Privacy notice

Last updated 3 October 2026

NovaShard is a free, non-commercial fan revival of a classic browser space game, run by a small volunteer team. This notice explains what we store about you, why, who helps us run the service and what you can ask us to do.

What we store

• Your login: your email address and password. Passwords are stored only as a secure hash by our login provider; we never see them. Staff accounts also store a two-factor authentication secret.
• Your pilot: pilot name, company, level, currencies, equipment, quests, titles, ranks, position in the game and similar game progress.
• Gameplay records: events such as kills, boxes collected, purchases and rewards, and short behaviour summaries used to detect cheating and automated play (bots). Behaviour summaries are deleted after 30 days.
• Chat: messages sent in game chat are logged so staff can act on reports and moderate.
• Support: the tickets and messages you send us, and our replies.
• Moderation: warnings, mutes and bans on your account, and a log of staff actions.
• Technical data: our servers and providers keep short-lived logs, including IP addresses, to keep the service secure and fix problems.

Why we use it

To run your account and the game (our agreement with you when you sign up), and to keep the game fair and safe: preventing cheating, abuse and spam, enforcing the rules and answering support requests (our legitimate interests). We do not sell your data, show adverts or use tracking or analytics cookies.

Cookies

We only use cookies that are needed for the site to work: your login session, and security cookies set by Cloudflare (including the anti-bot check on sign-up and login). There are no advertising or analytics cookies.

Who helps us run NovaShard

• Supabase: logins and account emails.
• Vercel: hosts this website.
• Cloudflare: domain, security, anti-bot checks and email routing.
• Resend: sends account emails (confirmation, password reset).
• Our game server: a rented virtual server that holds the game database and its backups.

Some of these providers may process data outside the UK and EU under their own data protection safeguards. Our Discord server is run on Discord and covered by Discord's own privacy policy.

How long we keep it

Your account and pilot are kept while your account exists. Behaviour summaries are deleted after 30 days and database backups after 14 days. Records of serious rule-breaking (such as bans) may be kept after an account is deleted so the ban can be enforced.

Your rights

You can ask for a copy of your data, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete your account and pilot. To make a request, open a support ticket, or ask the team on Discord if you can't log in. If you are unhappy with how we handle your data you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

Age

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account.

Changes

If this notice changes in a way that matters, we will announce it on the website and on Discord.