three operating nodes are running, and the sample (poker game) harness connects and communicate through separate nodes

M4 (1 mo): 80 k ADA

• Additional community session(s)
• split zk poker from a test-harness into a single-player cPoker agent (dApp) and integrate with UI
• Successful when: two dApp instances can communicate through DRED infrastructure

M5 (1 mo): 60 K ADA

• make npm package so people can npm install -g dred-cpoker and test
• Coordinate and run last community sessions
• Successful when: infrastructure is running and a package containing the whole example can be downloaded to test the application, consisting of three scripted poker-game dApps communicating through DRED

Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

M1 (month 1)

• Deliverable: Refined DRED documentation available to the community
• Deliverable: Community session: “What is DRED and how to integrate it in your dApp”
• Outcome: Increase awareness and understanding of DRED as well as the potential of real-time communication dApps.

M2 (month 2)

• Deliverable: Community demo: “integration-test and replication”
• Outcome: scripted poker-game simulator connects and communicates through the DRED neighborhood

M3 (month 3)

• Deliverable: Community session “DRED Updates”, demo video, source code
• Outcome: 3 operating nodes; poker game harness communicate through separate DRED nodes

M4 (month 4)

• Deliverable: Community session: “Real-time communication in your dApp”
• Outcome: 2 dApp instances communicating through DRED

M5 (month 5)-

• Deliverable: Demo video, source code
• Outcome: 3 scripted poker-game instances communicating through DRED

Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Overall, the total expenditure will be 385 thousand ADA [k₳], so split:

• Project Management: ₳ 59k
• Documentation: ₳ 49k
• Development: ₳ 163k
• Testing and onboarding: ₳ 49k
• Community sessions, demos and promotion: ₳ 65k

The rationale for these figures is team composition, skills, needed market rates / cost of living, and past experience with previous proposals.

Our established team is composed of an experienced Architect / Developer, a Developer / Technical Writer, and a Project Manager / Social Media Manager. Such a team already worked together on the successful completion of another project, and will be driving the development, management, and communication efforts.

We’re also contracting more figures, such as: an additional Developer to work on the DApp integration and a Smart Contract expert / Developer to work on the transaction integration.

To pay for an Architect, three development contributors, and a project manager, we anticipate a cost equivalent to 77.2k ADA per month.

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

Core Team:

Seomon: Project Management, Communication, Social Media Management, Workshops

Seomon is an experienced Cardano veteran, Project Manager, and former Poker professional. He has co-founded multiple communities within the Cardano ecosystem, establishing a strong network of Cardano-focused companies, professionals, and enthusiasts. Simon's contributions have earned him the Cardano Ambassador status and community funding for various proposals through Project Catalyst. Guiding the overall direction of projects, cultivating strategic partnerships, and ensuring the vision aligns with the teams values are some of his responsibilities.

Randall: Software Architect, dApp and Smart Contract Developer, Developer Manager

Randall is an Experienced software veteran specializing in business-oriented applications, with a background in accounting and distributed data processing. Skilled software architect and system designer, driven by a continuous desire to learn and adapt. He gives technical guidance and designs as well as develops our innovative software.

Patrik: dApp Developer, Technical Writer, Communication

Patrik is a Senior SW Engineer with 15+ years of experience in different sectors, such as (Swiss) Banking, Open Source, (Dutch) Oil & Gas, (German) Automotive, and Healthcare. Experienced in Cardano blockchain projects, catalyst-funded proposer, and dedicated open-source enthusiast. As a driving Engineer he develops our open source software and offers valuable insights and expertise to the Team.

+ consultants (where needed)

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

Our project represents significant value for money as it leverages the output of two existing projects, along with otherwise unfunded efforts from the team. The requested funding is well justified, considering the project's scope, the resources required, and the potential long-term benefits to the Cardano ecosystem. Our team possesses the necessary skills, and we're prepared to commit our resources to ensure successful project execution.

The team's cost, below $24 k per month (~ 77.2 k ADA at current rate of 0.305), is significantly competitive and below the market rates, given our locations, roles, and the specialist skills required for this project. This figure is derived from benchmarking against average wages and typical freelance rates in our respective countries and industries. It is worth noting that we carefully considered the costs also to be resilient to unexpected tech problems and currency fluctuation risks.

Our project will unlock new mechanisms for Cardano developers to develop advanced applications with rich interactive multi-user experiences and make Cardano a more attractive place to build. Showing our practical steps to integrate DRED with poker will help ecosystem developers connect to the ways they can make their rich applications.

Integrating cPoker and providing further insight into DRED through Documentation and workshops, will enhance the visibility of DRED, and more importantly enables communities to use DRED as the decentralized scaling solution we developed it to be. We're excited to engage with other ecosystem developers to drive innovations of a previously-unavailable kind and to accelerate the pace of creating interactive applications on Cardano.