Welcome to the next installment of the TON Giants Series.

What's among the best ways to understand the benefits of participating in the Hackers League Hackathon? Hearing it straight from those who have firsthand experience.

The TON Giants Series showcases exceptional teams from the Summer Hackathon who demonstrated their potential and left a lasting impact. By sharing their bootcamp and hackathon experiences, our TON Giants teams offer valuable insights for developers in the winter Hackathon.

The next edition in the TON Giants series highlights Chick Coop, the inaugural game in the TON Blockchain farming universe.

Chick Coop is building a unique SocialFi experience on TON blockchain, starting with a simple yet strategic farming game. It’s more than just a game—it’s the beginning of a SocialFi Gameverse. Chick Coop’s vision is to create a fun, easy-to-play game that encourages healthy competition among individuals and teams.

Players can click, hatch, and upgrade their way to victory in Chick Coop. The game is about tending to virtual farms and earning rewards through the Play to Earn Airdrop model. Players can receive mini-airdrops throughout their gameplay and enjoy a larger reward at the end of their farming journey.

Here’s what the team had to say about their Open League Summer Hackathon experience.

Can you start by introducing your team and sharing how you came together for the Summer Hackathon?

We are a team with experience in the market dating back to 2017, having witnessed and participated in the DeFi and GameFi booms. We clearly see the current opportunities that TON and Telegram present, particularly in opening the doors of Web3 to 1 billion Telegram users and mobile users worldwide. From the moment we understood the vision behind TON and Telegram's mini-apps, we were fully convinced of their potential and committed ourselves 100% to this vision. That’s why we came together to participate in the Summer Hackathon—driven by our belief in TON's direction and the future it can unlock

Our team consists of experienced professionals across various fields within the blockchain and Game and apps sectors:

• CEO: With seven years of experience in cryptocurrency as both an investor and builder, our CEO previously led a successful AI project and venture in 2022.
• COO: Founded and scaled a mobile game/app studio to 200 employees and five subsidiaries since 2017, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
• CTO & CPO: Each has ten years of mobile gaming, AI, and blockchain expertise.
• CMO: Five years of experience in cryptocurrency, with a strong community-building and marketing background.

What initially motivated your team to participate in the TON Summer Hackathon, and what inspired the project that ultimately led to your win?

Amidst numerous Layer 1 projects with similar money game ideas and fierce competition in a saturated market, TON stands out as a name with a distinct vision that offers real value to the entire Web3 industry. By integrating with Telegram, it opens the doors for all Telegram users and mobile users to seamlessly enter the Web3 space. We were deeply inspired from the moment we first learned about TON and decided to join immediately.

The journey through the Summer Hackathon was full of challenges. Our team faced numerous obstacles, such as having no prior experience building on mini-apps, using TON’s smart contracts, or marketing through Telegram Ads and TON’s ecosystem. However, thanks to the dedicated support from the TON Foundation and its team, we were able to understand the vision and worked tirelessly day and night. With 100% of our effort, we ultimately achieved victory. This was truly a milestone we will never forget in our journey.

For those of you who were new to the Summer Hackathon, how did your previous hackathon experiences influence your approach this time around?

Previous hackathon experiences taught us the importance of clear goal setting, working with smart contracts, gaining a deeper understanding of the Telegram mini-app system, and utilizing the marketing tools available, as well as the support provided by the TON Foundation in building our project. These lessons allowed us to approach the next phase with a well-structured plan, efficiently dividing tasks and ensuring that we leveraged each team member's strengths while making the most of the resources from TON and Telegram. This experience also made us more resilient in overcoming time constraints and technical challenges

During the development process, what were some of the key challenges you faced while building on the TON blockchain, and how did you work through them?

During the process of building on the TON Blockchain, we encountered challenges across multiple areas, including Marketing, Business Development, and Product.

Marketing: The user base on TON is completely different from what we had targeted before, so we couldn’t rely on our previous strategies and mindset for user acquisition. Additionally, the marketing tools on TON were still very new, some even just launched, so we had to simultaneously learn how to use these new tools, reach out to new users, and find ways to convert them into loyal users with fresh strategies.

Business Development: TON is a completely new space with new partners and projects, which meant we had to establish an entirely different working mechanism from what we were used to.

Product: TON and Telegram Mini Apps are new platforms, so our prior experience in building on other platforms wasn’t applicable here. We had to completely re-study the ecosystem in order to launch the best possible product that would resonate with the users on these platforms

Were there any particular tools or features on the TON blockchain that proved especially helpful in developing your project? What resources would you recommend future Hackers League entrants make the most of?

We found that many tools on TON are both interesting and highly useful, but it’s crucial to learn how to use them correctly. Some notable examples include Adsgram, Telegram Ads, and Telegram App Center. All of these tools are definitely worth utilizing

Looking back, what was the most rewarding part of the Summer Hackathon for your team, and how do you think this experience has contributed to where your project is now?

The most rewarding part was seeing our vision come to life and watching players interact with our game just as we had imagined. This truly gave us a strong momentum that continues to drive us forward to this day.

• Total Players now: around 4.5 million users
• Monthly Active Users (MAU): more than 1 million

The community continuously contributes to the project, with thousands of messages each day. Currently, we’ve generated over $1 million in revenue, and our project is recognized as one of the most active and well-known on TON. We also benefit from top-tier ambassadors within the ecosystem, collectively reaching over 15 million followers and subscribers.

The Summer Hackathon experience provided us with valuable feedback and allowed us to refine our project. It brought us closer to launching the SocialFi Gameverse on the TON Blockchain, with Chick Coop as the starting point. The Hackathon also opened doors for collaborations and networking within the TON community, which has been crucial for our ongoing development

Finally, what advice would you give to those looking to participate in the upcoming Hackers League Hackathon?

Our advice is to build on TON with creative solutions. However, it’s also important to stay aligned with TON's vision to ensure a positive synergy between your project and the TON Foundation.

Collaboration is key, so make sure to communicate effectively within your team and with the Ton community.

Lastly, be prepared for challenges but embrace them as learning opportunities—they can push your project to new heights.

Find out more about Chicken Coop on their official pages:

Website | Telegram | X

This interview is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement, approval, or recommendation of the project. The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of the TON Foundation. This is not an investment advice.