Autumn 2025 Update!

Welcome to my update article for Autumn 2025. It is an overview of the work I’ve done, projects I finished, and any other interesting developments during the months of October, November and December 2025. Let’s see how it went!

Where We Left Off

In the previous update, I explained that …

• I’m still working on that online store 99% of the time.
• I tried to catch up with some other work, and I tried to also do some more “themed” products (such as creating summer things when it’s … summer). Failed the first part, mostly succeeded with the second part.
• Living situation is still an absolute mess and restricts anything else one might do.

The summary for this update is straightforward.

• I worked on that online store a lot, again. Not as much as before, though, as I am able to recognize the signs of getting close to burn-out now and will grant myself some days off.
• I failed to catch up with some other work, again, but did manage to slip in some themed products and completely non-store-related projects. (Halloween and Christmas are too popular as holidays to not consider them for some games and puzzles. Especially kids seem to live from holiday to holiday.)
• There’s a glimmer of hope for my living situation. As in, my parents found funds and another contractor to actually finish the basic necessities of our home. (It’s “make sure we have a toilet” as opposed to “make sure things actually look nice and are finished”.) I won’t say anything else about it because I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say, and I also don’t want to keep repeating miserable details in all these updates.

The Online Store

Finishing Level 1, kind of

We’re nearing its launch at the start of next year.

I had hoped to finish Level 1 in its entirety, but gradually had to let go of that plan.

• The amount of ideas and “parts of the curriculum” to finish ballooned to something that just can’t be finished in time.
• I have no clue what people will buy or what will be my most important target audience. As such, it felt wiser to spread my bets. Also create a few things for later levels, a few things that are not positioned as “educational”, etcetera.

That’s why I made a simple “rule” for myself these past few months, to help decide what to make now and what to leave for later.

The store is made of 7 “Factions” (or categories) which are basically a path towards games as education (the final Faction). The “rule” is that I give priority (for now) to the first 3 Factions. These align most closely to traditional education, they are easiest to make, and they usually only have one product per topic. Whereas the games Faction, for example, can have 5 games that are all about “counting”.

In practice, this means every topic receives stories/fairy tales (to be read to/with young children), teaching material (to be used in class or when homeschooling), and quizzes (to have fun testing current knowledge). By focusing on those things only, I was able to get almost all Level 1 topics “done” in time for launch. All products from later factions (puzzles, games, etc) will have to be made later.

It is what it is. It’s fine, really, because now I have this safe foundation for each topic. Those Factions will likely never need to be changed or updated again (for that topic), while I have loads of puzzle and game ideas to add to each topic in the future. (And that list seemingly grows each day.)

And so, as it stands,

• Most of Level 1 is done. Particularly the first three Factions for each topic, sometimes more.
• A few “themed” topics. (Such as a large batch of summer products, Halloween, Christmas, Sinterklaas here in the Netherlands, etc.)
• A handful of things for Level 2 and Level 3. (Mostly accidentally. I made something, realized it needed players who could count or read, and had to move it to a later spot :p)
• An exact plan for what’s left in Level 1, and a semi-exact plan for the upcoming Level 2.

Level 2 Next Year?

For the reasons stated above, I will likely be making Level 2 and some themed stuff next year, instead of 100% finishing Level 1. In a way, each level is never “done”.

The biggest question mark, of course, is how will the store do?

Previous updates have repeatedly mentioned that I am desperately in search of money by now. This project is basically the culmination of 10 years of learning loads of creative skills and making loads of projects (for free). It’s where it was always heading, in hindsight, and now I had the skill (and … pressure) to make it.

Despite my general lack of joy or belief in life, I do believe that I made many worthwhile “products” for this thing. It’s a sort of confidence through skill and experience. The type of confidence you have after researching how education could be so much better for 20 years, and putting it into practice in a way that seems obviously better to you.

But we all know that quality is pretty irrelevant in terms of making money or being successful. Who will find my store? Will they spend money on it? If they do, what will be the best-selling products? If nobody buys anything, what will I do?

I have no clue. I have a financial “runway” of ~2 years. This covers the costs of running the store and website, combined with my cost of living and being able to put food in my mouth.

I have faith that I can at least make the store itself profitable. With the number of products, their quality (especially compared to what little competition I have), and 2 years, I should be able to sell enough to at least cover costs and keep it all going for many more years. Whether it will earn me a stable income, which I can use to move out and buy a functional computer and all that stuff, is my actual question.

We’ll see. Next year.

It Always Comes Back To Music

It has become clear to me that there’s really only one thing that I’ve always done, even with no promise of money or reward, even when my health is failing, and that is writing/making music. I stopped recording anything a few years ago (after releasing 5 EPs in quick succession), and looking back, honestly, it was for silly reasons. I thought I wasn’t attached to success or money, but the moment I realized that I can’t create “professional-sounding hits” in my current situation, I kind of stopped completely?

Yes, that is true. I have no budget, barely a livable space, and my voice can one day sound like a star and the next day barely make a sound at all.

So … what? It’s a question I should have asked myself much earlier. Because the answer, as I said, is probably that I secretly (subconsciously?) held onto some idea of earning my income from music and creating these really successful albums that would be played on the radio. And if I couldn’t do that, then, pff, I won’t record any music anymore!

It’s silly, but understandable. When you have no income, you get that pressure to turn everything you do into money. And when it doesn’t happen—when you record 5 short albums and they all sound “hmm okay I guess” and you earn 2 dollars a year from streams—it’s very deflating.

But even without recording music, my brain has kept coming up with song ideas. I already had a folder with hundreds of them, and 3 years later there are a hundred more. I create music in some way every single day, and I view it as my “break”. I view playing these complicated songs on piano for 20 minutes as a “let’s do something simple and give my brain some time to zone out”. That’s how much writing and making music is at the core of me, and how skilled I am after practicing it daily for 20 years.

And, so, I went against my stupid brain and decided to just start recording shit again. It won’t sound great. It will probably just be me with a guitar and a single microphone, in some semi-sound-proof room somewhere. Very minimal editing or mixing, because both me and my failing laptop can’t be bothered. It’s about the songs. The melodies, the lyrics, I know they’re good and I just want to make sure they exist. I’ll throw them online for others to enjoy, and because I’m paying a small yearly sum for that service anyway, but that’s it.

I’ve talked before about how I basically lost all the will to life when I was forced to go to university. Slowly, piece by piece, I’ve been trying to get some of it back. Actually enjoy something one day, instead of working really hard through sheer discipline and willpower alone.

Looking Back On 2025

So, looking back on the past year,

Point 1: Relaxation / Mind-set

I feel I’ve made great strides in allowing myself to relax. I’ll allow myself to play a game, or watch a movie, or just go to bed early more. I’m tempted to say that this has made me less productive, but objectively, I work fewer hours but am more rested and focused, so it all evens out. I’m surprised now about how my tasks are already done in 4 hours, instead of very slowly forcing my way through them for an entire day while my mind is tired.

Point 2: Online Store Optimism

I feel the online store and how I designed it is absolutely the way to go for me. It has at least given me purpose and a clear way to decide what project/idea to pick next, but I also clearly hope it will be a generator of stable income. If not soon, then at least within a year or two.

Why do I have this feeling?

• I am very knowledgeable and passionate about how terrible our schools are and how much better education could be.
• This is clearly viewed as a good and productive use of “art”, by both myself and everyone around me. (“Oh, you’re making EDUCATIONAL games now? Well that changes everything!” … after calling games meaningless and childish for years.)
• The webshop is set up across 7 different “Factions”, which allows me to switch to a new type of work every 1–2 weeks. This has done wonders for keeping me fresh and motivated all year. Fed up with making games? Let’s write a story. Done writing that story? Let’s create puzzles. Etcetera.
• I have ideas and educational content for 50 years, that’s never been an issue.
• There are obviously other stores that sell educational content, as there is a high demand for it (by teachers, homeschooling parents, etc). But they are very different from mine. They only do “classic” teaching materials, perhaps with a puzzle here or there but that’s it. They also look very ugly, unfocused, busy, and sometimes downright insulting to the intelligence of kids or teachers. I feel like my work can really find its place in the market and outshine the competition where needed.

Point 3: Not For Profit

I have increasingly been able to put certain projects/creative areas into a group called “not for money but for myself”. Video games? I have some amazing ideas I’ll make someday, but not for success or money. Music? As stated, I’ll record all my ideas, but expect nothing from it and put no pressure on it. Books? They’ve been my biggest income generator for years now, but most stories I write now are for the webshop. Any other story will just be “for me”, because I believe it must be told, and I don’t care if anyone buys it.

Of course, one can only have this mind-set if you have a source of income that’s something else. I’ve worked hard to make the online store that source of income. I’m fine with telling myself “no, today you’re gonna have to work 8 hours on the next webshop product”. Because I’ve chosen that as my “work for money”, and I know that, because of that, I’ll be able to record a song tomorrow without caring if it’s any good.

Point 4: More Professional Development

All year long, I developed and improved my own “systems” for many of the things I want to do over the year.

• My system for quizzes is very big and professional now, which is why I used it the most.
• My system for generating board games has been copied over from Pandaqi and heavily improved/cleaned-up. I’ve already put the first products in the online store where you can also generate your own material (custom to your specific desires in the classroom, for example) with this generator.
• I have a strong start on a digital system for escape rooms, for example, which I hope to actually 100% finish and use in practice next year.
• My system for generating/playing (logic) puzzles is about 50% done too.
• My system for one button games is also quite big and professional now, which is why I already used it in 3 small video games I will sell on the store. (What are those? I’ll explain more below.)

Ten or five years ago, I would never have made it this far. I would not have been motivated to create a proper “framework” to make my work much easier in the long run. I would not have seen the point—I would not have known how to do it.

But now I have all these frameworks at my fingertips.

The quiz framework, for example, allows me to create a fully interactive (digital + physical) quiz within half a day. I can focus on just crafting questions and answers (and creating/collecting the media to go with them). Once done, I throw that into the system, and it turns it into a full-fledged quiz. One more powerful and flexible than any other quizzes you can buy online.

I focused on the quiz system this year because it was already furthest along. I made it originally for casual use, at home, for the new year’s eve pub quiz me and my sister do sometimes. And so, the quiz system is as good as done.

Next year I’ll move one or two of the other frameworks to “done” as well. I have proof now that this makes work much faster and easier, as well as being able to provide experiences that are simply better and more fully featured than people can buy anywhere else.

Those systems will also be completely free and open source once I hit version 1.0, so that other people can use them too. My main principles remain based on sharing and transparency, on helping, on building on each other’s work. I want people to make their own cool family quizzes using my system. Its entire structure was designed such that someone with barely any computer knowledge can still use it perfectly fine.

Perhaps the most interesting development here is localization. Five years ago, I would have said “meh, enough people understand English, or they’ll just have to learn if they want to use my thing”. Supporting multiple languages takes work, some easy (just time-consuming) and some pretty involved. I never made anything that was multilanguage until only two years ago.

And now … all my systems support multiple languages. I create everything in English and Dutch myself.

All quizzes made after September are available in both languages, fully supported, everything automatically translated (including interface). In fact, you can switch language while playing, that’s how flexible the system is :p (Not sure why you’d ever do that, but you can!)

Presenting my products in multiple languages just feels more professional now. It feels like I should’ve always done that. It feels like this is the missing link that will reach more people and actually sell.

Point 5: I’ll Have To Do It On My Own

The typical avenues and suggestions for improving my mental/physical health have pretty much been exhausted. I honestly don’t see them working, or see myself trying any of it, again. I’ve tried to go to a therapist again, but just the complicated steps to get an appointment in the far future and prove you really need it, made me back off completely.

I’ve been to therapists before; they all say I’m doing all the right things and “just in a bit of a slump” and decide to end it there. That’s not helpful. This is both mental and physical therapists, by the way. Oh, the number of physicians that have said “well you look like a very fit and healthy young man, I’m sure it’s nothing” …

Similarly, topics like dating come up. Or topics like moving out of the house on a loan or some other construction. Getting a job in IT anyway. Joining some community, or going on trips, or doing something besides working hard and exercising hard. Or, you know, actually testing and refining all the things I make instead of losing all interest after two days and just hoping the game I designed doesn’t have some major flaw.

And sure, I’d love to have a girlfriend. Just as I’d love to have the health and the motivation to get out more, or to work a part-time job and still create other things on the side. I’ve tried for a long time and it’s just not happening. The entire concept of being motivated for or caring about anything, of living for even a single second without immense pain, is foreign to me. At some point, you just have to accept the body/brain that you ended up with after a disastrous youth. And that combination—aka me—can only fill his days with working hard and maybe, once in a while, doing something else that might even be slightly fun, if all the planets align and Jupiter is in retrograde and what not.

If the online store leads to income, and income leads to better living space and less pressure, who knows what it might lead to. I can’t predict the future; I know, more so than many, how systems change and how the slightest tweak can completely turn humans and dynamics around. But it’s unlikely that I’ll take any big actions here, such as trying to pick up online dating again. Or going on a tour past all sports clubs in the neighborhood again to do a free “trial lesson” :p I’ve tried it all, it doesn’t work for me personally. The only thing I haven’t tried yet is actually having money, and not feeling monetary pressure or time pressure at all times.

New Year’s Resolutions

Okay, yes, sure, we all know that resolutions are just empty promises you’re unlikely to keep. That today is the best time to improve your health or habits, no need to wait until the next year.

But the new year is a very nice cut-off point, because it’s a special time of year. You have some free time thanks to the holidays, so you actually have the ability to change habits or try something new. With all this significance placed on the new year, I guess, it feels significant.

And, so, I still wanted to write down some New Year’s Resolutions. More as a kind of “look into the future”.

In 2026,

• I want to make more One Button Games. I’ve finally found a way to create the exact kind of video game I want. I created the framework for it that takes 50% of the work out of my hands. I’ve found a way to connect them to the educational aspect of my store. And so, hopefully, next year I can create an “OBG” every month.
  • In short: OBGs mean that every player gets only one button.
  • This makes the game very accessible to all kinds of players. That restriction also makes my life easier, because I can’t overcomplicate anything and the project can’t take too long.
  • To get meaningful gameplay from that, you always need to play with multiple players. With your friends, with the family, with the whole classroom. They are often cooperative party games where everyone can join/leave whenever they want and just have fun. I’ve already made 2 of them for Sinterklaas, which only took me a week, and they were great.
  • Video games are simply the most attractive and sellable thing of all that I make. Such an easy way to get everyone playing together, to bring joy, to use in a classroom. You get moving images and sounds and everything that tricks our mind into liking something enough to buy it. You can easily do stuff, educationally too, that you just can’t do with board games.
• I want to finish the most important part of the curriculum: Alphabet & Numbers. Those topics are “Level 2”. They are, in my eyes, the only good thing about our system of education. These skills are core to everything you will do later in life. As such, next year, I will spend 50% of the time finishing Level 1, and 50% of the time creating the best possible products for these two skills in Level 2.
• I want to waste less time in bed. This is an obvious one. Due to a shuffling of bedrooms (if you can still call them bedrooms) in our home, I lost a lot of my good habits regarding sleep. My phone is now right next to me, for example, which makes it too tempting to grab it in the morning. My bed is now below a slanted part of the roof, which makes it impossible to do the stretches I used to do before bed.
  • All of this means it takes much longer for me to fall asleep … and when I wake up, I waste a lot of time before I get up. Sleep lost, time lost, and I don’t actually feel better or more relaxed or anything.
  • And so, for 2026, I will put my phone far away and will find a way to get back those good habits before going to bad.
• I want to stop LOSING money, thanks to the online store. I have to pay for my websites and hosting. I have to pay a bill for food, rent, and health insurance. I want the online store to earn enough, at least, to cover all that. Because now I’ve been steadily losing money for years, which is the worst way to do finances. I think this is an achievable, necessary goal (as opposed to “going for X profit or bust”).
• I want to record at least one album. This can be a general singer-songwriter album with English or Dutch songs. It can also be one of the musicals that my head seems to write subconsciously all the time. They’re good—like, really good. I am absolutely certain that my strongest ideas for musical shows could be massive hits and well-received. But because music usually does not earn any money, and certainly not right away, I could never prioritize actually making any of this. If the store were to give me an income, I’d have the freedom to pursue one such musical album.

Conclusion

Has it been a good year? I don’t know. Made a lot of good stuff, including professional frameworks to make the future even easier.

What will next year look like? I don’t know. I hope for some things, I am sure of some things (such as finally becoming a published author), and everything else depends on the success of that online store.

Will the online store be any good? I don’t know. It’s launching anyway, right at the start of January. I have 2 years to make it stop operating at a loss.

Those were my thoughts about 2025, until next year,

Tiamo