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John Cooney

@john.wonderfulelephant.com
1.7K followers 191 following 322 posts

Video games 🐘 @wonderfulelephant.com, studio in Davis, CA ⚡ Former CEO of Armor Games, Dev at Kongregate 🧩 Flash Games like Achievement Unlocked, This is the Only Level 🌈 games are for everyone

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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 · 23/08/2026
launching a Flash game in 2026
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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 21/08/2026
whoh rainy + hot Gamescom!?
Screenshot of weather for Cologne, Germany, with rain in the forecast for Tuesday through Thursday, and highs of 70-84F and lows of 57-65F
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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 · 18/06/2026
xkcd.com/484/
xkcd.com
Flash Games
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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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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 12/06/2026
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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 · 30/05/2026
Hi Portland :) #pigcon
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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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lettuce @lettuce.blue · 26/04/2026
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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 · 09/03/2026
Hey, #gdc2026. This isn't okay
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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
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 · 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
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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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 · 18/02/2026
The Elephant Collection is a video game. It's 50% off and proceeds benefiting Type 1 Diabetes research. 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 · 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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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 02/02/2026
wow this sucks
Letter reads as follows from Adobe:

Dear John,

We’re contacting you to let you know that Adobe will be discontinuing Adobe Animate on March 1, 2026. As an existing Animate user, you may continue to use Animate, but please note that technical support will no longer be available after March 1, 2027.

Please note that access to your Animate files and project data will end on March 1, 2027. To ensure a smooth transition, we encourage you to export your Animate FLA and XFL files to other formats such as SWF, SVG, and MP4 files before this date.

Customers with a Creative Cloud Pro plan can use other apps to replace some Animate functionality, including Adobe Express Premium for quick creation of animated videos and graphics and Adobe After Effects for more complex keyframe animation using the Puppet tool. All Creative Cloud members can also use free animation presets in Adobe Express to animate text, images, and design elements.

For more information about the discontinuation of Adobe Animate, review this Adobe Help Center article. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Adobe Support.

We thank you for being an Animate user and a valued Creative Cloud member,

The Creative Cloud Team
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