Why Telegram is a game platform
Telegram games are Mini Apps: HTML5 games that open from a bot, a channel post or a shared link with no install. The user is logged in, their friends are one tap away and payments are built in through Telegram Stars. Hamster Kombat, Notcoin, Catizen and Blum showed that a Telegram game can reach tens of millions of players in weeks; the same mechanics work at smaller scale for brands, communities and studios that want distribution without an app store.
The trade-offs are real: the game runs in a WebView with a strict performance budget, there is no native push, and every action can be tampered with unless the server owns the state. Our process is built around those constraints.
Game types we build
- Idle and clicker games. Tap or passive income loops, upgrades, boosts, prestige systems. See tap-to-earn for crypto-adjacent versions.
- Casual and puzzle. Match-3, merge, word and trivia games with daily content and leaderboards.
- Social and community games. Guilds, co-op events, PvP with asynchronous turns, games tied to a channel’s audience.
- Multiplayer. Real-time rooms over WebSockets for card games, racing or arena formats.
- Branded games. Short campaigns for marketing teams with prize mechanics and lead capture.
How we build a Telegram game
- Game design (1–2 weeks). Core loop, session length, progression, economy spreadsheet, monetization plan and KPIs (D1/D7 retention, ARPDAU, K-factor). We prototype the loop in a day to test whether it is fun before investing in art.
- Art and UI (2–4 weeks, parallel). Style frames, characters, UI in both Telegram themes, Spine or sprite animations sized for mobile bundles.
- Client (4–8 weeks). Phaser, PixiJS or Unity WebGL. Lazy-loaded assets, texture atlases, 60 fps on mid-range Android, haptics and the native back button through the Telegram SDK.
- Server (parallel). Authoritative state, action validation, anti-cheat heuristics, leaderboards in Redis, referral graph, daily quests, Stars payments with reconciliation.
- Live-ops. An admin panel to run events, tune balance and push messages through the bot without a release.
- Launch. Load test, soft launch in a small channel, then scale with Telegram Ads and referral campaigns. See Mini App marketing.
Monetization options
| Model | How it works in Telegram | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| In-app purchases | Telegram Stars (mandatory for digital goods) | Boosts, skins, lives, battle passes |
| Subscriptions | Recurring Stars payments | VIP status, ad removal |
| Rewarded ads | Telegram ad network, Adsgram, Monetag | Free-to-play audiences |
| Token rewards | Jettons on TON, airdrops, NFT items | Web3 communities |
| Sponsorships | Branded events and items | Games with a large active channel |
Technology
Phaser 3 or PixiJS with TypeScript; Unity 2022 WebGL for 3D; Node.js with WebSockets, PostgreSQL and Redis on the server; grammY for the bot; PostHog or Telemetree for analytics; Cloudflare in front of everything. For TON integration we use TON Connect and, where rewards are on-chain, FunC or Tact contracts with third-party audits (TON development).
What a typical engagement looks like
A casual game with a 6-week art pipeline, Stars purchases, leaderboards and referral mechanics usually lands at $35,000–$50,000 and 10–12 weeks. A clicker with a simple art style and ad monetization can ship for $15,000–$25,000 in 6–8 weeks. Get a range for your idea with the cost calculator.
* All prices and ranges on this page are indicative. The final cost is calculated for each project individually and depends on the complexity of the task, the number of developers and specialists required, and the delivery timeline you set. Use the ranges to understand the typical bracket, not as a fixed offer; the fixed price is confirmed in writing after scoping. Read our pricing terms.