Northline Works
Privacy Policy
This explains what information Northline Works collects, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who else sees it, and what you can ask us to do about it. It covers this website and all of our games.
The short version
We do not run adverts. We do not use analytics or tracking of any kind. We do not sell or share your information with anyone for marketing, and we never will.
This website collects nothing at all unless you choose to send us a message through the contact form.
Crystal Drive Z only sends anything if you choose to take part in the online leaderboard. If you do, it sends the callsign you picked, a random ID for your profile, and your scores. Nothing else. You can ask us to delete it at any time and we will.
Who we are
Northline Works is an independent games studio based in the United Kingdom. For the purposes of UK data protection law we are the data controller for the information described in this policy, which means we are the ones responsible for it and the ones you can hold to account.
| Registered name | Northline Works Ltd |
|---|---|
| Company number | 17143832 |
| ICO registration | TODO: ICO registration number |
| Contact | privacy@northlineworks.net |
Northline Works Ltd is registered in England and Wales. Our registered office is on the public register at Companies House , searchable by the company number above.
We are a very small studio and we do not have a Data Protection Officer. We are not required to appoint one. Privacy questions go to the email address above and are read by a person, not a system. If you need to write to us by post, ask and we will give you an address.
This website
Visiting northlineworks.net collects nothing. There are no cookies, no analytics, no advertising scripts, no tracking pixels and no third-party scripts of any kind. We do not know who visits, how many people visit, or where they came from. That is a deliberate choice.
If you use the contact form
The contact form sends us your name, your email address, the subject you chose and your message. It goes straight to our inbox as an email. It is not stored in a database on the website.
| What | Why | Our legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Name, email address, subject, message | So we can read your message and reply to it | Legitimate interests - answering someone who has chosen to contact us |
| Technical information handled while the message is sent | To stop automated abuse and spam, and to make the form work | Legitimate interests - keeping the service usable and secure |
The form is handled by our own server on Cloudflare's network. Cloudflare processes the request on our behalf in order to deliver it. We do not use a third-party form provider and your message is not used for anything except replying to you.
Crystal Drive Z
Crystal Drive Z can be played entirely offline. If you never take part in the online leaderboard, the game does not send us anything.
The online leaderboard
If you choose to take part, the game asks you first. Taking part sends the following to our leaderboard provider, LootLocker:
| What | Why | Our legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| The callsign you choose | So your entry has a name next to it on the leaderboard | Consent - you choose to take part and you choose the name |
| A random player identifier | So the game can recognise your entries as yours and update them, without us needing to know who you are | Consent |
| Your submitted scores | So they can be ranked | Consent |
| Your rank and leaderboard entries | So the leaderboard can be displayed to you and to other players | Consent |
| Network and session information | Necessarily handled by LootLocker in order to deliver the request at all, and to protect the service from abuse | Legitimate interests - operating and securing the service |
The callsign is public. Anyone who plays the game can see it next to your score. Please do not use your real name, your email address, or anything else you would not want a stranger to read. If you have used something you would rather take back, email us and we will remove it.
The random identifier is not linked to your name, your email address or your Steam account. We do not ask you to create an account with us, and we do not have one to give you.
Changing your mind
Because taking part is based on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time and it is as easy to withdraw as it was to give. Email us and we will remove your entries. Stopping does not affect anything that was lawfully done before you stopped.
Playing on Steam
If you play Crystal Drive Z through Steam, some things are handled by Valve rather than by us:
- Achievements. When you unlock one, the game tells Steam. Valve records it against your Steam account.
- Steam Cloud saves. If enabled, your save file is stored on Valve's servers so it follows you between machines. The save contains your game progress. We do not read it.
For these features Valve is an independent data controller, not something acting on our instructions. Your Steam account and how Valve handles it are governed by Valve's own privacy policy , which is separate from this one. We cannot delete data held in your Steam account - Valve can, and you can ask them through your Steam account settings.
Steam also gives us aggregate sales and usage statistics. These are counts and totals. They do not identify individual players and we cannot use them to.
How long we keep things
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Leaderboard entries (callsign, identifier, scores, rank) | For as long as we run the online leaderboard for that game. If we retire the service, all entries are deleted. |
| Anything you ask us to delete | Removed within 30 days of your request, and normally much sooner |
| Contact form messages and our reply | Kept while we are dealing with your enquiry, then for up to 24 months in case you follow up, then deleted |
| Steam achievements and Cloud saves | Held by Valve under Valve's retention rules, not ours |
Where your data goes
We use two outside services. This is all of them.
LootLocker
LootLocker AB is a Swedish company that runs the leaderboard on our behalf. They act as our processor, meaning they handle the data on our instructions and not for their own purposes. LootLocker states that it stores and processes personal data exclusively within the European Economic Area, so your leaderboard data does not leave the EEA. UK transfers to the EEA are permitted under the UK's adequacy regulations.
Valve
Valve Corporation operates Steam and is based in the United States. If you play through Steam, Valve handles your Steam account data as its own controller under its own policy and its own safeguards. That involves data being handled outside the UK.
Cloudflare
This website and our contact form run on Cloudflare's network. Cloudflare acts as our processor for delivering the site and the form.
We do not sell personal data, we do not share it for anyone else's marketing, and we do not use it to build profiles or make automated decisions about you.
Younger players
Our games are made to be enjoyed by a wide range of ages, and we know some players will be children. We have tried to design accordingly:
- The online leaderboard is off until you turn it on. Nothing is sent by default.
- We ask for a callsign, not a real name, and we say so in the game.
- We do not collect email addresses, dates of birth, locations or contact details from players.
- There is no advertising, no profiling and no tracking, for anyone of any age.
- We have tried to write this policy in language a younger player can actually follow.
If you are a parent or guardian and you want something removed, email us and we will do it. You do not need to explain why, and we will not ask you to prove anything unnecessary.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- Be told what we do with your information - that is what this page is for
- Get a copy of what we hold about you
- Have mistakes corrected
- Have it deleted
- Ask us to pause what we are doing with it while something is sorted out
- Take it elsewhere in a portable form
- Object to what we are doing where we rely on legitimate interests
- Withdraw your consent at any time, where consent is what we relied on
To use any of these, email privacy@northlineworks.net. We will reply within one month. It is free.
Deleting a leaderboard entry: tell us the callsign and roughly when you played, and we will find it. Because we deliberately do not know who you are, that is the only way we can identify your entry - which also means nobody else can look you up either.
Complaints
If you think we have got something wrong, please tell us first - it is usually the quickest way to fix it.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection regulator. You can do that without telling us first.
| Website | ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint |
|---|---|
| Helpline | 0303 123 1113 |
| Post | Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF |
Changes to this policy
If we change what we collect or why, we will update this page and change the date at the top. If the change is significant - a new service handling your data, or a new reason for collecting something - we will say so clearly in the game and on this site rather than quietly editing the text.
Previous versions are available on request.
Questions about any of this?
privacy@northlineworks.net