Privacy policy

Six things to know

• The game can send us three kinds of data. They are crash reports, gameplay stats, and screen recordings. We use them only to find bugs and balance the game.
• The first time you play, the game shows a privacy screen. In some places nothing is sent until you say yes. You can change your choices any time in Settings.
• There are no accounts. We never ask for your name or email, and we never see your payment details. There are no ads, and we never sell your data.
• A company called PostHog receives and stores the data for us in the United States.
• To get a copy of your data or delete it, email privacy@gnomesoft.com with the player ID shown in the game's Settings.
• This website uses no cookies and no trackers.

Who we are

Gnomesoft LLC is a small game studio in the United States. We make Billionth Soul. We decide what the game collects and why, so we are responsible for that data. Privacy laws in the EU and UK call this the "controller."

Email us about anything in this policy at privacy@gnomesoft.com.

What this policy covers

• Billionth Soul, the full game, version 1.0.0 and later.
• Billionth Soul Demo, the free demo, version 1.0.0 and later.
• This website, gnomesoft.com.

Valve runs Steam, not us. Valve's own privacy policy covers what Steam collects, including the Steam store, your Steam account, and the game's Steam Community discussions. If you get the game from another store, that store's privacy policy covers what the store collects. Steam and Valve explains the parts of the game that use Steam.

What the game sends

The game sends data only to us, through a company called PostHog. You control the first three kinds below with switches. Your player ID, IP address, and device details go along with whatever you allow.

Crash reports

What broke and when. When something goes wrong, the game sends a short technical record of it.

• Error messages, and the place in the game's code where the error happened.
• Warnings and errors the game notes about itself. For example, if a save fails, the note describes how the saved game was put together, so we can see what broke.
• On Steam, a report when the game closes unexpectedly. It says which part of the game stopped, the reason and exit code, when it happened, how long after launch, whether the game recovered, the game version, and the status of graphics acceleration.

On Steam, a crash can also leave a crash dump file on your computer. Crash dump files stay on your computer. We see one only if you choose to email it to us.

We use crash reports to find and fix crashes and bugs.

Gameplay stats

Which cards you pick, how runs go, and which buttons you click. For example:

• When you start and finish a run, and how it went.
• Which cards you are offered and pick, and where you place, move, stack, sell, or lose them.
• Levels you reach, Research Lab purchases, Vent and Scrub use, and Daily Trials you start.
• Settings you change, when the game opens and closes, and how long it takes to start.
• Which buttons and other parts of the screen you click, and the words on them.
• Where on the screen you click and move the pointer.
• When you change your privacy choices, the new choices, where you changed them, and which version of the privacy screen your region gets.

These records use card names and numbers. They never include anything you type, except survey answers you choose to write.

We use gameplay stats to see where players get stuck, which cards are too strong or too weak, and how to balance the game.

Screen recordings

A replay of the game screen. Anything you type is hidden. PostHog rebuilds what the game window showed, plus where you moved the pointer and clicked. It records only the game window. It cannot see your desktop or other apps.

A recording shows whatever the game shows, with one exception. The rows of Daily Rankings show other players' Steam names and pictures, so recordings show those rows as blank boxes.

Some bugs are hard to describe. A replay shows us what happened.

The demo feedback survey

The demo may ask a few short questions after you finish a run. It asks only when gameplay stats are on, and at most once for each new set of questions. You can close it without answering.

Answers can include a rating, multiple choice answers, and an optional text box. Please don't include your name, email, or other personal details. What you type goes to PostHog and nowhere else. The game never shows it again, saves it, or logs it, and screen recordings hide it.

We use the answers to learn, in your own words, what works and what doesn't.

Your player ID

The first time the game is allowed to send anything, it makes a random player ID. It looks like p_ followed by 32 letters and numbers. We do not make it from your Steam account, your computer, or anything else about you.

The game saves the ID in its settings on your computer. On Steam, Steam Cloud copies it to your other computers, so your data from each one is grouped together. The demo and the full game keep separate settings, so each has its own ID.

You can see your ID in Settings, with a Copy button. Use it when you ask us about your data.

Once the game is allowed to send data, PostHog's code also keeps a few IDs in the game's storage on your computer, such as a session ID. These group the events from one play session.

Your IP address and rough location

Like any internet service, PostHog sees your IP address when data arrives. PostHog uses it to look up your country and your state, province, or region, and then throws the address away. Your IP address is not stored. We use your country and region to count players by place, which also tells us which privacy laws apply to us. We do not keep your city or your exact location.

Device and app details

PostHog's code adds a few details to everything the game sends. They are your operating system and its version, your screen size, the version of the web engine the game runs on, your time zone, your language setting, and which version and build of the game you have.

Bugs often happen only on some systems. These details help us find them.

Game settings from PostHog

Once the game is allowed to send anything, it also asks PostHog for a few settings when it starts and from time to time while you play. These include the link to the game's Steam Discussions, the wait time for Vent and Scrub, and whether data collection is switched on for your version of the game. This request carries your IP address and PostHog's IDs. Until then the game uses built in values, and it plays the same either way.

What the game never collects

• There are no accounts or logins.
• We never ask for your name, email address, phone number, or home address.
• We never see your payment details. Steam handles every purchase.
• The game does not send us your Steam ID.
• We do not collect your exact location.
• There are no ads in the game. We never sell your data, and we never use it or share it for ads.

If you choose to tell us something yourself, for example in a survey answer or an email, we receive it. Your rights explains what you can ask us to do with it.

The first launch screen

The first time you start the game, it shows a privacy screen before the tutorial or any other message. To pick which version to show, the game asks Steam which country your internet connection is in. This check happens on your computer, and the game uses the answer only to pick the screen.

The EU and EEA, Canada, Brazil, and anywhere we can't tell

The screen asks "Help us find bugs?" All three switches start off. Choose Allow all or Allow none, or set each switch and choose Save choices. Until you choose, nothing is sent and the game does not contact PostHog at all. While you decide, the game keeps a few notes about its own start, such as how long it took to load, in memory only. If you allow a kind of data, the notes of that kind are sent. The rest are thrown away.

The game also shows this version when Steam is not running or does not answer, and in any copy of the game that is not from Steam.

The United Kingdom and Switzerland

The screen is called "About the data this game sends." Crash reports and gameplay stats are on, and they start when this screen appears. Notes the game kept in memory while it was starting, such as how long it took to load, are sent then too. Screen recordings stay off unless you turn them on. You can change any switch right there, then choose OK. The same applies in Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, and Gibraltar.

Everywhere else, including the United States

The screen is called "About the data this game sends." All three switches start on. Crash reports and gameplay stats start when this screen appears, along with the notes the game kept in memory while it was starting. Screen recordings start only after you choose OK, and only if you leave that switch on. You can change any switch right there.

After a crash

Say crash reports are off and the game closes unexpectedly. The next time you start it on Steam, the game asks whether to send that one crash report. Choose Send or Don't send. Turn on "Always send crash reports" to send them from then on. If the game has no player ID yet, choosing Send makes one, so Settings can show it and you can ask us to delete that report.

Changing your choices

Open Settings and find the Privacy group. It has three switches. They are Send crash reports, Send gameplay stats, and Send screen recordings. A change takes effect right away.

Turning a switch off stops that kind of data from being sent. It does not delete what was already sent. To delete that, see Your rights.

The Privacy group also shows your player ID with a Copy button, and a link to this policy. If it says "This game has not sent any data," there is no player ID yet and nothing has been sent.

The game saves your choices with its settings, and Steam Cloud carries them to your other computers. Game updates do not change them. If we ever show the privacy screen again, your saved choices stay in effect until you answer it.

Steam and Valve

Valve runs Steam. When you use Steam, Valve's privacy policy covers what Steam collects. We don't control it.

Daily Trial leaderboards

In the full game on Steam, when you finish an eligible Daily Trial, the game posts your score to that day's Steam leaderboard under your Steam account. Other players can see your Steam name, picture, and score. The extra details on a score hold game numbers only, such as the game version, the difficulty, the board size, and your final population.

To stop posting scores, turn off Steam Leaderboards in Settings. Scores you already posted stay on Steam. To have one removed, email us.

To show the rankings, the game asks Steam for the names and pictures of the players on screen. It does not save them. Screen recordings show those rows as blank boxes, and gameplay stats never record the words on them.

Steam Cloud

Steam Cloud copies your saves and settings to your Steam account, so they follow you to other computers. Your settings include your privacy choices and player ID. You can turn Steam Cloud off for the game in Steam.

Your country and the Steam overlay

The game asks Steam for your country only to pick the privacy screen. Links you open from the game, such as this policy, may open in the Steam overlay's web browser, which Valve runs.

Who receives your data

PostHog

PostHog, Inc. is a company in the United States. It receives and stores the game's data for us. It works as our service provider under a data processing agreement. Some privacy laws call this a "processor." The agreement lets PostHog use the data only to provide its service to us. The data travels through g.gnomesoft.com, a web address PostHog runs for us.

PostHog is certified under the Data Privacy Framework programs for the EU, the UK, and Switzerland. These programs set rules for companies that receive personal data from those places in the United States.

Valve

Valve receives leaderboard scores and Steam Cloud files through Steam, as Steam and Valve describes. Valve's own privacy policy covers them.

No one else

We do not sell your data or give it to anyone else. The only exception is when the law requires it, for example a valid court order.

Where your data is stored

PostHog stores the game's data in the United States. If you live somewhere else, your data leaves your country. United States privacy laws may protect it less than the laws where you live.

For players in the EU, the UK, and Switzerland, PostHog's Data Privacy Framework certifications cover this. For players in Quebec, your data is stored outside Quebec and Canada. We assessed that risk before the game started collecting it.

How long we keep it

• Gameplay stats, survey answers, and crash reports are deleted automatically within 12 months of being sent.
• Screen recordings are deleted automatically after 30 days.
• PostHog also keeps a short profile for each player ID. It holds details such as your operating system, screen size, game version, country and region, and whether you answered a survey. The profile stays until we delete it. We delete it when you ask.
• Crash dump files stay on your computer. If you email one to us, we use it only to fix that problem.
• We keep emails you send us as long as we need to answer you and keep a record that we did.
• Your settings, saves, and player ID stay on your computer and in Steam Cloud until you delete them.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to do these things.

• See your data. We tell you what we hold about you and give you a copy.
• Delete your data. We delete everything PostHog holds under your player ID, including events, screen recordings, and the profile.
• Fix your data. We correct anything that is wrong.
• Stop using your data. Turning off the switches in Settings does this at once for new data. You can also email us.
• Take back your consent. Use the same switches, any time. This does not undo what was sent before. To remove that too, ask us to delete it.

You can also complain to the privacy regulator where you live. Notes for your region lists them.

How to ask

Email privacy@gnomesoft.com and include your player ID from Settings. If you played both the demo and the full game, send both IDs. We do not need your name. Asking is free, and we answer within the time your local law allows. Using your rights never changes how the game works for you.

If Settings says "This game has not sent any data," we hold nothing linked to that copy of the game.

Notes for your region

The European Union and EEA

The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, gives you the rights above. It also lets you get your data in a common file format and limit how we use it. The game asks before it sends anything, and our legal basis is your consent. You can complain to the data protection authority in your country. The European Data Protection Board lists them on its website.

The United Kingdom

The UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations apply. UK law allows crash reports and gameplay stats with a clear notice and an easy way to say no, because they find faults and improve the game. That is why they start only once the notice is on screen. Screen recordings need your consent, so they start off. You can complain to the Information Commission, still known as the ICO, at ico.org.uk.

Canada and Quebec

In all of Canada, the game asks before it sends anything. Features that could identify you, locate you, or build a profile of how you play stay off until you turn them on. These are the player ID, rough location, gameplay stats, and screen recordings. Your data is stored outside Quebec and Canada, in the United States.

The person in charge of protecting personal information at Gnomesoft is the Owner, Gnomesoft LLC. You can reach them at privacy@gnomesoft.com.

In Quebec, a parent or guardian must agree before a child under 14 shares personal information. If you are under 14, ask a parent or guardian to make these choices with you.

In Quebec, you can complain to the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec at cai.gouv.qc.ca. Anywhere in Canada, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at priv.gc.ca.

Brazil

Under Brazil's General Data Protection Law, or LGPD, the game asks before it sends anything, and our legal basis is your consent. You can ask us to confirm whether we hold your data, see it, fix it, delete it, give you a copy to take elsewhere, and tell you who we share it with. You can also take back your consent. You can complain to the National Data Protection Authority, or ANPD, at gov.br/anpd.

Switzerland

Under the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection, you have the rights above, and you can refuse any kind of data with the switches. Screen recordings stay off unless you turn them on. You can complain to the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner at edoeb.admin.ch.

Australia

You can ask to see or correct your data, or complain to us. If you are not happy with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.

New Zealand

Under the Privacy Act 2020, you can ask to see or correct your data. If you are not happy with our answer, you can complain to the Privacy Commissioner at privacy.org.nz.

California

• What we collect. A random player ID, your IP address and rough location, device and app details, what you do in the game, screen recordings, and survey answers. What the game sends has the details.
• Who we share it with. PostHog, our service provider, and Valve, through Steam features. We do not sell your personal information or share it for targeted ads. We do not give it to anyone for their own marketing.
• How to review or change it. Change your choices in Settings, and email us to see, fix, or delete your data.
• Do Not Track. Some web browsers can send a "Do Not Track" signal. This website tracks no one, so it works the same either way. The game is not a web browser and does not read the signal. Use the switches in Settings instead.
• Tracking by other companies. Valve's Steam collects data about how you use Steam, under Valve's own policy. Apart from that, we do not let other companies collect data about you over time or across other apps and websites through our game or this website.
• Screen recordings. They start only after you close the first launch screen, and only if you leave them on.
• Changes. Changes to this policy explains how we tell you. The date at the top shows when this version took effect.

Legal bases in the EU and UK

EU and UK law asks us to name a legal reason, called a legal basis, for each use of your data.

The European Union and EEA

• Crash reports, gameplay stats, screen recordings, survey answers, and a crash report you send after a crash rely on your consent.
• Posting Daily Trial scores to Steam relies on our legitimate interest in running a shared leaderboard. You can turn it off in Settings.
• Answering your privacy requests and keeping a record of them is our legal duty.

The United Kingdom

• Crash reports rely on our legitimate interest in finding and fixing faults.
• Gameplay stats rely on our legitimate interest in improving and balancing the game.
• Screen recordings, survey answers, and a crash report you send after a crash rely on your consent.
• Posting Daily Trial scores to Steam relies on our legitimate interest in running a shared leaderboard.
• Answering your privacy requests and keeping a record of them is our legal duty.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we limit the data to what we need, never use it for ads, and let you turn it off at any time. You can object by turning off a switch or by emailing us.

Children

Billionth Soul is made for a general audience. It does not ask your age. Steam requires account holders to be at least 13.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that a child under 13 sent us data, for example in a survey answer, we delete it. A parent or guardian who thinks their child sent us data can email us with the player ID from the game's Settings, and we will delete it.

Security

The game sends data to PostHog over encrypted connections. Only Gnomesoft can sign in to our PostHog project. No system is perfectly safe, so we collect as little as we can. If a security problem puts your data at risk, we will post a notice on this page and tell regulators where the law requires it.

This website

gnomesoft.com uses no cookies, no analytics, and no trackers. It loads no code, fonts, or images from other companies. Links to Steam carry a tag that tells Valve the visit came from our site. Once you are on Steam, Valve's privacy policy applies.

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we post the new version on this page and update the date at the top. If a change affects what the game sends, we also say so in that update's release notes on our news page and on Steam. Before the game sends a new kind of data, it shows you the privacy screen again.

Contact us

Gnomesoft LLC, United States. Email privacy@gnomesoft.com.

In Quebec, the person in charge of protecting personal information is the Owner, Gnomesoft LLC, at privacy@gnomesoft.com.