iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 09/09/2026

Sony PSP port of Ball Revamped 4! Dev translated/ported a Flash game into horizontal form-factor: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv24...

youtube.com

Ball Re-revamped 4 demo

YouTube video by nielkie

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 28/08/2026

Thanks Gamescom <3, it's been wonderful to be back after seven years. Amazing host to so many great games and devs

Cologne Dom from ground level, lit up in the evening with a cloudy night sky

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 17/08/2026

I'm going to Gamescom this year! I'll be around Wednesday through Friday if anyone wants to say hi, chat/rant about indie publishing/funding (I'm the former CEO of a pub!), dev, whatever! Also if anyone indie team needs help in biz dev, cooking on something... Reach out my DMs are open! 👋

A picture of Cologne from a bridge over the Reine river, silhouetted by a fading orange sunset with clouds in the sky

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 28/07/2026

Game devs, nothing is better than accidentally leaving a build open for a weekend and then coming back to no memory leaks, right?

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 16/07/2026

I've been finding a lot of joy in Pokemon Go recently, if you'd like to friend up let's go!

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 06/07/2026

TL;DR - the game industry is art and business - art is absolutely killing it - business is absolutely killing it (in the wrong ways)

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Rebekah Valentine @duckvalentine.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

the news has been up for less than an hour, if your immediate gut response is to try and find a "silver lining" to this many people losing their livelihoods, i think it's fine not to post that publicly

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Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

🚨Breaking: Today, SCOTUS delivered a devastating blow to asylum rights. In our case, Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, the Court ruled that the gov can block people from seeking asylum at official border crossings—turning people away w/out the chance to seek the protection they have a legal right to request.

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Myriame・．🦂 @mllepilgrim.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

I’m tired of reposting this. ❤️‍🩹 here if anyone needs help with job search, keeping organized, etc. Please, take care of yourselves. 🖤

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 23/06/2026

My Tuesday Takeover for @newgrounds.com pick is Paplote++, by O-Ovinnie: 21 years old mouse-drawn animation still kicking on NG www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/...

newgrounds.com

Papalote++

A giant Kite Ride

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 13/06/2026

2026, still paying for Flash* *it's AIR, but still

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Shawn Tanner @anpshawn.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

🚨 LAUNCH DATE ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨 Signy And Mino: Against All Gods comes to Steam/PC on July 30th, 2026!

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 04/06/2026

Saying goodbye to my Intuos 3 Wacom Tablet I bought in 2005. Most of my games were created using this tablet. It still works, but modern Mac support is tough to find :( I'm thankful to have had a device so capable and important to my career for as long as I have Goodbye old friend <3 🖊🫡

A picture of Ash Ketchum from Pokemon saying goodbye to his Butterfree from the Episode Bye Bye Butterfree. The Butterfree's face is instead a picture of a Wacom tablet

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 19/05/2026

this, after we lost Ask Jeeves 2 weeks ago

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 11/05/2026

Whoh, is Wordle the first web game to get a tv show since Angry Birds? Trying to think if there were any other web games (gift article) www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/b...

nytimes.com

Wordle to Become Prime-Time TV Show, With Savannah Guthrie as Host

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 24/04/2026

I made a game called Bike that can only be played on April 24 every year, that is today: meditations.games/index.php

meditations.games

Meditations

Meditations is a different short experimental game by a different developer every day.

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 15/04/2026

you've been told all your life you need to know how to use Microsoft Word and the actual answer is SPREADSHEETS Doesn't matter if it's Excel or Sheets or Numbers just make it part of your daily routine. You'll be surprised how much your life changes learning basic skills in spreadsheets

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 15/04/2026

wow US taxes are a bummer this year

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 09/04/2026

someone wrote a support ticket simply asking me to have a good day :) couldn't fulfill that before but now feeling like I can close this ticket :)))

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 07/04/2026

Heading up to PIGCON in May! 🐷 I love the @pigsquad.com community, haven't visited since pre-Covid @ XOXO and have been looking for an excuse to visit again! They just extended speaker and game submissions until April 13, would love to see your games/talks there too! pigcon.pigsquad.com

pigcon.pigsquad.com

PIGCon 2026 - Portland Indie Game Convention

A weekend for indie devs to learn, share, and connect. May 30-31, 2026 at Norse Hall, Portland, OR.

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 25/03/2026

Took 307 days, but Wonderful Elephant® has a US Trademark! 🎉 TL;DR: Day 0: Application, proof of usage Day 1: Filing is public, spam calls/texts/emails nonstop (even now) Day 140: US attorney requests additional proof of usage Day 252: Passed! Day 258: Published for public opposition Day 307: 🎉

A screenshot of the USPTO website, listing Wonderful Elephant. It is marked by two keywords in green highlight, Live, and Registered

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 16/03/2026

Reflecting on #GDC2026: - Friendships, colleagues, and spontaneous joy still the highlight to attend - International folks very, very absent :( - Good meetings yay! - Passes are way too expensive (my cheapest option was $1,199 USD, didn't buy) - GDC needs to leave SF, I say this as a local

a photo of a bunch of conference lanyards for various gaming events, unrelated to the post but simply for flavor

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 11/03/2026

I bought a couple of koroks, been hiding them so my kids can go on TOTK quests when they get home from school

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 06/03/2026

GDC for only one day, Thursday. About all I have time for this year message me if you want to catch up!

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 05/03/2026

Happy 9 Year Anniversary to The Flash Games Postmortem! This talk is absolutely my favorite, most stressful, most important talk I've ever given, 141k views (!?) on Youtube. See young John Cooney wear a plaid shirt (whoh!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=65cr...

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 27/02/2026

Enough about the elephant in the room. Let’s talk about what’s INSIDE it. Namely, 15 weird, wonderful minigames of all types to delight, dazzle, and discombobulate you. Wishlist Good Things Vol 1 on Steam, and play the #SteamNextFest demo store.steampowered.com/app/3900940/... #gamedev #indiegame

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 27/02/2026

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 25/02/2026

I’m making Good Things Vol 1 because I love the weird creativity and energy of the Flash era, and wanted to bring that back through a whole bunch of minigames. Also so I could make this GIF :) Wishlist and play the #SteamNextFest demo: store.steampowered.com/app/3900940/... #gamedev #indiegame

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Wonderful Elephant 🐘✨ @wonderfulelephant.com · 24/02/2026

Found a great hack to increase your death count in Coyote Time in the Good Things Vol 1 demo. :) Download the demo and try it for yourself today! What do you mean that’s not the point store.steampowered.com/app/3900940/... #gamedev #steamnextfest #indiegame

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 23/02/2026

The demo for Good Things Vol 1 is live for #SteamNextFest! These games embody everything that I love about the Flash game era; they’re weird, they’re experimental, they’re different, and most importantly… they were fun to make! Download the demo and wishlist!🐘 store.steampowered.com/app/3900940/...

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 23/02/2026

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Wonderful Elephant 🐘✨ @wonderfulelephant.com · 23/02/2026

Can you really claim to love your boyfriend if you don’t shrink yourself down to unobstruct his guts for him? You won’t find THAT in Wuthering Heights, pal. Download the demo (with three whole games!) for Good Things Vol 1 now, for love, for #SteamNextFest! store.steampowered.com/app/3900940/...

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 16/02/2026

The Elephant Collection is 50% OFF as part of the Game Over T1D Sale, alongside 50+ other games/DLC! Check out the event, each company involved will also donate to Breakthrough T1D to help find cures for #type1diabetes! 💙 store.steampowered.com/app/2274110/...

store.steampowered.com

Save 50% on The Elephant Collection on Steam

Say helloaphant to jmtb02’s classic series of elephant games–now remastered into one elephant-sized package!

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 14/02/2026

My Gmail is this and its getting so weird. Three ads all formatted the same way, as if there wasn't other ways to format ads

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 12/02/2026

When I was 18 I made a short animated film about climate change It screened at film festivals in New York (HBO!), in Santa Fe, in San Francisco, San Jose, and won several awards I'm 39 now, and the US is still fighting the idea that climate change doesn't exist www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSOM...

youtube.com

Neglected Sky

YouTube video by mediathatmatters

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Amicable Animal - New CRT7 demo OUT NOW! 🦝🏳️‍🌈 @amicableanimal.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Fuck me this is just naked transphobia being pedaled as fact. Zero evidence given and the argument is logically nonsensical. Of course many people don't, because you're making sure it's impossible to do so. Cool you're demanding teachers out kids to potentially abusive parents though. Real nice 😑

A screenshot of a news article which reads:

Overall, the new guidance also makes a clear distinction between a child's wishes, and what might be in their best interests.

There is a reminder that while some children explore different gender identities, most do not go on as adults to fully transition to a different gender from their biological sex.

"What comes across quite strongly in the guidance is that proceeding with a social transition is going to be very much the exception, rather than the rule," Cass told the BBC.

She emphasised the importance of involving parents wherever possible, saying "children don't thrive well when there are secrets between them and their parents".

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 09/02/2026

Our studio @wonderfulelephant.com joins the battle! $10+ donation gets you our game FOUR SECOND FOREVER + 1,438 other great works all for a donation, drop in:

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Aftermath @aftermath.site · 04/02/2026

UPDATE: Following user backlash Adobe has changed plans, saying that while active development on Animate will cease, it will remain available for download.

aftermath.site

Adobe Is Ruthlessly Killing Off Software That Animators Around The World Are Using Every Day [Update]

'The entire toolshed is being demolished'

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 02/02/2026

Hey, @adobe.com, my name is John Cooney. I would like to help convert Animate into an open-source product I've spent decades making games, gave the Flash Games Postmortem (and the second one!) at GDC, ran Armor Games, was part of your Youth Voices program, and did your roundtables (for free!) <3

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 02/02/2026

Participated in the Adobe Youth Voices program in my late teens. Screened an animation I made in Flash in their offices in San Jose Sat in roundtables in my early 20's for Adobe, helping them shape the applications they made To their previous care, they ruled. Today, they just don't care

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