We make Oh My Dog!, a free idle card RPG that lives inside Telegram (https://t.me/OhMyDogMobileBot, site: https://ohmydog.gg). This is a short design note on two decisions that shaped it: auto-battles and offline progress. No benchmarks or code here, only what we actually decided.
The constraint: sessions in a messenger are short
People open Telegram for a moment and go back to their day. So the game should respect that: open it, collect rewards, make a couple of decisions, leave. We deliberately don't require sitting for hours.
Auto-battles move skill to preparation
Fights run automatically. That means the player's decisions happen before the fight: which heroes share a team, what gear to equip, which pets to assign. Heroes differ by role (tanks absorb damage, damage dealers hit, support keeps the team alive), so the question isn't who has the biggest number but how roles cover each other. Long boss fights need survivability; the PvP arena rewards tempo.
Offline progress closes the loop
Progress keeps accumulating while the player is away. Returning means collecting what the squad earned, then reinvesting it in levels, equipment and pets. Power comes from exactly those three sources.
Not a tapper
We ported a real RPG with progression, a story and PvP, not a tap-for-a-token clicker. Auto-battles plus offline progress let it be played in short bursts without becoming one.
Content for longer sessions
Dungeons, bosses, PvP arena, alliances and guild battles give auto-battles something to be tested against.
Frictionless entry
No download or sign-up form: press Play and the account is created and linked to Telegram automatically.
Feedback from fellow developers is very welcome.
