Grant Proposal: Dark Forest on Aztec, DFArchon team

The migration of Dark Forest to Aztec can be divided into four major steps:

  1. Preliminary research – Conduct initial investigations, such as random number generation, designing schemes for hiding planet coordinates, Perlin noise generation, and floating-point support. Preliminary validation of the technology is crucial for the implementation of subsequent functionalities.

  2. Core module development – Implement the basic modules for planet and universe generation, as well as the fundamental protocols for transferring energy and silver between planets.

  3. Basic Artifact-related features – Implement functionalities related to artifacts, such as artifact generation and the various effects triggered when artifacts are activated on planets.

  4. Advanced features — such as the introduction of more innovative artifact functionalities, the development of a player guild management framework, and the abstraction of time and space protocols.

  • Start and End Date: we can start ASAP

  • About You:

DFArchon is a community team focused on large-scale decentralized applications.

In 2021–2022, we were a hardcore player team for Dark Forest. From 2023 until now, we have been actively maintaining the community fork of Dark Forest. In 2024, we ported Dark Forest to the MUD engine.

During the three years from 2023 to 2025, we typically developed new features over periods of 2–3 months, followed by periodic public testing events where the player community was invited to participate. So far, we have conducted 10 rounds of public tests, continuously bringing innovative features to the project and moving forward toward Onchain Reality Universe.

We are very familiar with the overall architecture and technology of Dark Forest.

You can check the following information to learn more about us.

Community twitter: https://x.com/DFArchon

Dark Forest on MUD engine: https://x.com/darkforest_punk

Website: https://dfpunk.xyz

Github: https://github.com/dfarchon

Blog https://paragraph.com/@dfarchon/

Youtube https://youtube.com/@dfarchon1759/videos

While maintaining the Dark Forest community fork, we also actively play and research various fully onchain game projects. We maintain a website that aggregates information about the fully onchain gaming ecosystem. https://web3gamehub.xyz/

  • Technical Approach:

The interface between Dark Forest’s smart contracts and frontend is very clearly defined.

In the process of porting Dark Forest’s circuits and smart contracts to Aztec, we aim to reuse the original interface definitions as much as possible. Nonetheless, there are still many technical details and challenges that need to be addressed.

  1. For the planet hidden coordinates, corresponding cryptographic modules need to be developed on the frontend to perform hash computations.

  2. We need to investigate how to implement Perlin noise generation in Noir, as Perlin noise is used for planet and universe attributes generation.

  3. We also need to understand the Noir’s support for floating-point numbers; in Solidity, this is primarily handled using the ABDKMath64x64 library.

https://github.com/dfarchon/DFARES-v0.1/blob/main/eth/contracts/vendor/libraries/ABDKMath64x64.sol

For the frontend modules, the main focus is on updating the data synchronization and transaction submission modules to integrate with Aztec’s tech stack.

For the smart contract part, the focus is on writing comprehensive test scripts. For the frontend part, the main approach is to involve Dark Forest community members in interactive testing.

For innovations

We have many ideas for expanding Dark Forest, including abstracting the temporal, spatial, and planetary mechanics into a set of protocols, and designing infrastructure with greater extensibility and composability. I gave a talk on “expand Dark Forest into Onchain Reality Universe” at Devconnect ARG, and the slides below include some of our team’s innovative ideas.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1HMChedMApjnIXqM3ebwTb2JmdH3GRx49_DmHA8NFSl8/edit?usp=sharing

  • Grant Milestones and Roadmap:

From now until March 22, 2026, there are approximately 10 weeks.

From the week of January 19, 2026, until March 22, 2026, there are about 8 weeks.

The official Dark Forest team developed from 2019 to Q1 2022, spending roughly three years to reach the maturity of Dark Forest v0.6.5. We aim to complete the migration of the entire tech stack within 10 weeks, so the development timeline is still very tight.

Week 1-2 – Conduct preliminary research on potential technical challenges during development, including initial designs for hiding planet coordinates, technical solutions for Perlin noise generation, floating-point support, and generating random numbers.

Week 3-5 – Develop the basic mechanisms for planet and universe terrain generation, and implement the basic operations for sending energy between planets.

Week 6-7 – Develop the mechanism for transporting silver to spacetime rips and withdrawing silver for scoring.

Week 8-10 – Develop the feature for randomly generating artifacts, supporting core artifact functionalities such as wormholes, cannons, and bloom filters.

  • 2-3 stretch goals (e.g., new mechanics, NFT minting, performance optimizations)

Later on, features related to guild management can be developed, and more complex artifact functionalities can be introduced.

More features and designs can be referenced in the “For Innovations” section above

  • Grant Amount Requested: $75,000

  • Grant Budget Rationale:

We currently have four members available to contribute to the development of this project, primarily as contributors to Dark Forest Punk. https://github.com/dfarchon/darkforest-punk

The specific timeline can refer to the above Grant Milestones and Roadmap.


  • Questions:

We would like to learn more about Noir’s technology regarding Perlin generation, floating-point support, and random number generation.

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Dark Forest on Aztec — Further Details & Technical Addendum

In early January, we conducted in-depth technical analysis and research.
This document presents the intermediate results of our investigation, along with adjustments and additions to our previously submitted proposal.

The content is organized into three main sections:

  1. Technical Architecture & Development Feasibility
  2. Detailed Milestones, Extended Goals, and Budget
  3. DFArchon Community Overview & Long-Term Vision

1. Technical Architecture & Development Feasibility

This section analyzes the feasibility of porting Dark Forest v0.6 to Aztec, covering architecture design, engineering challenges, testing strategy, and documentation plans.

Overall, the Dark Forest architecture can be divided into four layers:

  • Circuits Layer
  • Smart Contracts Layer
  • Frontend Layer
  • Plugins Layer

1.1 Circuits Layer

The circuits implement the core verification logic of Dark Forest, including:

  • Keeping planet coordinates private and verify the correctness of energy transfers between planets (moves)
  • Generating spacetypes and planet biome attributes using Perlin noise

We identified a highly valuable open-source codebase from 3 years ago that ports Dark Forest v0.6.5 Circom circuits to Noir:

This repository provides solid reference implementations for:

  • Hidden planet coordinates
  • Perlin-noise-based procedural generation

This significantly reduces uncertainty and implementation risk at the circuits level.


1.2 Smart Contracts Layer

At the smart contract layer, the system maintains and updates the global universe state.
We identified three main technical challenges:

  1. Lazy state updates
    • Smart contracts are passively executed, so planet states are updated on-demand.
  2. Floating-point arithmetic
    • Energy and silver values require fixed-point math
    • In Solidity, this was handled via ABDKMath64x64.sol
  3. Randomness for artifact generation

Engineering Assessment

Challenges (1) and (2) are primarily engineering problems that depend on familiarity with Noir and Aztec’s execution model.

To address this, our team:

  • Studied Aztec’s official documentation in depth
  • Watched NoirCon 3 talks (Devconnect ARG)
  • Reviewed representative projects listed in awesome-noir and awesome-aztec

As a result, we are confident in our ability to build complex stateful contracts in Noir.

Experimental Validation

We implemented an experimental prototype to validate:

  • Storage usage patterns
  • Private functions calling public functions and emitting events
  • Batch reading of planet data
  • End-to-end integration with a rebuilt React frontend

Code reference:

For challenge (3), a standard commit–reveal mechanism can be applied.
We are also continuing research into Aztec’s native cryptographic tooling for further optimization.


1.3 Frontend Layer

The frontend presents two major challenges:

  1. Issues caused by the long-unmaintained darkforest-v0.6 codebase
  2. Migration from an EVM-based frontend architecture to an Aztec-based one

(1) Legacy Frontend Issues

The darkforest-v0.6.5 frontend suffers from several critical problems:

  • Relies on a centralized image server whose backend API is no longer available
  • Some dependencies can no longer be installed
  • Severely outdated libraries (e.g. Node.js v16, ethers v5)
  • Design-level gameplay bugs
    • Example: ships can stack in large numbers on a single planet, causing balance issues

Fortunately, our team has actively maintained and updated the Dark Forest codebase since early 2023.
All of the above issues have already been identified and resolved in our community-maintained versions.

(2) Architectural Migration Experience

In summer 2024, we migrated Dark Forest from an ERC-2535-based architecture to one built on the MUD engine.

Relevant branches:

This gives us substantial experience in porting Dark Forest across architectural paradigms.

Additionally, Aztec’s frontend libraries provide clean interfaces that automatically generate proofs when invoking private functions.
In earlier Dark Forest versions, proof generation required significant custom frontend logic.
Using the Aztec stack therefore represents a major frontend simplification and improvement.


1.4 Plugins Layer

Most of the existing Dark Forest plugin-layer code can be reused.

After completing the core frontend integration, we will adapt commonly used plugins, including:

  • Repeat attack
  • Voyage time estimation
  • Buff highlighting

We were hardcore Dark Forest players during 2021–2022 and developed many widely used plugins.
From 2023 to 2025, while maintaining the community version, we continued maintaining the plugin library and are deeply familiar with plugin APIs and development patterns.

Plugin library:


1.5 Testing & Documentation

Testing Strategy

  • Noir contract tests written directly at the language level
  • Invocation scripts for functional testing
  • End-to-end tests between frontend and smart contracts
  • Multiple rounds of community-based functional and stress testing

Documentation

  • Developer docs:

    • Detailed explanations of contract logic and frontend integration
    • Designed to lower the barrier for community contributors
  • aztec-react-starter:

    • We plan to maintain a React-based Aztec scaffolding tool
    • Helps React developers onboard into the Aztec ecosystem
  • Player docs:

    • Updated and expanded based on our existing guides

Player guide reference:


2. Detailed Milestones, Extended Goals, and Budget

2.1 Development Milestones

We will prioritize building the core gameplay loop first:

  • Planet generation
  • Inter-planet energy transfers
  • Early smart contract ↔ frontend integration

This allows us to deliver an interactive demo as early as possible.

In 2025, we also restored and maintained earlier Dark Forest versions, giving us deep familiarity with version evolution:

  • Dark Forest v0.3: dfarchon/darkforest-v0.3
  • Dark Forest v0.4: dfarchon/darkforest-v0.4
  • Dark Forest v0.5: dfarchon/darkforest-v0.5

(NOTE: Due to forum limitations, please search for the dfarchon account on GitHub to find the relevant repositories)

Timeline

  • Week 5

    • Universe map generation
    • Planet attribute generation
    • Core energy transfer logic
  • Week 7

    • Planet silver generation
    • Silver transport and withdrawal
  • Week 9

    • Core artifact functionality
    • (Photoid Cannon, Bloom Filter, Wormhole, etc.)

Artifacts in the EVM version already follow ERC-721.
In the Aztec version, we will implement artifacts following Aztec’s NFT standards.


2.2 Extended Goals

From early 2023 to 2025, we continuously introduced new features and ran multiple public test rounds.

References:

We plan to selectively integrate these features into the Aztec version, leveraging privacy to enable:

  • Hidden resource information
  • Private resource transfers
  • Anonymous, guild-based governance mechanisms

2.3 Budget Rationale

Team size: 4 developers
Estimated duration: ~2.5 months

Item Budget
Core development (Dark Forest v0.6 → Aztec) 50,000 U
Developer docs, player guides, videos 5,000 U
Technical testing & Q/A 5,000 U
Community ops, public tests, player incentives 5,000 U
Extended goals R&D 10,000 U

3. DFArchon Community Overview & Long-Term Vision

3.1 Who We Are

DFArchon is a research and development community focused on large-scale decentralized applications.

From 2021 to Q1 2022, we were hardcore Dark Forest players and consistently ranked near the top in DF official test rounds (e.g. ddy ranked #9 in Dark Forest v0.6.3).

During this phase, we built:

(NOTE: Due to forum limitations, please search for the dfarchon account on GitHub to find the relevant repositories)


3.2 Community & Ecosystem Presence

  • Gitcoin 2022: ~10,000 U donations
  • Mask Network 2023: 10,000 U grant
  • OP Foundation 2024–2025: ~60,000 OP grants

Appearances:

  • Speaker at d/acc Day, ETH Singapore 2025 (Led by Vitalik Buterin) — Talk on Decentralized Development of Dark Forest
  • Devconnect 2025 – Gaming District (1-week exhibition)

Community size:

  • Twitter: 2,600+ followers
  • Discord: 1,900+ members
  • WeChat: ~200 members

Public tests generate high onchain activity and gas usage
(contract references available in the 10 Community Versions & Experimental Features).


3.3 Long-Term Vision

From 2021 to the present, over the past five years, we have continuously worked toward building the future of large-scale decentralized applications, developing numerous projects centered around Dark Forest. Through deep experience with Solidity smart contract development, we have gained a clear understanding of the limitations of Solidity-based architectures, which has driven us to actively explore the possibility of building experimental projects on alternative infrastructure stacks.

Looking further into the future, we believe that onchain reality is one of the most promising emerging application paradigms. On networks like Aztec, it becomes possible to form unique connections with many participants while preserving privacy. This, in turn, truly empowers participants with true freedom, inner peace, and happiness.

This is the future we are building toward.

DFArchon Hightlight Project & Detailed introduction of the core developers

DFArchon is a research & develop community dedicated to building large-scale decentralized applications, with many developers who have extensive experience in fully onchain games.

Below are the developers who are currently confirmed to participate in this project. At present, there are 2 full-time developers and 3 part-time developers. We will dynamically adjust team allocation based on project progress to ensure smooth and timely delivery.

Hightlight Project - Dark Forest Punk

For our team, development has primarily revolved around Dark Forest, including the implementation of innovative gameplay features, plugins, and related projects such as the planet bounty system and artifact trading system.

:link: 10 Community Versions & Experimental Features
:link: DF-ARTEMIS - planet bounty system
:link: Plugins maintained by community

One particularly representative experience was our work in summer 2024, when we re-architected Dark Forest on top of the MUD engine. Without modifying the presentation layer, we refactored the frontend–contract integration logic as well as the smart contract layer itself, and completed an initial functional port within two months.

This experience is highly analogous to the task of porting Dark Forest to Aztec. Although the MUD engine is Solidity-compatible, it introduces many new development interfaces and architectural conventions. Successfully navigating this transition has given us strong confidence in our ability to deliver a Dark Forest port on Aztec within the required timeline.

:link: Dark Forest Punk Github Repo

Core Developers

1. ddy — Full-Stack Developer

Deep, hands-on experience across the full Dark Forest stack, including Circom, Solidity, TypeScript, React, Ethers, and WebGL.
5 years of full-stack blockchain development experience

github: fromddy (byeddy) · GitHub

twitter: https://twitter.com/ddy_mainland

blog: https://paragraph.com/@ddy

2. 9stx6 — Full-Stack Developer

Highly experienced in Dark Forest smart contracts, frontend, and plugin development.
Active contributor for Dark Forest Community since 2021.

github: Stx69 · GitHub
twitter: https://x.com/PavelRudolf3

  • Top player across lots of fully onchain games
    e.g. Dark Forest, Sky Strife, Loot Survivor, etc.

  • Core Developer of Dark Forest Ares & Dark Forest Punk

For detailed information about Dark Forest Punk and Dark Forest Ares, please refer to the previous content.

3. 3b — SC developer

Core smart contract contributor of Dark Forest Punk.
Graduated from Beihang university.
Have been working at Celer network, Arpa network and Mantle network.
4 years of web3 experience in smart contract and backend dev.
Familiar with golang, solidity and circom.

github: ClaudeZsb (Sanbao Zheng) · GitHub
twitter: https://x.com/Claude_Zheng

Dark Forest Punk is a community-driven effort to port the classic Dark Forest to the MUD engine.
3b is the architect of the smart contract layer for Dark Forest Punk.
Dark Forest Punk Github Repo

4. SansX — Full-Stack & Systems Developer

Full-stack engineer with a focus on backend systems and decentralized game infrastructure. Experienced in Go, Rust, Python, and TypeScript.

GitHub: sansx · GitHub
X (Twitter): https://x.com/SansXth

  • Developer of the Dark Forest Replay System
    Built a dedicated replay engine that captures and synchronizes all player actions within specific timeframes of Dark Forest game rounds.

    • Full-action playback: Reconstructs and visualizes every move made by all players during a specified game period
    • Time manipulation: Custom controls to adjust playback speed and direction, enabling forward/backward state inspection for tactical analysis
      :link: Live Demo: https://dark-forest-replay.netlify.app/
  • Dark Forest Technical Testing & Quality Assurance
    Participated in technical testing across multiple competitive rounds, with a focus on client-side stability and correctness.

    • State synchronization: Identified and debugged synchronization issues between client state and on-chain events
    • Bug identification: Tracked edge-case behaviors under high-concurrency conditions to improve overall system reliability

5. zkyu — Blockchain & Cryptography Engineer

Experience: 7 Years

Contact:

Specialized in Cryptography , Layer 2 , zkRollup , and Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) circuit & systems engineering. Proficient in Rust , Go , C , Python , and Lua .

I have extensive experience in Layer 1 public chain development and have delivered end-to-end solutions ranging from cryptographic primitives and ZKP circuits to backend systems and on-chain/off-chain communication.

Key Projects & Experience

  • Multi-chain zkRollup / Layer 2 Implementation
    • Led the full lifecycle from architecture design to circuit and backend implementation.
    • Features include multi-chain communication, on-chain data availability (DA), and non-EVM integration.
  • DEX / DeFi Circuit Development
    • Implemented ZK circuits for key DeFi protocols including Uniswap V2 , Curve V1 , and Perpetual DEX logic.
  • Folding Scheme ZKP Implementation
  • Substrate Ecosystem ZKP Toolchain
    • Integrated essential ZKP cryptographic primitive precompiles for Substrate runtime and non-runtime environments.
    • :link: Repository: zkmega
  • FHE + ZKP Applied Research
    • Conducted research on Fully Homomorphic Encryption (BGV scheme) combined with various ZKP protocols.
    • Implemented a patented “ZKP + FHE Anonymous Voting System.”
  • Layer 1
    • Contributed to the complete implementation of a DPoS public chain (based on a Geth fork).