The problem zkMarket solves

Traditional gaming marketplaces expose too much information, leading to market manipulation, front-running, and loss of competitive advantage. When whales make moves or players discover valuable strategies, their actions are immediately visible, diminishing their edge.
zkMarket solves this by enabling private trading while maintaining market integrity through zero-knowledge proofs. Players can:

• Trade items without revealing exact prices
• Accumulate assets without alerting others
• Prove trade legitimacy without exposing strategy
• Execute moves privately while verifying fairness

The system uses range-based verification where only price ranges are public. A player trading a rare item can prove their price falls within the "Legendary" range (2500+ coins) without revealing the exact amount. This prevents price manipulation while preserving trader privacy.
For game developers, zkMarket offers:

• Ready-to-integrate private marketplace infrastructure
• Range-based price verification
• Proof generation and verification system
• Fair trading mechanics that maintain competitive elements

This is particularly valuable for strategy games like Blockchain Gods where information asymmetry and private actions are core gameplay elements.

Challenges I ran into

Technical Hurdles:

• zkVerify's complex protocol structure took time to understand
• RISC0 version compatibility issues (needed v1.0.1, had v1.2.0)
• zkverifyjs package versioning problems
• Transitioning knowledge from SP1 to RISC0
• Debugging proof generation/verification pipeline

Integration Challenges:

• Coordinating frontend, RISC0 service, and zkVerify
• Managing asynchronous proof generation
• Handling state between proof generation and verification
• Error handling across multiple systems

Time Management:

• Underestimated smart contract integration complexity
• Limited testing time due to setup challenges
• Documentation gaps slowed development
• Balancing feature completeness vs time constraints

Learning Curve:

• Understanding zero-knowledge proof systems
• Learning RISC0 proof generation
• Grasping zkVerify's attestation system
• Working with Substrate-based chains