I created the original Ethernaut CTF back in the day, while working for Open Zeppelin. They did a terrific job of maintaining the game since then, but I believe it’s time to innovate.

Thousands of devs have played the game and continue to play it today. Some teams even use it for hiring!

I never received any kind of grant or retroactive funding for developing the original game, even though Open Zeppelin has.

I am now developing a second version of the game, Zeronaut, powered by zero-knowledge proofs using Noir. These resolve the problem of the original game, where players were able to replay other players’ solutions.

Furthermore, zk-SNARKS are general-purpose, so the scope of the game is much larger than the original game, which was only able to read on-chain state.

Each level is composed of two parts: a contract outlining instructions for solving the level and a verifier to submit the proof. Proofs are unique per player and ensure that the required conditions (e.g., proving knowledge of a secret or completing an on-chain action) are met.

Players don’t necessarily need to know Noir or zk-SNARKS to solve levels, unless a particular level or campaign requires it. However, level developers will need to understand the basics of Noir since circuits are an essential component of level design.

This game also functions as a general-purpose CTF platform. Campaigns can be customized and submitted by anyone simply by interacting with smart contracts. Front end implementations are completely standalone from the back end (another improvement over the original game).

For instance, a campaign tailored specifically for DEVCON could challenge players to solve tasks ranging from physical interactions to uncovering secrets from on-chain data, inspecting network activity, or even outsmarting AI chatbots.