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Add Asylum grant proposal #805

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add Asylum application
YaremenkoM committed Feb 3, 2022
commit 9495d8465b7aa781552f872d835995fd74430b28
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# W3F Grant Proposal

- **Project Name:** [Asylum](https://asylum.space/)
- **Team Name:** Asylum
- **Payment Address:** 0x4dE01f5904651353021b9694f16FAb5f02DCD00e (USDT (ERC20))
- **[Level](https://github.com/w3f/Grants-Program/tree/master#level_slider-levels):** 3

## Project Overview :page_facing_up:

### Overview

Asylum is a metaverse for next generation gaming.

Our vision of the future of gaming is unicity between the games: interoperability of the in-game items, unified economics, cross-game gameplay, etc. Nothing of that can be achieved without users' trust and here is where blockchain gaming is becoming a solution. Thanks to the migration of the games' economics and in-game items to the blockchain, players don't have to trust some particular game publishers or marketplaces and the game economy and world will become more stabilized.

But in fact, it's not the only thing that blockchain can give us. We, at the Asylum, believe that if the approaches to blockchain gaming will be standardized we will achieve much more than just trust - we can achieve the real metaverse experience, where will be no borders between the games and no limits for the creative minds. With the creation of basic building blocks for the gaming metaverse, we want to do for crypto gaming what Polkadot doing for the blockchains.

The ecosystem and standards of the Asylum are not going to be related to some specific blockchain, as the new chains, more suitable for games, can be created anytime. And in addition, the requirements of game developers can differ and we are not seeking to limit their choice. So, we are developing Asylum to support firstly substrate-based chains, as they are developed with interoperability in mind. Particularly Polkadot, as it provides access to the ecosystem of many different parachains with various possibilities and bridges to the most popular chains.

### Project Details

The asylum project is about building the ecosystem, where every сomponent is connected with each other, achieving a synergy.

So, the best way to give a detailed description of the Asylum - is to define its main components:

- **Interoperability standards**

The standard for storing the metadata will be used for NFT, representing **in-game items**. The main goal of this standard is to make every item as independent of the concrete game as possible. Storing various possible interpretations will give the ability to use them in different games.
Based on this standard we plan also to introduce the **standard for Avatar** - player's identity in a virtual space. Like in-game items, Avatar standard will make it compatible with different games.

Also, besides the mentioned standards, we will create the **standard for game distribution** system using NFTs - one for developers, as the confirmation of their ownership, and another for players, like NFT-tickets to the game.


- **On-chain metaverse ecosystem**

The part of the Asylum project is an on-chain code (on layer 1, or layer 3), that gives the basic functionality to the games based on the blockchain.
**"Core" block** will cover the operations with the standards, defined below. Also, there will be an **Economic block**, which will include, but is not limited to Marketplace and token swap contracts to unite the economy of the games. And in addition, we want to extend our ecosystem with **gameplay helpers block**, such as a smart-contract for creating contracts between players, or any other repeatable gameplay logic that can be moved to the blockchain.

- **Framework for ecosystem integration**

As all functionality mentioned below is meant to be used by clients (apps, games) we will provide a framework for easy ecosystem integration.

- **Application with admin tools**

For game development studios will be created an **"Admin console"** - web app, where the game admin will be able to operate the game: add new items, tokens, etc.

- **Application with players interface**

For players, Asylum will provide an application, similar to the common gaming platforms (like Steam) with Game store, Library, Inventory, and Avatar pages. Also, there will be introduced the **Creator studio** which will be used as a UGC tool - for the creation of the new items or adding interpretations for the existing ones.

A simple scheme with Asylum ecosystem components:

![Key-components](https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/94f63b3e-b53d-4c2b-aa3a-e59ed1a071d5/Untitled.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAT73L2G45EIPT3X45%2F20220202%2Fus-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20220202T153401Z&X-Amz-Expires=86400&X-Amz-Signature=068c53a0027b9f8494c9d1c022d2a639cbf837044c861722c3d6f33c7a828b62&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=filename%20%3D%22Untitled.png%22&x-id=GetObject)


### Ecosystem Fit

- Where and how does your project fit into the ecosystem?

The Polkadot ecosystem should be very attractive for blockchain-based games development, thanks to the possibilities, that parachains opens. Such standards will help create a basis for game development and tools will help developers save their time. So, eventually, Asylum's mission is to create the ecosystem that accelerates games development in the Polkadot network, bringing a gaming experience to a new level.

- Who is your target audience (parachain/dapp/wallet/UI developers, designers, your own user base, some dapp's userbase, yourself)?

Our target audience is game development studios and their user base (players).

- What need(s) does your project meet?

Asylum is seeking to become a starting point for the development of blockchain-based games.

- Are there any other projects similar to yours in the Substrate / Polkadot / Kusama ecosystem?

There is the [RMRK](https://www.rmrk.app/) project in the Kusama ecosystem. We're considering their standards as a starting point for creating ours.

- If so, how is your project different?

The main difference is that Asylum builds a complete ecosystem for gaming when RMRK is only providing a standard for NFTs and tools.

Speaking particularly about standards, RMRK provides a basic standard for NFT legos, but Asylum wants to extend it to make a ready-to-use standard for an in-game item.

## Team :busts_in_silhouette:

### Team members

- **Illia Abrosimov** (Founder and СEO)
- **Markian Ivanichok** (Co-founder | СEO of Supercolony)
- **Maria Yaremenko** (Co-founder)
- **Sven Seven** (Head of Engineering | Supercolony)
- **Horacio Lex** (Rust Blockchain Developer | Supercolony)

### Contact

- **Contact Name:** Illia Abrosimov
- **Contact Email:** illia.abrosimov@asylum.space
- **Website**: [Asylum](https://asylum.space/)

### Legal Structure

- **Registered Address:** *We are now in process of registration our legal entity, address will be added soon*
- **Registered Legal Entity:** Asylum Labs PTE LTD

### Team's experience

**Illia Abrosimov** - CEO and Founder of Asylum.
Illia used to be a backend developer since 2015, started coding at Unit Factory, had experience with algorithms, graphics, and game engines.
Was working at Ubisoft as an online programmer for two years, was dealing with backend infrastructure, led game jams and hackathons.
Have C#, C/C++, Rust, AWS in the stack.

**Markian Ivanichok** - CEO and co-founder of Supercolony.
Blockchain entrepreneur, Software Engineer.
Markian started his engineering career back when he was 15. Since then, developed and got a lot of experience in engineering and leadership. Gained entrepreneur experience by founding a couple of startups. Inspired, co-founded, and invested in Sector F, one of the top consulting companies in Ukraine that help entrepreneurs to move faster.
Co-founded and led Supercolony, a Polkadot venture studio that is dedicated to building and creating Polkadot’s ecosystem.

**Maria Yaremenko** - Head of operations and co-founder of Asylum.
In 2019 started to work as a front-end developer, Maria became interested in blockchain technology and soon started her career as a blockchain developer in the Polkadot ecosystem in 2021.
Maria has mentorship experience as a computer science tutor with, background in economics.

**Sven Seven** - Head of Engineering at Supercolony.
Software engineer with prod experience since 2015. Master degree in Information Security.
Has worked in finance, e-commerce, networking domains as full-stack dev.
Programming languages are JS, Java, Python, Rust, C++.
Blockchain dev since 2021.

**Horacio Lex** - Blockchain developer at Supercolony. Software engineer since 2018. Master of Science in Applied Mathematics. Has worked in data science and game development. Former Ubisoft employee was working on HUD/UI & gameplay systems. Programming languages are Python, C++, Rust. Blockchain developer since 2021.

### Team Code Repos

- https://gitlab.com/asylum-space/
- https://gitlab.com/asylum-space/asylum-app
- https://gitlab.com/asylum-space/asylum-ecosystem
- https://gitlab.com/asylum-space/asylum-item-nft
- https://gitlab.com/asylum-space/asylum-standards

Members:
- https://github.com/LastSymbol0
- https://github.com/0xMarkian
- https://github.com/YaremenkoM
- https://github.com/sventime
- https://github.com/SupremaLex

### Team LinkedIn Profiles (if available)

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/illia-abrosimov/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-yaremenko/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/0xmarkian/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/sven-seventimes/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/heorhii-lutsenko-502873164/

## Development Status :open_book:

Asylum was firstly implemented on the Solana Ignition hackathon in its initial idea.
After that, the project received its first positive feedback from game developers and multiple VCs and Supercolony venture studio entered the project as a co-founder. Was held two strategical sessions, the concept was largely clarified and reworked. For now, we already have such partners as Darvinia Network and Evolution land (first DeFi game) and conversations with games such as Eizper Chain, Wind metaverse, SpaceFalcon.io. Also, we have already raised the first money from Mempool ventures and speaking with other VCs (Hillrise Group, Woodstock Fund, 500 Startups, and others).

Materials which was implemented during the time of the hackathon:
- [Repository of Asylum demo made for Solana Ignition hackathon](https://github.com/LastSymbol0/Asylum),
- [Basic SDK for interactions with the Asylum programs and data](https://github.com/LastSymbol0/asylum-sdk),
- [Asylum on devpost](https://devpost.com/software/asylum)

Actual concept materials
- [Asylum Litepaper](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sEk159ISUZypgUSflsHFyqP0Z7IRJtdl/view)
- [Asylum Pitchdeck](https://www.canva.com/design/DAE1y6AHyCA/Lh0gxRtIePVtb_QfzyP6aQ/view?utm_content=DA[%E2%80%A6]tm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton)

## Development Roadmap :nut_and_bolt:

### Overview

- **Total Estimated Duration:** 3 month
- **FTE:** 3 FTE
- **Total Costs:** 120,000 USD


### Milestone 1 — Basic in-game NFT items standard and testing environment

- **Estimated Duration:** 1.5 month
- **FTE:** 3
- **Costs:** 60,000 USD

| Number | Deliverable | Specification |
| -----: | ------------------------------- | ------------- |
| 0a. | License | MIT |
| 0b. | Documentation | We will provide a repository with documentation for the defined standard of NFT metadata in the format of text docs (most likely in .md). Also, examples of metadata will be provided. |
| 0c. | Testing Guide | For manually testing we will provide a basic **tutorial** that explains how a user can interact with the testing environment - go through a "happy path" which includes running a node, hosting web-app and games, minting the NFT in specified standard and trying to use it in two games. For implemented standard unit tests will be provided along with a guide on how to run them. |
| 0d. | Docker | - |
| 0e. | Article | - |
| 1. | Item standard definition | The definition of the in-game item standard will consist of three parts: JSON schema, descriptive documentation, and examples of usage. Standard properties will be described below in the subparagraphs. |
| 1.1 | 2D visualization | NFT item created with the proposed standard will have the ability to have a visual interpretation in form of a 2D image. *Supported image formats are currently not defined.* |
| 1.2 | 3D visualization | NFT item created with the proposed standard will have the ability to have a visual interpretation in form of a 3D model. *Supported model formats are currently not defined.* |
| 1.3 | Multiple visual interpretations | NFT item created with the proposed standard will have the ability to have multiple visual interpretations, both for 2D or 3D visualization types. Interpretations will be stored under the different tags, for example, "2d-pixeled-inventory-view" or "3d-realistic-equipped". |
| 2. | Item standard implementation | We will deliver the implementation of the described standard. It will be pallets, which will implement base operations with item |
| 3. | Game A | We will create (or extend the existing one) a 2d web-faced platformer game sandbox in pixeled style with a small "level" space. A player will have a possibility to move, equip items from the inventory (inventory refers to the assets in the user's wallet), and use items (where applicable) |
| 4. | Game B | We will create (or extend the existing one) a 3d web-faced game sandbox in realistic style with a small "level" space. A player will have a possibility to move, equip items from the inventory (inventory refers to the assets in the user's wallet), and use items (where applicable) |
| 5. | Web application | We will create a web application that will give an ability to interact with mentioned pallets: mint and update test NFT items. Also, there will be links to Game A and Game B to manually test items in different representations |

### Milestone 2 — Extended in-game NFT items standard and testing environment

- **Estimated duration:** 1.5 month
- **FTE:** 3
- **Costs:** 60,000 USD

| Number | Deliverable | Specification |
| -----: | ------------------------------- | ------------- |
| 0a. | License | MIT |
| 0b. | Documentation | We will extend standard documentation and examples, delivered in the first milestone with new properties |
| 0c. | Testing Guide | We will extend tutorials for manually testing to cover new standard properties. |
| 0d. | Docker | - |
| 0e. | Article | We will write an article on the Medium platform about the use-cases of using defined standards. |
| 1. | Item standard definition | We will extend the definition of the in-game item standard, that was done in the first milestone. Standard properties will be described below in the subparagraphs. |
| 1.1 | Animation effects | NFT item created with the proposed standard will have the ability to have animated visual effects, both for 2D or 3D visualization types. *Supported animation formats are currently not defined.* Example: animation of the sword strike. |
| 1.2 | Sound effects | NFT item created with the proposed standard will have the ability to have audio effects, that can be combined with the animation. *Supported audio formats are currently not defined.* Example: the sound of the sword strike. |
| 1.3 | Nested ownership | NFT item created with the proposed standard will have the ability to have "slots" for a child NFT items. The slot will describe how child visual and non-visual interpretations will be combined with the parent interpretation and requirements for child items. Such option can be used in the items craft system |
| 1.4 | In-game properties | NFT item created with the proposed standard will have the ability to have some in-game properties, stored as a dictionary. |
| 2. | Item standard implementation | We will extend the implementation of the standard to support new options. |
| 3. | Game A | We will extend Game A, delivered in the first milestone to support new options from the specified standard (animation, sound effects, nested ownership). |
| 4. | Game B | We will extend Game B, delivered in the first milestone to support new options from the specified standard (animation, sound effects, nested ownership). |
| 5. | Web application | We will extend the web application, delivered in the first milestone to support new options from the specified standard: mint and update test NFT items with properties of animation, sound effects, and nested ownership. |

## Future Plans

As was described in the 'Overview' section, Asylum is a big project which has ambitious plans for the future. The milestones described in this grant application are about to become the first step for building a huge ecosystem for crypto gaming.

In our plans, the launch of the Asylum platform is set for the end of the 2022 year, but we are planning to support and extend our product long-term. Also, we would like not only to build but also empower real metaverse gaming by creating Asylum Studio - an independent team that will develop games on top of the Asylum ecosystem.

**Materials**:

- Roadmap:
![Roadmap](https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/76c2d63f-e16f-46b4-be13-47ad5d6bf712/Asylum_roadmap_-_Roadmap_v2.jpg?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAT73L2G45EIPT3X45%2F20220203%2Fus-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20220203T122747Z&X-Amz-Expires=86400&X-Amz-Signature=b56e78f8e910b58fef46a05c716e12728c465106aa4babc5f1444f186b8ecd0a&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=filename%20%3D%22Asylum%2520roadmap%2520-%2520Roadmap%2520v2.jpg%22&x-id=GetObject)
- [Pitch deck](https://www.canva.com/design/DAE1y6AHyCA/Lh0gxRtIePVtb_QfzyP6aQ/view?utm_content=DA[%E2%80%A6]tm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton)

## Additional Information :heavy_plus_sign:

**How did you hear about the Grants Program?**

Personal recommendation from the [Supercolony](https://www.supercolony.net).