Community - Message Boards

Hey Sleuths!

I've got some pretty crappy news to share: We're going to have to wind down Shades of Mystery by the end of the year. This is something I've really wanted to avoid, but I don't have a realistic alternative. With the demise of Flash, the game isn't going to continue to function in 2021 unless you use a very old browser.

- We won't be selling any new subscriptions to Shades of Mystery
- We'll fully refund the remaining time on any active subscriptions (your sub will still be active)
- The game will probably be coming down at (or slightly after) New Years
- As a thank you to everybody, in a week or so, we'll grant full subscriber rights to everybody for the remainder of the game's life.

The writing has been on the wall for several years. Adobe is retiring Flash https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html because it isn't standards compliant. I've had aspirations to migrate the front end to a modern javascript interface, but it would require a huge time commitment.

This sucks. I haven't updated the game much for years, but the project represents a ton of my time and energy along with major contributions by Sunny, YetiFace, Secret Squirrel and a bunch of other friends and players who were kind enough to pitch in. It's a lot to let go of, but it's important to recognize when the road you're on comes to an end.

Contact Information
CORPORATE OFFICE
1134 N 84th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
USA
206-734-HYPO (206-734-4976)

MANAGEMENT
Benjamin Ringold
President and Technical Director

Sunny Giron
Business and Marketing Manager


SLEUTH CUSTOMER SERVICE
help@hypoware.com

INVESTOR RELATIONS
investors@hypoware.com

Here is all of the info if anyone wants to send your comments about Steam to Benjamin at these addresses

Or you can post your ideas on Noir, which isn't a flash game and will continue to work as usual. There is a better chance of one of the admins reading it.

I will be waiting on the app for Apple and Android. I think it worth the switch. I'm ready to purchase today... If not your gonna force me to make my own sleuth application....

what happened to giving us all full subscribers rights for the remainder of the game, Admin? As you wrote in your post?

I have some good memories with Sleuth: Shades of Mystery. A rainy day, bundled up on the couch with some hot cocoa solving murder mysteries after a long day. Yeah I'll miss this game, along with many other Flash games that I loved playing. I do hope this game gets ported to another platform like Steam because if it does I'll buy it in a heartbeat lol. If by chance that doesn't happen, I'd like to say goodbye to all the sleuths here. I met some cool people and had some fun times. Good luck in the future everyone! :)

Good luck to all sleuths...Happy New Year...
I will miss this game too....a lot...
Met some awsome people here...

I think you will find that unless a problem develops with flash, we will still be able to play. Interesting though, the promise that we would all be subbed in the latter stages of the game last year never happened!! What happened to that?

Before the lights go out, I'd suggest contacting somebody at archive.org or Ruffle

They should be more than happy to help in preservation.
I'm sure nobody would want to see everything here be lost and forgotten as time goes on.

This makes me so sad :( I used to love this game as a kid and had only recently re-discovered it. You created something truly special here and I will always remember Sleuth fondly. Wishing you all the best.

This makes me so sad :( I used to love this game as a kid and had only recently re-discovered it. You created something truly special here and I will always remember Sleuth fondly. Wishing you all the best.