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Technical Deep Dive 2025-09-18 9 min read

Smart Gate Authorization: Blockchain-Powered Access Control in EVE Frontier

When we first started building EF-Map, one of the most interesting technical challenges was visualizing Smart Gates—the blockchain-governed wormhole connections in EVE Frontier. Unlike traditional game mechanics controlled by a central server, Smart Gates use on-chain authorization lists that determine who can traverse specific routes. This presented a unique opportunity to build real-time blockchain data integration directly into our map interface.

The Challenge: On-Chain Access Control

EVE Frontier's Smart Gates aren't just visual elements in space—they're actual smart contracts on the blockchain. Each gate maintains an access control list (ACL) that specifies which characters, corporations, or alliances have permission to use it. This creates a fascinating technical problem: how do we efficiently query blockchain state and present it in a real-time map interface without overwhelming users with complexity?

The naive approach would be to make on-chain queries every time a user hovers over a gate. But blockchain RPC calls can be slow (200-500ms per query), and we have hundreds of gates in the game. A single user session could trigger thousands of queries, creating a terrible user experience and potentially hitting rate limits.

Our Solution: Snapshot-Based Architecture

We built a three-tier caching system that balances freshness with performance:

Tier 1: Blockchain Indexer (Primordium)

At the foundation, we run a PostgreSQL-based indexer that subscribes to Smart Assembly events on the blockchain. When a gate's ACL changes (characters added/removed, ownership transfers, etc.), the indexer captures the transaction and updates our local database in near real-time. 

-- Simplified schema for gate access data
CREATE TABLE smart_gate_access (
    gate_id VARCHAR(66) PRIMARY KEY,
    system_from VARCHAR(66),
    system_to VARCHAR(66),
    owner_id VARCHAR(66),
    acl_characters TEXT[],
    acl_corporations TEXT[],
    last_updated TIMESTAMP,
    block_number BIGINT
);

This gives us a local copy of blockchain state that we can query at PostgreSQL speeds (1-5ms) instead of blockchain speeds (200-500ms). The indexer runs continuously, keeping our data fresh within seconds of on-chain changes.

Tier 2: Snapshot Exporter (Cloudflare KV)

Every 30 minutes, a Node.js exporter queries our Postgres database and generates a compact JSON snapshot of all Smart Gate data: 

const gatesSnapshot = await db.query(`
    SELECT 
        gate_id,
        system_from,
        system_to,
        array_length(acl_characters, 1) as char_count,
        array_length(acl_corporations, 1) as corp_count,
        last_updated
    FROM smart_gate_access
    WHERE last_updated > NOW() - INTERVAL '7 days'
    ORDER BY last_updated DESC
`);

This snapshot (typically 50-200KB) gets written to Cloudflare KV storage with a global CDN distribution. Now our frontend can fetch the entire gate dataset in a single HTTP request with <50ms latency from anywhere in the world.

Tier 3: Client-Side Cache (Browser)

The React app fetches the snapshot once on load and caches it in memory. When users hover over a gate, we do instant lookups against this local data: 

const getGateAccess = (gateId: string) => {
    const gate = gateCache.get(gateId);
    if (!gate) return null;
    
    return {
        isPublic: gate.acl_characters.length === 0,
        characterCount: gate.acl_characters.length,
        corpCount: gate.acl_corporations.length,
        lastUpdated: gate.last_updated
    };
};

This three-tier approach reduced our average gate lookup time from ~300ms (blockchain RPC) to <1ms (in-memory cache)—a 300x performance improvement.

Handling Authorization State

Smart Gates can exist in several states that affect routing:

  1. Public gates: Empty ACL, anyone can use
  2. Private gates: Restricted ACL, only authorized entities
  3. Owned but open: Owner-controlled but publicly accessible
  4. Pending changes: ACL updates in mempool but not confirmed

For our routing algorithm, we needed to make smart decisions about which gates to include: 

const isGateUsable = (gate: SmartGate, userCharacterId?: string) => {
    // Public gates always usable
    if (gate.acl_characters.length === 0) return true;
    
    // If user not logged in, assume private gates blocked
    if (!userCharacterId) return false;
    
    // Check if user's character is authorized
    return gate.acl_characters.includes(userCharacterId);
};

This creates personalized routing: logged-in users see routes through their authorized private gates, while anonymous users only see public routes. It's a fascinating blend of blockchain authentication and traditional web UX.

Real-World Performance Impact

After deploying this system, we tracked several key metrics:

The snapshot approach also gave us resilience: if the blockchain RPC endpoint goes down, our app continues working with the last known good state. Users see a "data is X minutes old" indicator but can still navigate and plan routes.

Lessons for Blockchain Gaming UX

Building this feature taught us several principles for integrating blockchain data into game interfaces:

1. Never block the UI on blockchain calls. Always have a cached fallback, even if it's slightly stale.

2. Snapshots > individual queries. For read-heavy workloads (like viewing gate access), periodic batch exports beat real-time queries every time.

3. Progressive enhancement. The map works great for anonymous users (public gates only). Blockchain wallet connection is optional but unlocks personalized routing.

4. Embrace eventual consistency. Users understand "this data is 2 minutes old" much better than "loading..." that takes 10 seconds.

5. Index locally, serve globally. Run heavyweight blockchain indexing once (server-side), then distribute lightweight snapshots via CDN.

Future Enhancements

We're exploring several improvements to this system:

The blockchain-powered access control in EVE Frontier creates incredible opportunities for emergent gameplay—corporations building private highway networks, players selling gate access, territorial warfare over strategic chokepoints. Our job with EF-Map is to make that complexity understandable and actionable through smart data architecture and thoughtful UX.

Technical Deep Dive: The Snapshot Format

For developers interested in the details, here's our current snapshot schema: 

{
    "schema_version": "1.0",
    "generated_at": "2025-09-18T14:30:00Z",
    "block_number": 1234567,
    "gates": [
        {
            "id": "0x1234...abcd",
            "from": "0x5678...ef01",
            "to": "0x9abc...2345",
            "owner": "0xdef0...6789",
            "acl": {
                "characters": ["0xaaa...111", "0xbbb...222"],
                "corporations": ["0xccc...333"],
                "alliances": []
            },
            "updated_at": "2025-09-18T12:15:00Z",
            "updated_block": 1234500
        }
    ]
}

We're currently evaluating whether to add gate jump statistics (usage frequency, peak times) to help players identify the most active private networks. The challenge is balancing data richness with snapshot size—we want to keep downloads under 500KB for mobile users.

Building blockchain-integrated game tools is still a nascent field. Every feature we ship helps define best practices for the next generation of on-chain gaming. If you're working on similar problems, I'd love to hear about your approach—tag us on Twitter or join our Discord community.

Ready to explore Smart Gate networks yourself? Try the interactive map and see how blockchain access control shapes the geography of New Eden.

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blockchainsmart contractsaccess controlcachingweb3 gaming