I recently shipped a small game as a Telegram Mini App, working alone, and a few lessons stood out. Here is what I would tell myself before starting.
Start the flow inside a bot. Players already live in Telegram, so the bot is the front door. A single /start message with a button that opens the Mini App beats any landing page. You can also pass a start parameter to see which post or channel a player came from.
Make onboarding take seconds. Nobody wants a tutorial before the fun part. The first tap should already do something rewarding, and every other mechanic can be introduced later, one at a time, when the player is ready for it.
Save progress as if the connection will drop. Mobile networks are flaky and the webview can be closed at any moment. Write progress locally first, sync to the server when you can, and make the merge safe to repeat. Losing a player's progress is the fastest way to lose that player.
Build social loops, not just a solo grind. Clans and cooperative raids give people a reason to come back that has nothing to do with a timer. Telegram makes sharing and inviting easy, so use that instead of building your own friend system.
Give players a long-term goal. In my game, the robot Tim evolves through 10 forms. Seeing the next form on the horizon gives short sessions a bigger meaning, and it gives me a clear roadmap as a solo developer.
If you want to see how it turned out, try the bot: NeuroTimBot. More about the project is on the about page. I would be glad to hear how you handle onboarding and saving in your own Mini Apps.
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