Please describe your proposed solution

<https://youtu.be/3I3fMBqjTlk>Genun has been building the foundation for a strong game with Ascent: Rivals over the last 3 years and is approved on Steam &amp; Epic Games. With many hours of consultation and advisement, the studio aims to add the final touches of integrating account and wallet features that are compliant with the platforms terms and conditions. By integrating cardano wallet connection into Steam profiles and accounts for any game and demonstrated in Ascent users will be able to seamlessly be a steward of their own assets with no extra work.

<https://youtu.be/j1InFg5YY5k>Showcasing automatic sign and approval of Steam can be seen here

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

1. Setting Example: With this open sourced work that enables connecting to Steam accounts (and other popular accounts such as PSN/Xbox/Discord/Twitch), it will pave the way for the other studios to follow suite
2. Increased Exposure: Integration into popular gaming platforms like Steam and Epic Games exposes Cardano to millions of active users, fostering greater awareness and adoption.
3. Compliance and Reputation: By ensuring compliance with platform terms and conditions, Cardano's reputation as a trustworthy blockchain for mainstream applications is enhanced.
4. Cardano Utility: Showcasing direct utility for collections and their holders into a Ascent: Rivals

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?

Our alpha is currently approved and live on Steam with over 1000 playtesters.

Early Achievements to show capability and public building

1. Showcased the game at PAX West 2024(130k attendees) winning players choice award
2. Won DreamHack Dallas Indie award (60k attendees)
3. PAX Rising winners (120k attendees) out of thousands of game studios
4. Showcased at Rare Evo 2024 (2.5k attendees)
5. Winners of DreamHack Atlanta (35k attendees)
6. Over 4,000 hours of organic playtesting and a player retention rate 30% higher than the industry average
7. Featured on Steam front page with 200 million MAU - twice!
8. Featured by Sony's largest gaming infrastructure provider, Accelbyte

All footage can be found on our youtube channel.

September 2023 - Winner of “Player’s Choice Award” at PAX 2023 (120k attendees)

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAnnsbV9X7E>April 2024 - Attended west coast's largest LAN. Over 10% of players played Ascent Rivals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHrqJwKJo_cMarch 2024 - Winner of DreamHack Dallas Indie Playground

March 2024 - Featured on Steam store front page with 200 million MAU

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMupkx4yg7I>August 2024 - Sponsored by Rare Evo to showcase Ascent Rivals in Las Vegas (2.5k attendees)

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks2qjXvTX2s>October 2024 - Winner of DreamHack Atlanta Indie Playground (second time)

<https://youtu.be/JmQqPHx3iDQ>Highlighting Cardano in Sony's largest gaming infrastructure provider

<https://youtu.be/j1InFg5YY5k>

What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Milestone 1: Approval on Steam

0% cost | completed! | 25% completion

Deliverables:

• Game is playable and ready for Steam process
• Approved by Steam’s official process

Acceptance criteria:

• Game is downloadable on Steam

Milestone 2: Account linking

33% cost | 1 month | 50% completion

Deliverables:

• Webclient for accessing account
• Blockchain and backend verification service

Acceptance criteria:

• Live webclient to connect wallet
• Demo of creating an account on steam and connecting wallet

Final Milestone: Live Testing

33% cost | 2 weeks | 100% completion

Deliverables:

• Collect user feedback
• Verify stability and bug fixes

Acceptance criteria:

• 2 weeks of live data bug free

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

Core Developers - and Previous Experience

Steven George - Lead Engineer; Level 11, DigiPen

Stan Hayes - Aesthetic Engineer; Epic Games, Nvidia, DigiPen

Michael Yagi - Creative Director; 2K Games, DigiPen

Ming Chi - Artist; NetEase

Scott Meyers - Audio Engineer; Respawn Entertainment, Riot Games

Jeff Uong - DevOps Engineer; Samsung, DigiPen

Clifford Garvis - Solutions Architect &amp; Smart Contract; Nintendo, Level 11, DigiPen

Advisors

Lowell Vaughn - Principal Strategist Epic Games

Shoutout! 1+ Year(s) Fulltime contribution

Alejandro Hitti - Technical Project Lead; Rockstar Games, DigiPen

Jason Dempsey - Senior Engineer; Microsoft, DigiPen

Zander Jensen - Gameplay Engineer; Treyarch, DigiPen

Hiago Desena - Senior Engineer; Firewalk, DigiPen

Ahn Do - Producer; 343, GEC, DigiPen

Mickey Cushing - Designer; 343, Blizzard, Wizards of the Coast, Rockstar Games

Brian Park - Designer; Riot Games

Anon Developer - Senior Engineer; Respawn Entertainment, DigiPen

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Milestone 1: Approval on Steam

• 1 developer, 1 month = $8,750 / ₳22,857

Milestone 2: Account linking

• 2 developers (sharing work), 1 month = $7,666.67 / ₳22,857

Milestone 4: Live Testing

• 1 developer, 2 weeks = $7,666.66 / ₳22,857

Tooling &amp; Reserve: reserve for changes to business requirements resulting to technical pivots necessary to deliver a better product/outcome

• Tooling (aws) = $1,000 / ₳2,857.14
• Reserve = $1,000 / ₳2,857.14

TOTAL AMOUNT

• $24,000 / ₳68,571

We apply a 0.35 USD/ADA exchange rate, which is the average rate over the past few months conservatively adjusted downward to ensure that the project will remain viable despite moderate price shocks that may occur before or during the project timeline.

No dependencies.

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

Wider Adoption of Cardano: By integrating Cardano wallets into a major gaming platform like Steam, the project can drive broader adoption of the Cardano blockchain, introducing it to millions of gamers. This increases the visibility and credibility of Cardano as a blockchain for real-world use cases.

Incentivizing More Game Developers and Studios: Open-source projects encourage contributions from a global pool of developers, fostering innovation. As developers work to improve the integration, the project will strengthen the overall technical ecosystem of Cardano. It may also inspire other developers to create similar integrations for different platforms, expanding the reach of Cardano.

Cross-Platform Utility: Steam has a massive user base and is known for its vast library of games and software. Enabling Cardano wallets to be used on Steam could introduce a new way to have exclusive rewards, manage digital assets, and reach new communities. This integration can showcase how Cardano’s blockchain technology can be applied in various industries beyond traditional finance.

Open-Source Community Growth: By making the integration open-source, you contribute to the culture of transparency and collaboration in the Cardano community. Developers, gamers, and blockchain enthusiasts alike can audit, modify, and expand the project, fostering a sense of community and shared ownership. This openness may accelerate the development of new features, improving the overall Cardano ecosystem.

Industry Validation: One of Sony's largest gaming infrastructure providers wrote an article and published a video about us which highlighted Cardano in it. This was sent to most major game studios and publishers.