Decentralized applications (DApps), including gaming apps, have gained traction for their transparency, security, and ownership of user assets. However, delivering high-quality AAA gaming experiences through DApps presents challenges.
Existing 2D gaming DApps operate on blockchain networks using smart contracts for asset management. While they are preferred for their simple mechanics and resource efficiency, their limitations become apparent as the complexity of the gaming experience increases.
Scalability is a major hurdle for traditional blockchains like Ethereum, affecting real-time interactive gaming due to limitations surrounding transaction throughput and latency.
Performance is also an issue. AAA games require high-performance computing and superior graphics rendering. However, existing DApps struggle to meet these demands, resulting in poor visual experiences.
Additionally, developing AAA game DApps is expensive due to resource-intensive tasks and blockchain execution fees. Balancing immersive experiences with user-friendly expenses complicates the use of traditional DApp frameworks for AAA games.
What is the actor model?
The "actor model" is a communication model that enables parallel computing and asynchronous messaging within a blockchain protocol, allowing developers to create complex DApps with less difficulty.
The actor model is used within Gear Protocol, and development was led by Nikolay Volf, founder of Gear Protocol and Vara and one of the key developers of Polkadot and the Substrate framework.
Within the model there are actors: programs or users that send messages to other programs in the protocol. Each actor has a mailbox and a private state that another actor cannot change directly, but can only change state by receiving a message from another actor.
Messages between actors are taken from mailboxes and processed in cycles. Once an actor has received and processed a message, it can send a message to another actor, create an actor, or change its state.
How does this benefit DApp development?
Handling asynchronous messages in blockchain programming offers several important benefits that contribute to the overall efficiency, scalability, and reliability of DApps.
First, asynchronous message handling enables non-blocking processing of transactions and smart contracts.
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Unlike synchronous processing, where each transaction must be executed sequentially, asynchronous messaging allows multiple tasks to execute simultaneously.
This parallel processing capability improves the performance of the blockchain network as it can handle a greater number of transactions and calculations simultaneously, resulting in reduced transaction processing times and improved overall performance.
Jack Platts, co-founder of Hypersphere, a crypto venture capital fund that has invested in gaming projects, told Cointelegraph: "In traditional synchronous systems, multiple tasks often have to wait for each other, causing a slowdown when process a large volume of records."
Platts continued: โIn the context of blockchain networks, this parallel processing capability becomes vital to maintaining high transaction throughput. As users initiate more transactions, the system can handle them simultaneously, ensuring faster confirmation times and improved overall network performance. โThis is particularly crucial for blockchain games, where real-time interactions and fast processing are essential to providing a smooth and enjoyable gaming experience.โ
Some blockchain games, such as Ember Sword, have already integrated parallel processing into their development processes. Mark Laursen, co-founder and CEO of game development company Bright Star Studios, told Cointelegraph: โIn the development of Ember Sword, we employed parallel processing using our ECS. [entity component system] solution. Typically, it would be necessary to manually integrate multiple threads and make complex decisions on a system-by-system basis.โ
Laursen continued: "However, in our scenario, the requirements for reads, writes, and ordering dependencies are specified, allowing our engine to discern the most efficient method for scheduling and parallelizing those systems."
Let's say a player of a blockchain game wants to transfer a game item in the form of a non-fungible token, such as moving a legendary sword from his chest (wallet for long-term storage) to his inventory (wallet used for games).
The transfer process can occur instantly with low or near-zero fees, in the same way that a player can simply click and drag a sword from their inventory and move it to a merchant or chest in a traditional game.
Additionally, with asynchronous messaging, blockchain developers can design DApps that are more resilient to fluctuations in network conditions and temporary failures.
Pavel Salas, chief growth officer at Gear Foundation, the organization behind the Gear Protocol, told Cointelegraph: โThe actor model actually increases the reliability of applications running on the blockchain,โ adding:
โSince actors process messages independently, failures or problems with one actor do not affect the others, which prevents cascading failures and improves the overall robustness of the system. And suppose there are network outages or issues, the actor model allows the system to recover quickly and continue running smoothly.โ
This can be beneficial for blockchain gaming DApps if there is a network outage, allowing the game to continue running despite any issues on its blockchain.
Additionally, asynchronous message handling improves the scalability of blockchain networks. Traditional synchronous approaches can cause bottlenecks and performance degradation as the number of users and transactions increases.
In contrast, asynchronous messaging allows tasks to be distributed across multiple nodes, allowing the system to scale more efficiently and handle higher transaction volumes without sacrificing performance.
Salas said: โAs the user base and activity within the DApp grows, the system can easily handle increased message traffic without causing bottlenecks or slowdowns. Even if a single application grows, it will still manage messages sequentially.โ
This scalability is crucial as blockchain networks aim to support a growing user base and adapt to diverse use cases.
Salas went on to explain how the process works: โThrough the actor model, individual actor-programs act as fragments, ensuring that the system can be shared by design as the number of programs grows. [...] Vara processes all transactions without dividing them into groups of nodes; each node handles everything. However, within Vara, each program operates independently, contains its own state, processes and sends messages according to its specific logic.โ
"In blockchain games, where real-time interactions and fast processing are crucial, the actor model's sharding capability ensures fast processing of game-related actions and events, supporting a seamless gaming experience."
"As the number of actor-programs increases, the system fragments and distributes the workload, effectively accommodating the growing user base and maintaining a responsive and efficient network."
Another benefit of asynchronous message handling is its compatibility with event-driven architectures in DApps. Instead of continually checking for updates, DApps can subscribe to specific events or messages, allowing them to respond quickly and efficiently to changes on the blockchain.
This event-driven model reduces unnecessary computational overhead and conserves network resources, resulting in more efficient and responsive applications.
Additionally, implementing messaging capabilities between actors can significantly improve the overall user experience by mitigating long wait periods for transaction validation. Adopting asynchronous processing allows the actor to receive a confirmation message for their transaction along with a pending transaction ID.
Subsequently, any computational tasks or dependencies on external data can be handled by the same or an alternative actor in a subsequent block, ensuring efficient processing without compromising the responsiveness of the blockchain network.
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This real-time feedback is especially crucial for applications that require quick confirmations.
As the blockchain ecosystem continues to grow and diversify, leveraging asynchronous message handling becomes essential to creating powerful AAA-style gaming DApps that can meet the demands of an expanding user base and satisfy diverse use cases across all platforms. industries.
By adopting this methodology, developers have the opportunity to push the boundaries of decentralized gaming and potentially leverage the full capabilities of blockchain technology within the gaming sector.
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