Have you ever wanted to try something new? Perhaps you want to pursue one of your passions but don’t know where to start. Or what about making that ultimate dream of yours a reality? Where do you even begin?

Well, we’ve got the inspiration you need from these Thai app and game developers. Their success stories won’t just spark your creativity to develop something new, but they’ll encourage you to do whatever it is you want to achieve. Read on and awaken your desire to reach new heights.

Who knew that Earth Atlantis (a steampunk-themed game featuring a submarine hunting terrifying sea monsters) took more than 15 years to make? Anucha Aribarg turned his dream into reality by hand-drawing all of the game’s beautifully detailed elements during his time as an art director working in creative studios and as an instructor at a game design school.

From the start, he knew he wanted Earth Atlantis to be a 14th-century retro shooter. Initially he created the game purely from his own drive to design a game and not with the intention of earning a living from its existence. But to date, the game has exceeded expectations following plenty of buzz from the global gaming community before its official launch and winning prizes including the Excellence in Art award at the 2016 BIC Festival in Korea and The Grand Prize (Vermilion Gate Award) at BitSummit 2017 in Japan.

With 15 years of work behind him and plenty more to go, Anucha states that he needs to believe in himself, and always have a back-up plan in case problems surface along the way. Plus, if you want to shine as an indie developer, you need to have a unique idea to stand out from the crowd. What’s yours?

Investing in mutual funds – where would one even begin? Suttiwat Youngklai identified this difficulty for the uninitiated and came up with a solution in the form of FIN, a mutual fund app that tracks your funds’ performances and helps you easily manage your portfolio.

With a background in IT consultancy, Suttiwat faced the challenge of deciding which fund to invest in and join the trend for FinTech (Financial Technology). He decided to learn Swift to develop an iOS app and devoted his weekends for a year to FIN’s development in order to roll out the app within his target timeframe.

Suttiwat says the best way to develop a successful app is to find real problems that arise from real situations. If it’s one that affects a lot of people and there’s no solution currently available, this is the right time to set a project up. It’s just like being an investor, except you’re investing your time and effort, instead of money.

Sometimes when two very different things combine it doesn’t always work; but sometimes it successfully produces a new concept that really captures people’s attention. The early days of Flixer, a Japanese content streaming app, were rooted in the collaboration and trust that existed between iAppCreation and DreamExpress (DEX).

iAppCreation is the creator of Pastel Keyboard, an app that lets you customise the look of your iOS keyboard; DEX holds the licence for custom keyboard themes with recognisable Japanese IPs. The initial conversations between the two around licensing went beyond their original intention and the two companies conceived the idea for a streaming app, loaded with top-quality localised Japanese content – the first of its kind in Thailand.

With iAppCreation’s pro app development and DEX’s ownership of huge amounts of unique content, their combined efforts meant they were on to a winner. The story behind Flixer shows that it’s possible for two very different entities to join forces when new opportunities present themselves. Besides trust and respect for each other’s profession, iAppCreation highlighted that simplifying technical conversations between peers is also important in ensuring everyone is on the same page. Now all you need, is a great collaborator.

After reading this story, you might feel inspired to pursue your own passions. Why not go to meet-ups, events or seminars to find new ideas or friends who share mutual interests? Apps like Pantip, EventPop and Meetup will connect you to the right people. And, if your masterpiece needs a little help for the parts that you might not have the expertise for, freelancers available from Fastwork can help you.

Who knows? It might only take a single app to inspire you.

Shall we begin something new?