Who we are
Shadow Development ("we", "us") is an independent game studio and registered business in Australia that publishes games and this website. This policy covers this website (shadowdevelopment.com) and our games, The Great Expanse and Project Teleran (a working title), on every platform they're released on.
We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). For any privacy question, email info@shadowdevelopment.com.
Our games
Neither game has ads, advertising identifiers, third-party analytics, tracking or attribution tools, an account or sign-in, or a social login. Neither asks for your contacts, location, camera, microphone or photos, and neither sends your saves, settings or play to us.
- The Great Expanse is a single-player game for iOS and Android. It plays entirely on your device.
- Project Teleran is a game for Windows PC that you can play alone or online with other people. We don't run game servers: online worlds are hosted by players, on their own PC or on a dedicated server they run.
The Great Expanse
Game data stays on your device
Your save files and settings (progress, items, options) are stored only on your device. They aren't sent to us, and we can't see them. If your device backs up app data (for example through iCloud or Google backup), that backup is handled by Apple or Google under your device settings and their privacy policies.
Device permissions
On Android, the game asks for permission to use vibration, for haptic feedback, which you can turn off in the game's options. Purchases use the store's own billing service.
Crash reports and statistics from the stores
If you have agreed in your device settings to share diagnostics with app developers, Apple and Google may give us crash reports and statistics (such as device model, OS version and app version). These don't identify you to us, and we use them only to find and fix problems.
Project Teleran
Playing alone
When you play alone, your world runs on your own PC and nothing is sent over the internet.
What's stored on your PC
- A random player ID, made when the game first runs, which lets a world recognise your character when you come back. It isn't linked to your name, email or any account.
- Your saved worlds and characters, your settings and any screenshots you take.
- A cache of game files sent by servers you've joined (see below).
All of it is kept in the game's own folder on your PC. You can delete any of it at any time by deleting those files or uninstalling the game.
Playing online
When you join a world that someone else hosts, your PC connects directly to theirs, not to us. To let you play, the host receives:
- Your IP address, which any internet connection needs. A dedicated server writes it to its log when you connect.
- Your player ID, so that world can keep your character for you.
- Your character: its name, progress, items and where it is in the world, which the host saves as part of that world.
- Your chat messages, which go to everyone in that world.
Other players in the world see your character, its name and your chat messages. Pick a character name that doesn't identify you if you'd rather it didn't, and don't share personal details in chat.
A host can protect a world with a password. Use a password just for that world, and don't reuse one you use anywhere else.
A server may send your game the files its world needs, such as maps, models and sounds. The game checks them before using them and keeps them in its cache folder.
Hosting a world
If you host a world, on your own PC or as a dedicated server, the information listed above about the people who join is stored on your computer, in that world's save and the server's log. We never receive it. Please look after it, and delete a player's data if they ask you to.
We don't run, monitor or control worlds hosted by players, and we can't see or delete the information they hold. Questions about a world should go to whoever hosts it.
Purchases
The Great Expanse offers an optional one-off in-app purchase, the Full Version, processed entirely by the Apple App Store or Google Play. We never receive your name, card details or billing address. The store gives the game a signed record of the purchase, which the game checks on your device to unlock what you bought, and gives us sales reports (for example, how many purchases were made and in which countries) that don't identify you.
Project Teleran is still in development. If it's sold through a PC store, that store will handle the purchase under its own privacy policy, and we'll name it here before release.
This website
This website is a set of static pages. It doesn't use cookies, analytics or tracking, and it doesn't load fonts or scripts from other companies. To remember that you've seen the short intro animation, your browser keeps one value in session storage, which never leaves your browser and is cleared when you close the tab.
Like any website, the company that hosts it may automatically record technical details of each request (such as IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time) to deliver the site and protect it from abuse. Those logs are kept by the host under its own policy, and we don't use them to identify visitors.
When you email us
If you email us, we receive your email address and anything you choose to include. We use it only to reply to you and to keep a record of the conversation. If you ask us to tell you when a game launches, we'll email you about that and nothing else. We'll never add you to a mailing list you didn't ask for. Please don't send sensitive information we don't need.
We keep emails for as long as we need them to deal with your enquiry and for our records, and then delete them. You can ask us to delete your emails at any time.
How we use and disclose information
We use the information described above only to provide and improve our games and website, to answer you, and to meet our legal obligations. We don't sell, rent or trade personal information.
We share information only with the service providers we need to run things (our email and website hosting providers), or when the law requires it.
Overseas
Our email and website hosting providers, and Apple and Google, may store information on servers outside Australia, including in the United States. We use well-known providers that protect information with appropriate safeguards.
When you join a Project Teleran world hosted in another country, your connection and character data go to that host's computer in that country.
Children
Our games are made for players aged 12 and over and aren't directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children. Project Teleran has text chat with other players, which we don't monitor, so parents may want to choose who their children play online with. If you're a parent or guardian and think your child has emailed us personal information, contact us and we'll delete it.
Your rights
You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it. Email info@shadowdevelopment.com and we'll respond within 30 days. If you live in the European Union, the United Kingdom or a US state with privacy laws, you have similar rights under those laws, and we'll honour them in the same way.
Your game data is stored on your own device, so you can delete it at any time by uninstalling the game or deleting its data. For a Project Teleran world someone else hosts, ask that host: we don't hold that data.
Complaints
If you have a concern about how we've handled your personal information, please contact us first so we can try to fix it. If you aren't satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.
Changes to this policy
If our games or this website change in a way that affects your privacy (for example, if we add new online features), we'll update this policy before the change takes effect and change the date at the top. Significant changes will also be noted in our games' store listings.