Open-Sourcing Cosmic Champs (xGov proposal 3461960394)

xgov proposal: https://xgov.algorand.co/proposal/3461960394

Cosmic Champs ( play.cosmicchamps.com ) is a free-to-play, AAA-quality, real-time 3D PvP strategy game — live on Android, iOS, and Web since 2022, and the only real-time 3D PvP game on Algorand running authoritative multiplayer servers at scale. Over almost five years, we’ve built and battle-tested a complete Web3 gaming stack, including real-time authoritative multiplayer servers, cross-platform clients, NFT-based in-game economies and full blockchain integration.

That stack represents thousands of hours of engineering, battle-tested in production with real users. We are now proposing to give it to the ecosystem.

What We’re Proposing

We are requesting 300,000 ALGO in exchange for fully open-sourcing the entire Cosmic Champs codebase — client, server, and utilities — before any funds are distributed. No strings attached. (Game assets remain our IP.)

This is a value-for-value exchange. The codebase is production-ready, proven at scale, and immediately useful to any developer building on Algorand. The ask reflects the depth and maturity of what is being contributed — not development costs, not operational history, but the worth of a complete, working Web3 gaming stack being handed to the ecosystem permanently and unconditionally.

Why This Matters for Algorand Builders

Right now, if a developer wants to build a real-time multiplayer game on Algorand, they’re starting from scratch. There’s no reference architecture, no proven framework, no battle-tested example to learn from. That’s a significant barrier — and it’s one of the reasons blockchain gaming has been slow to mature across the industry.

Open-sourcing Cosmic Champs changes that. Developers would get immediate access to:

  • A proven, production-tested architecture for real-time 3D multiplayer on Algorand
  • An example of authoritative server infrastructure built for security, performance, and scale
  • Full cross-platform client code (mobile + web) with blockchain integration for a competitive real-time strategy game
  • Almost five years of operational knowledge compressed into a working stack, not a demo

Cosmic Champs also demonstrates a fully working implementation of NFTs as in-game assets — not as speculation vehicles, but as functional items that players own, trade, and use in real gameplay. Every unit and item in the game is an Algorand Standard Asset, meaning true on-chain ownership is baked into the core loop, not bolted on as an afterthought. Tracking on-chain asset ownership and integrating it seamlessly into real-time gameplay at scale is one of the core challenges of Web3 gaming — and our codebase shows exactly how we solved it.

Beyond the code itself, the way we’ve built Cosmic Champs was deliberately designed to avoid the traps that kill most indie and Web3 gaming projects before they reach scale: vendor lock-in and unpredictable costs. Our networking layer is built on Mirror, a well-established open-source networking library, meaning there’s no proprietary middleware, no licensing fees, and no dependency on a third party that could change its pricing or shut down. Our game fleet/servers run on AWS today, but the stack is fully portable — it can be deployed on bare metal or any cloud provider with negligible changes required. Any team building on this codebase inherits that same freedom and cost predictability from day one.

This is the kind of foundational resource that accelerates an entire ecosystem. It lowers the barrier to entry for the next generation of Web3 game developers building on Algorand, and signals to the broader industry that Algorand has the tooling to support serious gaming projects.

Why Now

Blockchain gaming is widely recognized as one of the most promising onramps for mainstream crypto adoption. Games bring users. Users bring liquidity, attention, and network effects. Algorand needs more builders in this space — and builders need a foundation to build on.

The broader landscape makes this moment particularly important. Web3 adoption has slowed. Algorand’s ecosystem growth has plateaued. New developers are cautious about where they build, and they make that decision based on what tooling and precedent already exists. Contributing a production-grade, fully open-sourced gaming stack to the ecosystem right now is a direct investment in reversing that trend — giving the next wave of builders a reason to choose Algorand.

Cosmic Champs has spent almost five years proving what’s possible on Algorand. Open-sourcing it is how that proof becomes a foundation others can build on. This proposal is the mechanism for making that happen in a way that is fair, transparent, and permanently beneficial to the ecosystem.

This is a one-time ask, paired with a permanent contribution to the ecosystem. The code will outlast any market cycle — and the developers who build on it will help define what Algorand gaming looks like for years to come. We’re ready to deliver on our end before a single ALGO is distributed.

**About the Team
**
cosmicchamps.com/#team
Cosmic Champs was built by a team with deep roots in the Algorand ecosystem. In 2021, we were part of the Algorand & Draper University accelerator: one of the earliest cohorts backing builders committed to the chain. Around the same time, we pioneered 3D and AR NFTs on Algorand, pushing the boundaries of what on-chain assets could look like and do before most of the industry had caught up. Since then, we’ve remained active contributors to the ecosystem — shipping, iterating, and maintaining a live product through every market cycle.

Proof of Traction

Cosmic Champs isn’t a prototype or a proof of concept — it’s a live, active platform with real users and a measurable footprint in the ecosystem See it in action.

  • The longest-running real-time 3D game on Algorand, with consistent exposure across the wider Web3 gaming space
  • An average of 6,000 PvP games played monthly, peaking at 15,000+ during campaign periods — with full on-chain tracking since July 2025 (Allo)
  • 13 ecosystem project contributors to our P2E prize bot — including Folks, Alpha Arcade, Tinyman… — with automated on-chain reward distribution (Allo)
  • 7,000+ X followers and 2,000+ Discord members

Grants Received Within the Algorand Ecosystem

  • 50,000 ALGO received via xGov pilot in May 2024 for infrastructure costs
  • $10,000 AWS credits received from the Algorand Foundation in 2024 (fully utilized)
  • We have received private investments into the project in exchange for either tokens or equity

Happy to answer any questions and open to feedback.

While I am not into Web3 gaming, I think this will be a valuable contribution once the whole codebase is open-sourced. Hopefully we will see even more games getting build on Algorand because of it.

Under what license will it be open-sourced?

For transparency for those who are not familiar with, would you mind adding that the founder of Cosmic Champs, Simon, is on the xGov Council?

Thanks for the feedback!

It will be open-sourced under MIT license.

We’re unable to edit the original post, but this is correct:
I’m co-founder of cosmic champs and i’m also on xgov council, this was exactly why we didn’t post it from my personal forum profile but from Cosmic Champs profile instead, so it wouldn’t imply council support for it as such.

Seeing this is OSS after approval request, I’ll pesonally abstain from voting on the proposal when it comes to TnC(at the time of veto/approve), unless there is a 50/50 stalemate (there are 11 council members, and you need 6 to approve or reject proposal), in such case i’ll vote yes as a final vote.

Open-sourcing it under MIT will provide a great benefit for the ecosystem!

Thank you for your transparency regarding your role in the xGov.

I think that will have a tremendous value for the community and builders since it is a very good best practice of its own kind. A BIG YES for me. :rocket:

Thank you for the feedback! we think so too. Also congrats on passing your recent proposal - big win for the eco!

Though i am not a gamer, but i played cosmic champs during algoland campaign. The game is very addictive. One of the most played games on algorand. All the best !

We have re-submitted the proposal, since it failed in previous round due to approximately 50% inactive xgovs (which were now removed as part of the system maintenance). Thank you all for your continuous support. Proposal itself is unchanged, we only added extra clarification about MIT license and about Simon (xGov council member) abstaining from voting on our proposal.

new proposal can be found here

Just a question for clarity of record on why we all strongly support this proposal:
Would you kindly elaborate here about how this code base will be re-usable by other developers to implement their own gaming platforms, since this is one of main great value of this proposal. How easy it is to use this platform and spin up a new Algorand-based gaming platform? what are the steps and what is needed to be done for a developer to do so? what are the advantages of using the Cosmic Champs platform compared to starting from scratch?

I beleive having these responses on discussion record helps xgovs decide much easier and see the true value of this proposal.

Great question — worth putting on record clearly.

The core value: skip the Web3 plumbing, focus on your game

Game devs want to build games, not spend months figuring out Web3 integration and its kinks. Algorand currently has no ready-made stack they can start from — this changes that.

As a bonus, it also includes an immutable zkEVM integration that works with just a few secret key changes and a toggle on.

What you actually inherit

The Algorand integration is modular, not monolithic. Every new player gets a custodial Algorand account created and assigned automatically — their unique identifier for all Web3 elements and on-chain tracking. In the Cosmic Champs example, players are expected to at one point connect their own wallet (Pera, Defly, and Lute supported) to sync NFTs and token balances — many keep assets on a Ledger or prefer not to expose them via a hot or custodial wallet, and this architecture fully respects that separation. The custodial account can also serve as an in-game wallet if the minimum balance is sponsored. Critically, players can start playing without any wallet at all, getting eased into Web3 gradually — a huge UX win that most teams get wrong when building from scratch.

The Web3 layer additionally covers things that sound simple but will burn you if you build them naively — all battle-tested against double spending, exploits, and edge cases that only surface under real production load:

  • Automated reward distribution — modular token and NFT dispersal triggered directly by in-game events, allowing a game to have one, many, or zero tokens and NFTs as rewards. A great foundation for sponsorships and partnerships — like the branded P2E prize bots we run with ecosystem partners (see how we do it)

  • Wallet-based in-game bonuses and unlocks — items a player holds in their connected wallet can gate or unlock content in-game (as explained here)

  • A sustainable indexer query manager — built to handle spikes without breaking; when bursts of players connect simultaneously and all trigger the same blockchain call, it doesn’t take your game down. (works perfectly fine within nodely free api limits. ^_^)

The multiplayer server architecture is battle-tested at 6,000–15,000+ PvP games/month. Most game templates and starting points either leave devs to figure out netcode themselves, or point them toward commercial solutions that get expensive fast — and still require significant integration and testing work. This stack is built on Mirror, a well-established open-source networking library, meaning no licensing fees or third-party dependency risk — and it’s a working, proven alternative they can actually build from.

How easy is it really?

To be clear, this is aimed at game devs who actually know how to build a game — someone with zero game dev experience realistically has no business attempting an authoritative multiplayer architecture. But for a developer who already knows their craft:

  • Repurposing the Cosmic Champs / Clash Royale game type (already one of the most popular mobile genres): essentially rebranding work. Most game logic is configured via multiple config files — change parameters in one place and you’re done, no hardcoded values to hunt down. On the Web3 side, minimal knowledge required — essentially just minting your own NFTs and assigning their ASA IDs to game units and items. Utility scripts for that are included too.

  • Building a different game on top of the stack: the Web3 layer, player account architecture, and server infrastructure are already solved — easily months of dev work saved. The Web3 endpoints are deliberately decoupled from core game server logic, communicating via separate processes (serverless functions, Lambda, or a custom server). This means if something on the Web3 side fails, your game keeps running. Link your own account creation flow to ours, connect to the Web3 endpoints, and focus on building your game.

On top of all this, the package includes a range of utility scripts and a stripped-down landing page integration — covering the broader Web3 economy aspects of running a game that often get overlooked until it’s too late: storefronts, asset displays, wallet connections, and more.

MIT license. Code delivered before any ALGO is distributed. Zero trust risk.

Thank you and Im sure this will be helpful and clarifying for xgovs and the ecosystem members as well

Great game, great project, great team. What else? Open-sourcing Cosmic Champs code will be very useful for the ecosystem, no doubts. Thanks for all the work all these years, guys

OSS repo: GitHub - madshapes-dev/COSMIC-CHAMPS-WEB3-PLATFORM: Clash Royale style mobile first web3 Algorand blockchain native game platform and utilities · GitHub

We’ll be updating the readme files and additionally adding some extra files/utilities to the repo based on community feedback and requests.

electric capital pull request: auto-generated migrations file add_repo_COSMIC_CHAMPS_WEB3_PLATFORM by crypto-ecosystems-pr-bot[bot] · Pull Request #2871 · electric-capital/open-dev-data · GitHub