DevCity startup: how to combine GitHub + Minecraft + Telegram

A live Minecraft map where every GitHub developer becomes a city growing in real-time. Telegram users vote and invest in developers they like by purchasing "building blocks." The developer with the largest city receives the collected funds and provides investors with free access to their product.

The TronPoolEnergy team analyzes global startup trends and crypto economics. We study search queries in Google Trends, discussions on Reddit, and projects on Product Hunt.

One of the main trends for 2025–2026 is the intersection of gamification, open source, and crypto payments. Developers want to receive support directly from the community, while users want to participate in project development in an interactive format. DevCity combines these needs in one product.

GitHub has over 100 million developers, Telegram has over 900 million users, and Minecraft has around 212 million active players per month. Yet there is practically no product that connects these three massive audiences. This is a rare situation where three huge ecosystems almost don't intersect — and this is where the opportunity arises.

DevCity is a Telegram Mini App where every GitHub developer transforms into a plot of land and a city inside the Minecraft world. The city builds automatically based on GitHub activity: commits increase building height, repositories determine width, programming language defines the material (Python — sandstone, JavaScript — glass, Solidity — gold blocks), and recent activity controls the lights in the windows.

The result is a massive Minecraft megacity with separate districts: Python, Web3, AI, GameDev, startups. Users can fly through the city with a camera, enter developer buildings, and watch construction happening live.

Existing developer support platforms — GitHub Sponsors, Open Collective, Patreon — operate on a simple donation model. They offer no visualization, no gamification, and no live interaction. Users send money and receive a text-based thank you.

Minecraft projects exist, but they aren't connected to real developer data. GitHub integrations exist, but they aren't visual. Telegram Mini Apps are growing, but there's no product that turns open source into a game. DevCity can fill this void.

A user opens the Telegram Mini App and connects their GitHub account. The system retrieves data through the GitHub API: number of commits, repositories, languages, stars, pull requests. Based on this data, a personalized Minecraft city is generated for the developer.

Other Telegram users can invest in developers they like by purchasing "building blocks" with USDT. Each purchase accelerates city construction: new buildings, districts, and decorative elements are added. All construction is streamed in real-time.

After a set period, results are tallied. The developer whose city became the largest receives the collected funds. In return, they provide investors with free access or a significant discount on their product. This creates a win-win model.

The minimum viable version of the service can be launched fairly quickly:

• Telegram Web App — city interface, map, navigation
• GitHub API — account connection and activity data retrieval
• Minecraft Server + RCON — automatic building generation based on GitHub data
• API module for saving on transaction fees and USDT consolidation — integration with TronPoolEnergy
• Streaming system — live broadcast of city construction

Ranking and voting — community selection of the best developers