Rescuing a Legacy Flash Game for the Museum of London

No source code? No problem. We reverse-engineered The Great Fire of London from Flash to HTML5, preserving a historic educational experience.

Legacy ModernisationReverse EngineeringHTML5Educational

Client

Museum of London

Context

Previous Tenure

Role

Lead Engineering

Tech Stack

HTML5, TypeScript, Phaser

The Great Fire of London interactive game was a staple in UK classrooms, but it faced a critical threat: Digital Obsolescence. Built originally in Adobe Flash, the game was slated to become unplayable as browsers dropped Flash support. This was a “Rescue Mission” spearheaded by Ocean View Games’ current Lead Developer during their tenure at fish in a bottle. The goal was to reconstruct the game for the modern web. The catch? The original source code was lost. The client needed the game preserved, but without the source code, a simple “port” was impossible. We treated the original game as a “Black Box,” reverse-engineering the logic frame-by-frame to produce a 1:1 recreation in modern HTML5/TypeScript.

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Our Contributions

🔍

Reverse Engineering Mechanics

Catalogued every interaction, animation timing, and win-state condition from the Flash version, then wrote modern TypeScript to replicate these behaviours exactly.

📱

UI/UX Modernisation

Re-engineered the layout from 4:3 CRT to responsive 16:9, decoupling UI from the game world so menus anchor to screen edges on any device.

⚡

Asset Optimisation

Extracted original vector assets into optimised sprite sheets, reducing download size and draw calls for fast loading on slow school Wi-Fi.

The Results

Still in Active Use

The rebuilt game remains live and in active use by schools and educators across the UK, years after the original Flash version became inaccessible.

Complete Preservation

100% of the original gameplay, animations, narrative, and educational content was preserved in the HTML5 rebuild despite having no access to the original source code.

Modern Accessibility

The rebuilt version runs on all modern browsers, tablets, and Chromebooks with responsive layouts, touch support, and accessibility features the Flash original never had.

The Tech Stack

HTML5

Flash

Chromebook

Gallery

Flash-to-HTML5 Modernisation - Illustrated Title Screen with Character Art & Fire Effects

Historical Narrative Engine - Day-by-Day Story Progression & Collectible Item System

Interactive Mini-Game Design - Real-Time Firefighting Mechanic with 2D Water Physics

Character Dialogue System - Illustrated NPC Interactions & Branching Narrative Scenes

Drag-and-Drop Sorting Game - Historical vs Modern Equipment Educational Mechanic

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. This is exactly what we did for the Museum of London's Great Fire of London game. We reverse-engineered the published SWF file, extracted asset structures through decompilation, and reconstructed the gameplay logic through systematic analysis. The result was a complete 1:1 recreation in modern HTML5. See our legacy modernisation service for more detail on our process.

It depends on the complexity of the original content. Simple interactive content can be converted in 4 to 6 weeks. Medium-complexity games with multiple levels and scoring typically take 2 to 4 months. Complex projects like the Great Fire of London, which required full reverse-engineering without source code, can take 3 to 6 months. We provide a detailed timeline after assessing your legacy content.

Our goal is always to preserve the original game feel 1:1. We maintain all gameplay mechanics, visual design, animations, audio, and narrative flow. Where we do make changes, it is to improve the experience for modern users: responsive layouts for different screen sizes, touch support for mobile devices, and accessibility features that were not standard when the original was built.

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Location

London, United Kingdom

Response Time

We typically respond within 24-48 hours