iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 14h

it's Oct 5 and your child is 100% going to be Link, and you have a sword to make...

John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 01/10/2026

Creative friends, I had 5 days left on my annual CC plan and went into cancellation mode (was going to cancel and subscribe instead to individual apps). I got hot retention offers instead, might be worth trying if you're coming up on your renewal

screenshot asking "Do you want to keep or change your plan?" Offers are stacked left to right, the left-most is marked "Best Offer" and is Creative Cloud Pro for 90 days free. The next is 50% off the plan for the next 12 months, with regular US$69.99/mo at US$34.99/mo. The third option is Photoshop for $22.99 a mo which they already offer on their website, it's not a deal

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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 · 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 · 13/06/2026

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

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

I was between that picture and this one

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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 · 15/04/2026

wow US taxes are a bummer this year

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

Thank you! Added it to the wall in my office :)

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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 · 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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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 · 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 · 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

remember when Adobe Creative Cloud used to offer like 4-5 old download versions of Flash (and other Apps), and what a benefit that was? Being able to access old FLAs and source code, the dream! And then they took it all away and told us we could be legally threatened if we kept them installed?

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 31/01/2026

The final sealed Blue Elephant plushie sold for $202.50(!), 100% in-benefit to @alotrolado-org.bsky.social and their direct support to deportees, migrants, and refugees in the United States and Mexico www.alotrolado.org/letsdosometh... Thank you for chipping in, let's keep going 💙

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 29/01/2026

We're at less than 24 hours until the auction of the final sealed Blue Elephant plushie ends! 100% benefiting AL OTRO LADO, providing humanitarian and legal aid at the US border for migrants, refugees, and deportees See the details beneath this deeply regrettable elephant gif we just made:

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 29/01/2026

sharing the draft as the real one is healing up :). This is the Only Tattoo, he looks incredible <3

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 26/01/2026

Want a blue elephant plushie? We are donating 100% of the proceeds of the final, sealed, brand-new Blue Elephant plush to Al Otro Lado, an organization supporting refugees, deportees, and migrants in the US and Mexico. See the next post for details on how to adopt him 🐘💙

A blue elephant plush toy, seemingly balanced on a tiny table eating a plant

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 21/01/2026

We have joined the Itch.io bundle benefiting Immigration Law Center in MN. itch.io/jam/no-ice-i.... Starts Feb 9! Friday during strike we will auction a rare, sealed Plush in benefit of Al Otro Lado, which gives refugees, deportees, and migrants support on the California border www.alotrolado.org

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 21/01/2026

Our game studio @wonderfulelephant.com will be shutting down on Fri, Jan 23 in alignment with Minnesota and their General Strike While we're tiny and far away (Davis, CA), we stand with MN. No community should bear this pain alone We also have plans:

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 09/01/2026

applying for US Trademark is full of scams, but this one is the most egregious so far I was told that someone was trying to apply for my existing trademark (they aren't) Likewise they have "received my tm application from the USPTO" no they just scraped my details from the app

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 08/01/2026

I think a lot about how one day I emailed @newgrounds.com about wiring up 250 achievements into a game and they said, "YEAH LETS GO"

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 07/01/2026

I didn't realize how much of an upgrade to work these bad boys would be

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 26/12/2025

made a hotpot for the family last night, it's slowly becoming a Christmas tradition :)

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 23/12/2025

chase those feels, half off now store.steampowered.com/app/2274110/...

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 22/12/2025

The Elephant Collection is 50% off RIGHT NOW as part of the Steam Winter Sale! store.steampowered.com/app/2274110/...

A blue elephant alarmed that the back half of his body is missing. A cute little bone sticks out from his waist. Copy says, 50% off!

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 20/12/2025

It's that time of the year where I need to go to Christmas parties and people ask me how work is going and this is the last thing I've made

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 19/12/2025

Late night programming before tucking in

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 15/12/2025

You've heard of Elf on the Shelf, now get ready for...

html text, <blink>geezus John why</blink> on top of a blue elephant

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 12/12/2025

ordered replacement parts, gonna keep 'em going as long as l possibly can <3

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 08/12/2025

so far I've been hit with 10+ charges which needed refunds. Luckily both Ko-fi and Paypal have been quick to respond, but it required me turning off Paypal between I'll need to turn it back on at some point hoping the criminal has moved on to another account, it just sucks

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 08/12/2025

As someone relatively new to Ko-fi/Patreon, I wanted to share a lesson in fraud: Someone has been Carding my account... meaning they're using my subscription page to test credit cards, with the intention of using the card elsewhere and leaving my account with chargeback fees

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 07/12/2025

the Internet was supposed to be better than this

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John Cooney @john.wonderfulelephant.com · 01/12/2025

last year we had a few hits, including Pizza for Elephants, Don't Eat the Cake, and Batteries Not Included

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