Privacy policy

AUTOGENESIS: the game, its demo, and playautogenesis.com.

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1 Who I am

AUTOGENESIS is a solo project. The Developer ("I", "me") makes the game and runs playautogenesis.com, and decides how the personal data described here is used. Under data protection law that makes me its "controller".

Contact: support@playautogenesis.com.

2 The short version

  • The game sends no gameplay data unless you turn it on. The switch is SHARE GAMEPLAY DATA WITH DEVELOPERS, and it is off by default.
  • If you turn it on, gameplay statistics and crash reports go to my analytics provider, GameAnalytics, under a random ID. Your name, email address, Steam ID and computer name are never sent.
  • A message you send from the game's FEEDBACK page reaches me with some details about your current run. This happens even when sharing is off.
  • Your saves and settings stay on your computer. Steam may copy some of them to your Steam Cloud.
  • This website sets no cookies and never follows you to other sites. It only counts visits anonymously, so I can see which pages people read.
  • To see or delete game data I hold about you, email me your ANALYTICS ID (section 6).

3 In the game

Apart from Steam features and links you choose to open, the game's only connection to the internet is the optional one to GameAnalytics described here.

3.1 Share gameplay data with developers (optional)

Where. Settings (PARAMETERS on the title screen) → GENERAL → PRIVACY. The switch reads SHARE GAMEPLAY DATA WITH DEVELOPERS, with the hint "Anonymous stats and crash reports that help balance the game." It is off until you turn it on, and the game never asks you with a popup.

The switch as the game shows it, in its default position.

Until you turn it on, the game does not connect to GameAnalytics at all. The one exception is a message you choose to send from the FEEDBACK page (3.3).

What is sent while it is on.

  • A random ID that the analytics software creates on your computer. It is not linked to your Steam account.
  • Session and device information that the analytics software records by itself: when sessions start and end, a session count, timestamps, the game version, your platform and operating system version, device model and manufacturer, and connection type.
  • Performance health: hardware information, and frame-rate and memory histograms.
  • Gameplay events: how far runs get and how they end, including what ended them. Which scripts, artifacts, exploits and event choices were offered, picked or passed over. What you hacked, with which operator and by how much. Combat length, damage, kills, and your HP, heat and gold along the map. Gold earned and spent, time spent on each screen, PRETRAINING unlocks, achievements, tutorial progress, and settings you change. Your controller button mapping and the identity of your controller are never sent.
  • Context on each event: the game build, how many runs you have finished, your LEARNING RATE level, the run mode, input type (mouse and keyboard, or a controller family), language, whether Steam is running (yes or no), and the current run's seed and act.
  • Crash and error reports: up to 12 per session. Each holds the engine's error message, which names a file and function in the game's own code, and the same run context. File paths are shortened so your computer user name is removed. The game also reports when the previous session ended unexpectedly, and on which screen.

What is never sent. Your name, email address, Steam ID, Steam name or friends list, computer name, your computer's user name, precise location, payment details, mouse movement or menu clicks.

Your IP address. Any internet connection shows your IP address to the server at the other end. GameAnalytics sees it whenever the game connects, which only happens while sharing is on or when you send feedback. GameAnalytics uses it to work out your approximate location, such as your country, which I see only as totals in its reports. I do not use IP addresses to identify anyone.

Who receives it. GameAnalytics ApS (Pilestræde 58, 2, 1112 Copenhagen K, Denmark) processes the data on my behalf. It acts as my processor under GDPR Art. 28, bound by its data processing addendum, and may use the data only to provide its service to me. I look at the data in GameAnalytics' dashboards, mostly as totals and averages. The game sends it over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection. GameAnalytics' privacy notice: gameanalytics.com (opens in a new tab).

Offline. Events wait on your computer (up to 512 of them) and are sent the next time the game starts online with sharing on.

Turning it off. Switch it off at any time. The game stops sending straight away and deletes the gameplay events it had not sent yet. At the next start it deletes the random ID and the other analytics files from your computer, so if you turn sharing on again later you get a new ID. Turning it off does not delete data that was already sent. For that, see section 6.

Legal basis. Your consent (GDPR and UK GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)). Keeping the random ID on your device also relies on your consent.

3.2 Your analytics ID

While sharing is on, and once the game has connected, Settings (PARAMETERS on the title screen) → GENERAL → PRIVACY also shows an ANALYTICS ID with a COPY button. If you send feedback while sharing is off, the row can appear for the rest of that session too. This random ID is the only link between you and the data.

The ANALYTICS ID row. Yours is a random string of this shape.

Copy it before you switch sharing off. It stays on screen for the rest of that session, but after the next restart it is gone from your computer. I do not know who you are, so without the ID your past events can no longer be matched to you, by me or by GameAnalytics. They age out on the normal schedule in section 7.

3.3 Feedback messages

The FEEDBACK page lets you send me a message of 3 to 1000 characters. Messages are sent even when sharing is off, because pressing SEND is your own choice to contact me. When sharing is off, the game starts the analytics software just to deliver that message. GameAnalytics then receives it with a random ID and the session and device information from 3.1, but no gameplay events, performance data or crash reports. That ID is deleted from your computer at the next start.

Each message also carries the game version, the screen you were on, act, depth, the run's seed, HP and max HP, heat, how many runs you have finished, LEARNING RATE level, whether it was a daily run, input type and language.

Under the box the game says "Sent with your run details. Leave out personal information." Please do. I receive what you type exactly as written. The game masks file paths but cannot spot names or email addresses.

If you are offline, the message waits on your computer and is sent the next time the game starts online, even if sharing is off.

Messages are stored at GameAnalytics under that random ID, and I read them there.

Legal basis. Your consent, given by pressing SEND (Art. 6(1)(a)).

3.4 Files on your computer

The game saves your progress and settings on your own computer. I do not receive these files.

Windows, full game
%APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\Autogenesis\
Windows, demo
%APPDATA%\Autogenesis Demo\
macOS, full game
~/Library/Application Support/Godot/app_userdata/Autogenesis/

They hold your settings (display, audio, language, accessibility, controller setup including the last controller's ID and name, and your sharing choice), the run in progress, PRETRAINING and LEARNING RATE progress, daily results, lifetime stats, achievements, records some in-game features keep (for example, a memory of past deaths), Steam Cloud sync notes, the analytics files from 3.1 and 3.3, and the engine's log files, which can include file paths on your computer.

To remove them, delete the folder. Uninstalling may leave it in place. If Steam Cloud is on, Steam can restore the synced files the next time you play (3.5).

3.5 Steam features (Valve)

AUTOGENESIS runs on Steam. Valve handles the data these features use, under the Steam Privacy Policy (opens in a new tab).

  • Steam Cloud: your run save, progress, stats, achievements and a few other progress files are copied to your Steam account so they follow you between computers. Your settings stay on your computer. I do not receive copies.
  • Achievements (full game only): stored on your Steam profile. The demo has none.
  • Daily runs and leaderboards (full game only): your first attempt each day posts a score to a Steam leaderboard under your Steam account, with a few run numbers: the build, the result, act, layer, time, combats, elites, bosses, scripts, hacks, gold, kills, and checksums of the run and its seed. Other players see your Steam name and avatar next to it, as on any Steam leaderboard. The game fetches other players' names and avatars from Steam to show them and does not save them.
  • Downloadable content: if the game offers DLC, it asks Steam whether you own it. Purchases are handled by Valve.
  • Links open in the Steam overlay when Steam started the game, otherwise in your browser.

Your Steam ID is used on your computer to mark your own row on the leaderboard. It is never sent to GameAnalytics.

3.6 The demo

The demo is its own Steam app with its own save folder and its own Steam Cloud. It has no achievements and no leaderboards. It has the same SHARE GAMEPLAY DATA WITH DEVELOPERS switch, and its analytics are marked as demo data. Nothing carries over between the demo and the full game.

4 On this website

4.1 No cookies, no tracking

playautogenesis.com sets no cookies. It shows no ads, uses no tracking pixels, embeds nothing from other sites, and loads its fonts, images, videos, sounds and scripts only from itself.

The site also keeps its own count of how often the home page has been loaded: a single running total, shown as the uid in the terminal at the bottom left of the screen. Nothing about you is stored with it and no cookie is involved. The site's server only asks the database that holds the number (Upstash) to add one or to read it out, and passes on nothing about your visit.

The site keeps a few small values in your browser's local storage so it remembers them between visits: your sound and motion settings, which of the site's hidden merits you have found and when, and a few counters its hackable numbers use. They never leave your device and I cannot see them. To remove them, clear this site's data in your browser.

The site checks which graphics chip your browser reports, on your device only, so it can switch to a lighter rendering mode on slow hardware. Anything you type into the site is shown on your screen only. None of this is sent anywhere.

4.2 Hosting and visit statistics

The site is hosted by Vercel Inc. To deliver and protect it, Vercel processes technical data about each request: your IP address and a rough location worked out from it, your browser's user agent, the page requested, the time, and the referring page. The request logs Vercel shows me are kept for 1 day. I do not use them to identify visitors. Vercel's own handling of this data is described in its privacy notice.

Vercel also gives me simple visit statistics: which pages are viewed, which site sent you here, your country, and your browser, operating system and type of device. No cookie is used and nothing is stored on your device. To avoid counting the same visit twice, Vercel uses a temporary code made from your connection details and throws it away after 24 hours. I only ever see totals, such as how many people read the privacy page this week. The statistics cannot follow you to other sites, and I cannot use them to tell who you are. I keep them for 12 months.

Legal basis. My legitimate interest in running a secure, working website and knowing which parts of it people find useful (Art. 6(1)(f)). Vercel's privacy notice: vercel.com (opens in a new tab).

4.3 The trailer

The trailer link opens YouTube in a new tab. Nothing from YouTube loads on this site. On YouTube, Google's privacy policy (opens in a new tab) applies.

4.5 Email

If you email me, I receive your address and your message. I use them to reply, and I keep them for up to 12 months after the conversation ends.

Legal basis. My legitimate interest in answering you (Art. 6(1)(f)).

6 Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access your data, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to its use, receive it in a portable form, and withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawing consent does not make earlier processing unlawful.

How to ask. Email support@playautogenesis.com with the subject PRIVACY REQUEST. For game data, include your ANALYTICS ID (Settings (PARAMETERS on the title screen) → GENERAL → PRIVACY → ANALYTICS ID → COPY). I do not need your name. GameAnalytics has no self-service tool for players, so I forward requests about game data to its privacy team (privacy@gameanalytics.com), which assists me with them. Your request will be completed within one month (GDPR Art. 12(3)).

Without the ID. The game data is stored only under a random ID, so I cannot tell which data is yours (GDPR Art. 11). If your ID was erased (3.2), your past events can no longer be matched to you, and they are anonymised or deleted when they reach the 12-month limit in section 7.

Complaints. You can complain to the data protection authority where you live or work.

California and other US states. In the last 12 months, and only if you turned on sharing or sent feedback, the game collected identifiers (a random ID and your IP address), internet or other electronic network activity (gameplay events), device information and an approximate location worked out from your IP address. My website host also processes IP addresses in its logs and to count visits anonymously (4.2), and I receive what you send if you email me. I use this information to fix and balance the game and to run the site. I do not sell or share personal information, and I do not use it for targeted advertising. I do not collect sensitive personal information. You can ask to know, delete or correct your data using the steps above, and I will not treat you differently for asking. An authorized agent may ask for you with your written permission.

7 How long I keep data

Gameplay data, crash reports and feedback at GameAnalytics
12 months on a rolling basis, then anonymised or deleted so that only aggregate counts remain. If I stop using GameAnalytics, it deletes the data within 30 days.
Files on your computer, values in your browser
Until you delete them
Steam Cloud, achievements, leaderboards
Under Valve's policy
Website hosting logs
1 day
Website visit statistics
12 months
Email
Up to 12 months after the conversation ends

8 International transfers

GameAnalytics is based in Denmark, with a UK affiliate (GameAnalytics Limited), and keeps data with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. For any transfer out of the EU or the UK it relies on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK International Data Transfer Addendum. Vercel is based in the United States and takes part in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, including its UK Extension. Either may process data outside your country. The details are in each company's privacy terms.

9 Children

AUTOGENESIS and this website are not directed to children under 13, and I do not knowingly collect personal data from them. If you are under 16, or under the age of digital consent where you live, ask a parent or guardian before you turn on SHARE GAMEPLAY DATA WITH DEVELOPERS or send feedback. A parent who believes their child sent me data can contact me with the child's ANALYTICS ID, and I will have it deleted.

10 Security

I collect as little as I can. Game data is keyed to a random ID, file paths are masked before sending, and data travels over encrypted connections. This site is served only over HTTPS and loads no code from other sites.

11 Changes

When this policy changes, I will update the date at the top. Significant changes will also be announced in the game's Steam news. This page will stay at the same address, because the game links to it: playautogenesis.com/privacy (opens in a new tab).

12 Contact

Questions, requests and complaints: support@playautogenesis.com. For a data request, use the subject PRIVACY REQUEST.