But a lot of those games with a ton of in app purchases are pay to win, and that would completely destroy a game that's supposed to be based on strategy.

I am in no way saying that we should turn subterfuge into such a game, i am just stating that in order to make a large enough profit on ONE game to be able to sustain a regular lifestyle of even 2 people it would have to be more cash shop heavy. This means that the devs need to either work on more than 1 project and put that out there OR add some more cash items, doesn't have to be P2W but needs to generate revenue.

Donations
Merchandise
Higher Access Licenses such as L3, L4, and so on. Which don't necessarily have to unlock anything but could show how much you back the game financially
Medals (as already implemented)
etc.

If the game turns P2W they will lose a large amount of players within days.

I am heartbroken to hear this news. Is there any word on how long the servers will stay up? I've only recently found this game but feel like it was custom designed by people who knew me and I'm ready to fork over cash to keep it going. I agree with others, please find ways to monetize things that don't impact game play and I'll be happy to offer up cash. Custom skins for specialists, additional tiers of security clearances (that maybe open up additional data tracking tools for past/current games?), whatever.

Such a same. I have had so much value out of my level 2 access was happy to pay and would pay for new features.
No other game on the mobile (or any platform for that matter) has scratched the itch that Subterfuge reaches!

Have the devs thought about a patreon account? This would give them the money to at least keep the servers up and possibly to continue development. It would be a shame if this game lost the ability to keep the servers up after so many years of development. As for spreading the game I believe that people who play lots of board games might be more attracted to this game. If you advertised this as more of a real time multiplayer board game you might get some more attention.

I just found this game recently by accident, definitely needs advertizing. Devs have already created one of the best mobile strategy games, now they just have to promote it and fine tune it to attract and keep players.

For what it's worth, we're not saying we're done with the game.

Right now it's not the primary focus of our efforts. We're still talking about doing a balancing update (with the fewest possible changes). After that, it's possible that we'll do some other updates in the future. We're just making no promises at all.

We also have no plans to shut down the servers any time soon. Right now it costs $80/month, and if the player base goes down, we could probably scale it down to something cheaper. So don't worry about that part.

Thank you Noel! It means a lot to us that you came to make this announcement.

Aye, Thank you!

I hate to be the harbinger here, but I feel that a balance update is pretty critical. At least, if you want current players to continue playing.

At the end of the day, what you're selling is entertainment. And with the current structure of the game, many who enjoy the concept of the game, don't actually enjoy the gameplay.

-

I fall into both categories. - I took a few month hiatus between December to Aprilish. THE ONLY reason I came back was because of the tweet you made about a possible balance update. But I also have no desire to stick around for a few months, or longer, for the potential of the possibility of a balance update that may or may not bring a proper balance to the game.


Edit:

By all means, do what you gotta do to survive. I can only assume that the reasons for not updating are purely of the financial nature. But for the reasons mentioned above, I'm out.