Starfall Privacy Policy
Effective October 29, 2026.
1. Who we are and how to contact us
Starfall Idle is an independently developed game developed under the Arion Game Studios name and operated in the United States. In this policy, “Starfall,” “we,” and “us” refer to the operator of Starfall Idle.
For privacy questions, access or deletion requests, or concerns about a child's information, contact Ares privately through the Starfall Discord. Ask for a private conversation about a privacy request. Do not post personal information, passwords, recovery keys, or exported saves in a public channel.
This policy covers the current Starfall game, its website pages, and in-game chat. Discord operates its own service under its privacy policy.
2. Information stored on your device
The current game stores your journey, Warden name and appearance choices, inventory, skill progress, achievements, settings, and crystal ledger on your device. Browser play uses browser storage. Desktop play uses local game files.
Chat separately remembers its guest session credential, display name, muted identities, read-message positions, selected channel, window size, and community-rule confirmation in browser storage. The chat credential identifies your guest chat session and should be kept private.
Manual backups contain the game information described in the export screen. If you enable automatic file backups, the browser may remember the file access you authorized. Those files are written to your chosen location. Any syncing performed by your own file-storage provider follows that provider's settings and policies.
Opening chat does not upload your game save or crystal ledger.
Optional Google accounts and cloud backups
Guest play remains available without a Starfall cloud account. If you choose Google sign-in, Google authenticates you and provides a unique Google account identifier. We store that identifier, a separate Starfall account identifier and the account creation time to connect you to your Starfall cloud data. We request only the OpenID sign-in scope. We do not request your email address, Google profile name, profile photo, contacts or Google password. Google identity and access tokens are used during sign-in and are not stored in the account database.
Google processes your sign-in under its privacy policy. Google receives information about your use of its sign-in service. We do not send your game backup to Google as part of sign-in.
Sign-in uses a temporary, protected browser cookie valid for ten minutes. A successful sign-in creates a protected session cookie valid for 30 days. These are first-party authentication cookies, separate from analytics. Server records contain hashes of the random session credentials, account links and expiry times. We use the connection address for request limits and service security. Signing out revokes the current Starfall session.
We upload a full cloud backup only after you choose to back up the current journey. Choosing to continue a reviewed cloud journey also enables automatic backups every 60 seconds for that journey during the current session. Reviewing a manual recovery, changing journeys, signing out or a conflicting cloud revision pauses automatic uploads. Temporary connection or service failures keep local progress and retry on the normal save schedule. Signing in alone does not upload or replace your journey.
The cloud stores one current snapshot, its revision, save time, integrity checksum and a short summary. The snapshot includes the active journey's Warden name and appearance, inventory, skill and combat progress, equipment, queues, crews, settlement progress, game logs and the shared achievement and crystal ledger. It does not include every inactive local profile or all interface settings. Account data is available to the signed-in account and authorized service operators.
The Crystal Shop can read server-held ownership records for the signed-in account. These records contain an upgrade identifier, grant time, source and a unique receipt reference. Uploaded saves do not create premium ownership. Real-money checkout and account-wallet spending are not enabled in this public release. Existing local crystals remain separate.
Queue Expansion I adds two queue slots while the matching account ownership is verified. The browser checks ownership periodically and keeps a short-lived result in memory. Sign-out, account changes, failed verification or expiry removes that runtime access. Already queued work is preserved, including entries beyond the base limit, but adding entries beyond the base limit requires verified ownership. Backups do not contain a trusted premium license.
Cloud recovery opens a separate Recovery journey. It does not combine simultaneous progress from different devices. A populated local crystal and achievement ledger is kept rather than merged or rolled back. A previously unused local ledger can be restored from the backup. A client backup is not a verified purchase record.
Separate account test features
The following wallet, reward-review and server-training features are available only on the separate account test service. They are not activated by the public account release. A one-time test grant and test-crystal purchases are available there. Test crystals have no cash value, and provisional test prices are not public price announcements.
The account wallet stores transaction identifiers, account links, unique event keys, signed crystal amounts, event kinds, upgrade identifiers and transaction times. The balance is derived from those records. Each purchase records its debit and ownership grant together. Save imports cannot grant wallet credits. A one-time earned-crystal transfer request records the local ledger identifier, requested amount, a digest of its submitted summary, request time, review time and decision. The request is an unverified claim until an operator reviews it. Submitting a request does not remove local crystals or credit account crystals. Only an approved operator decision can credit a reviewed transfer once. Existing local crystal balances remain separate and are not automatically converted into purchased currency.
The account achievement test also stores milestone identifiers, fixed reward amounts, eligibility and claim status, claim times, and review records. The account service directly verifies account connection and cloud-backup milestones. Existing local skill and combat achievements do not become verified from a save upload. If you request review, the game sends reward identifiers, local earned and claimed flags, a local ledger identifier and the captured backup checksum. It does not send the full journey for that request. An operator review can record a decision, time and supporting reference. A verified claim credits the account transaction history once. Local rewards and account rewards remain separate. Individual local-milestone reviews and a whole-ledger balance transfer cannot be combined for the same account or ledger. These records are included in account data export and removed from the active database with account deletion, with infrastructure recovery copies subject to the same up-to-30-day limit. The feature remains restricted to the isolated test site, with checkout disabled.
The separate Ruin Salvage account-training prototype starts only when you create its test journey. It stores a server-held journey identifier, rules version, revision, skill XP, test inventory, tool, selected activity, cycle progress, completion counts, server time watermark and recent event summaries. The service computes production from its own clock with an eight-hour absence cap. It keeps a bounded set of action identifiers, request digests and resulting state copies for safe retries, covering at most 513 recent journey revisions. These records are separate from local saves and the cloud-backup snapshot. Imports cannot replace them. Ruin Salvage crystal milestones reached in this server journey can be verified directly, including superseding an earlier declined local review when the server later has proof. Export includes the stored journey and retained action metadata. Account deletion removes the journey and action records from the active database together. They otherwise remain until account deletion or receipt pruning, with infrastructure recovery history subject to the same up-to-30-day limit. The fixed starter test kit and all progress remain restricted to the account test site.
3. In-game chat and moderation
When you join chat as a guest, the service creates a guest identity and stores your chosen display name, an identifying suffix, session information, the accepted rules version, and confirmation time. We do not ask for a birthdate. When you send a message, we store its text, channel, message ID, author ID, and time.
Public chat continues to use its existing guest identities in this release. Account-linked chat is available on the separate test service. If you are signed in there and choose to join account chat, a public chat identifier derived from the Starfall account identifier keeps the same chat identity across browsers. The chat room does not receive your Google identifier or private Starfall account identifier. It stores your chosen account chat name, rule confirmation and recent join, send and report times. Account chat sending requires both a valid chat credential and the matching signed-in Starfall session. Signing out or switching accounts stops that chat credential from sending for the previous account.
Choosing Link chat to account links the current valid guest chat credential to your account chat identity. Earlier guest messages and reports become associated with that public identity. We keep alias links so local mutes and existing moderation restrictions continue to apply. Linking does not remove a mute or ban. It cannot recover an expired guest credential or identify every other guest identity someone may have used.
Messages in General, Beginner, and Help are public. Other people can read, copy, or capture them. Do not include information you want to keep private. Guest names are not verified accounts or proof of a person's identity.
The chat service receives the IP address associated with a connection. It uses that address for request limits and stores a hashed version with chat sessions for abuse prevention and network restrictions. A hash is not a promise of anonymity.
Reports contain the reported message, report reason, reporting guest identity, and time. Authorized moderators can review reports and retained chat messages and apply chat restrictions. We use this information to provide chat, investigate reports, reduce spam, enforce community rules, and protect the service. Chat moderation does not require uploading your game progress.
4. Website hosting and analytics
We use Cloudflare for website hosting, security, and website analytics. It processes connection information, such as IP addresses and request details, to deliver and protect the service. Its privacy policy explains its own practices.
We use website analytics to understand visits and performance. Cloudflare describes its Web Analytics product as not using cookies or localStorage to collect usage metrics. Game and chat storage are separate from analytics.
The current game does not include paid purchases or in-game advertising.
5. Who can receive information
Information may be available to:
- Other visitors, for messages and names posted in public chat.
- Authorized people operating and moderating Starfall, for service administration, support, and handling reports.
- Cloudflare, for hosting, server storage, traffic delivery, security, and website analytics.
- Google, when you choose Google sign-in, for authentication under Google's own privacy policy.
- Discord, when you use the community server or contact us there.
- Appropriate recipients when disclosure is legally required or reasonably necessary to address fraud, threats, or abuse, subject to applicable law.
Using Discord is separate from playing the game. Information you choose to send through Discord is also processed by Discord. A third-party link does not make that provider part of Starfall.
Service providers operate infrastructure in multiple countries. Information processed through those services may be processed outside your country. Server data is not restricted to processing in the United States.
6. How long information is kept
The current service uses the following retention rules:
| Information | Current retention behavior |
| Local saves, settings, crystal records, and chat preferences | Kept on your device until you change or remove them, uninstall the game, or your browser or device removes the stored data. |
| Exported backups | Kept wherever you store them until you or your storage provider remove them. |
| Optional cloud account identifiers | Kept until you delete the Starfall cloud account. Signing out or removing browser storage does not delete the account. |
| Current cloud backup and its summary | One current snapshot is kept until you replace it or delete the Starfall cloud account. Infrastructure recovery history may contain earlier snapshots for up to 30 days. |
| Starfall cloud account sessions | Valid for 30 days unless revoked sooner by sign-out or account deletion. Expired database records are removed during subsequent sign-in cleanup. Deleting the cloud account removes all its active session records. |
| Premium ownership records | Kept for the account until account deletion. No real-money purchases are available in this release. A payment launch would require its own receipt and financial-record retention details. |
| Account wallet transactions and transfer requests | Kept until Starfall account deletion. A transfer request is recorded once for its account and local ledger, along with its review decision. Infrastructure recovery history can retain deleted records for up to 30 days. These are test wallet features, not real-money payment records. |
| Account chat profiles | The display name, rule confirmation and recent activity times are kept for up to 30 days after the last join, message or report, with the hourly cleanup cycle. The same signed-in account derives the same public author identifier if it returns later, but may need to choose a name again. |
| Linked guest chat aliases | Kept while the associated chat profile, session, messages, reports, moderator history or active restrictions remain. Restrictions can retain a link beyond normal history limits. |
| Temporary sign-in state | Valid for ten minutes, used once on callback, and cleared from the browser when sign-in completes or fails. Expired server state is removed during subsequent sign-in cleanup. |
| Public chat history | Messages are kept for up to 30 days, with an hourly cleanup cycle, and at most 100 messages per channel. Count limits or moderator removal can remove messages sooner. |
| Chat reports | Reports are kept for up to 90 days, with an hourly cleanup cycle, and at most 500 reports. They include message snapshots and can remain after a message leaves recent history. Newer reports or moderation can remove them sooner. |
| Chat sessions | Session credentials are valid for seven days. Account chat additionally requires the matching Starfall account to remain signed in. Expired session records are removed during the next cleanup, normally within an hour. Related messages, reports or restrictions follow their own retention rules. |
| Moderator action history | Kept for up to 180 days, with an hourly cleanup cycle, and at most 200 actions. |
| Chat restrictions | Kept while the restriction remains in place, subject to review or removal. |
Provider security records and backups may follow separate provider retention practices. Removing information from Starfall does not remove copies another person has already made of a public message.
7. Your choices and privacy requests
You can play without joining chat. You can disconnect from chat, mute other identities, and choose what information you include in messages. Chat choices do not disable the website connection or its hosting and security processing.
You control your local game data and exported backups. Removing browser or game storage can permanently remove progress and crystal records, so keep a FULL backup if you want to preserve them. Removing local storage does not remove messages, reports, or restrictions held by the server.
In Account & cloud backup, Download account data exports the cloud account's identifiers, creation time, active-session count, current stored snapshot and its metadata, server-held premium ownership, wallet transactions and transfer requests, and the current account chat profile with linked guest author identifiers. It excludes authentication credentials. This archive contains private account information. Keep it somewhere you trust. The account archive contains the stored cloud snapshot, which can differ from newer local progress. Use the game's full-backup export to preserve the current local journey as well. Public chat history and moderation records follow their separate retention and request process.
Delete cloud account requires a Google sign-in within the last ten minutes and typing DELETE before the final confirmation. It removes the Starfall cloud account's Google identifier link, current backup, premium ownership records, wallet transactions, transfer requests and all its account sessions from the active account database together. It does not remove local journeys, local crystals, downloaded files, your Google account, public chat profiles, messages, aliases or moderation records. Chat records follow their own retention and request processes above. Deleting an account prevents its existing account chat credentials from sending because they require the old signed-in account. Signing in after deletion creates a new empty Starfall cloud account.
Deletion cannot be undone through the game. Infrastructure recovery history may retain copies for up to 30 days before they age out. Provider security records and any records retained for legal obligations may follow separate retention rules. We do not promise that account deletion removes copies from every device or provider immediately.
Contact Ares privately through the Starfall Discord to ask about server-held information or request access, correction, or deletion. Identify the relevant chat name and suffix or the service involved. Do not publish authentication credentials or moderator keys. We may need additional information to confirm a request relates to your records and will seek only what is reasonably needed.
Depending on where you live and the applicable conditions, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, obtain a copy of, object to, or restrict particular uses of your information, or complain to a relevant privacy authority. Where processing relies on consent, applicable law may allow you to withdraw it. Requests are assessed under applicable law. Some information may need to be retained for legitimate security, dispute, or legal purposes.
8. Players under 13
Starfall is intended for players aged 13 and older. Children under 13 must not use the game or its chat.
If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information through Starfall, contact Ares privately through the Starfall Discord. We will review the concern and take appropriate steps to restrict access and remove information where required. Do not post a child's details in public chat.
9. Security and changes to this policy
We use measures such as encrypted website connections, hashed authentication credentials, access controls, and request limits to protect server features. These measures do not guarantee absolute security. Keep your device, backups, and recovery credentials secure.
We will update this policy when the service or its information practices change. The published version will show its effective or last-updated date. Where required, we will provide additional notice or obtain consent before a change applies. A policy update does not itself authorize a new use of information.