This week the final episode of Bow Street Runner went live.

It’s been a fantastic project to watch grow and develop over the previous five months from conception to conclusion. I’m proud of the work I put into it, of how closely the final product resembles the original Game Design Document and, moreover, of the sheer quality of output everybody else at Littleloud achieved within the tight timeframe and budget.

The press response to the game has been terrific, many surprised at how we’ve handled the adventure game mechanics (incorporating an RPG experience system with mechanical inspiration from titles such as Phoenix Wright and Trauma Centre) as well as seeing broadcast spec production values in a Flash game.

Wired linked to the game this morning which is both exciting and vindicating and, while the game probably wouldn’t stand up too well to the kind of tough scrutiny we give full-scale console releases, I think it’s a strong pointer to where high-spec Flash games are headed.

The enduring result of the project is a robust and interesting adventure engine which we’re already looking at growing and developing, using it to tell new stories and engage players in interesting ways via iterative game design.

Usually New Media releases try to reinvent the wheel with each new project but iterative game design (something the games industry proper does so well) makes players comfortable, and, of course, enables a developer to refine and define things more clearly from release to release. Here’s to whatever comes next.

Play the full size version of the game here.