Privacy policy

The short version: our games don't ask for your name, email, contacts or location. When you play online, we store a random player ID, the name you pick, and your game progress. We don't sell anything about you.

Last updated October 29, 2026

Who we are

Nothing Ordinary Studio ("we", "us") is an independent game studio based in Dublin, Ohio, USA. You can reach us at support@nothingordinarystudio.com.

What this covers

This policy covers this website and our games on iPhone, iPad and Android:

Dead Signal: Rift Protocol
Tiny Town Tycoon
Pawtopia: A Cozy Pet Paradise
Lumenfall: Echoes of the Veil
Pupvilla
Barkbound: Idle Dog Adventure

It also covers future games we publish that link to this page.

What we collect

Things that stay on your device

Your settings, controls layout and local save live on your phone. We can't see them unless you turn on online features or send them to us yourself.

Your online game account

The first time you use an online feature (cloud save, leaderboards, friends, guilds or online play), the game creates a guest account. It contains:

a random player ID and a random sign-in key stored on your device,
the display name you choose, which other players can see,
a friend code that other players can use to add you,
when the account was created and when it was last used.

We don't ask for or store your real name, email address, phone number, password, contacts, photos or precise location.

Game data

Depending on the game and the features you use, we store your cloud save, leaderboard scores, friends list, players you've blocked, guild membership, gifts, likes and help sent between friends, neighborhood and community-order progress, and a snapshot of your town or village that your friends can visit. In Pupvilla's online world, the server stores your pup's profile and progress, and other players in shared areas see your pup's name, look and position.

Online play

When you play a match online, our server passes game updates between the players in your room so the match can run. Some matches (such as Dead Signal online squads) run on our server itself: it receives your controls and sends the match back to everyone, and briefly remembers which room you were in so you can rejoin if you lose signal. We don't record or store match updates after the match ends, and our games don't have free text or voice chat (some have preset emotes). If you report a player, we keep the report (the reason you picked and any note you add) so we can review it.

Technical information

Like any internet service, our server receives your device's IP address when you connect. We use it to connect you and to stop abuse, such as limiting how many accounts can be made in a short time. IP addresses are not saved in our game database. Server logs are deleted automatically within 14 days.

If you choose to share crash reports or analytics with developers in your phone's settings, Apple or Google may pass anonymous crash reports and usage statistics to us. Some of our games keep a diagnostics log on your device that we only receive if you send it to us.

When you contact us

If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you include in the message, and use them only to help you.

Some of our games show ads, or may in a future update. Ads are provided by Google AdMob. When an ad is shown, Google may collect your device's advertising ID, IP address, approximate location (country or city level) and how you interact with ads, to show ads, measure them and prevent fraud.

On iPhone and iPad, ads are only personalized if you allow tracking when the game asks. You can change this anytime in Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking.
On Android, you can reset or delete your advertising ID in Settings > Privacy > Ads (or Settings > Google > Ads).
Where the law requires it (for example in the EU, UK and some US states), the game asks for your consent before personalized ads are shown, and you can change your choice in the game's settings.

Learn more in how Google uses information from apps that use its services.

Purchases

Our games don't currently sell anything for real money. Any in-game shop uses free demo purchases. If that changes, payments will be handled entirely by the App Store or Google Play, and we'll never see your card or payment details.

How we use it

to run the online features you use: saves, leaderboards, friends, guilds, gifts and online matches,
to keep games fair and safe: review reports, block cheating and suspend accounts that break our terms,
to fix bugs and keep the servers running well,
to show ads in games that have them, as described above,
to answer your messages.

We don't sell your personal information, and we don't share it for cross-context behavioral advertising except through ads as described above, which you can turn off.

Other players can see your display name, scores, guild and, for friends, your shared town or village. Beyond that, data is handled by these service providers on our behalf:

Vultr, which hosts our game server in the United States,
Cloudflare, which runs this website, our domain name and our email forwarding,
Google AdMob, for games that show ads,
Apple and Google, which distribute our games and, if you opt in, provide crash reports.

We may also share information if the law requires it, or to protect players and our games from fraud or abuse.

How long we keep it

Your online account and game data are kept while you use them.
Accounts that haven't been used online for 24 months are deleted automatically, together with everything saved with them.
Pupvilla world profiles are kept while the world is running; ask us to delete yours at any time.
Gifts and help messages are removed 7 days after you collect them, and after 60 days if never collected.
Database backups are kept for 7 days. Server logs are kept for up to 14 days.
Player reports are kept until they're reviewed and for as long as needed to keep the game safe.

Your choices and rights

You can play our games without using any online features.
You can change your display name, block players, and leave guilds in the game.
You can delete your online account and data from the game's settings or by emailing us.
You can ask us for a copy of your data or to correct it by emailing support@nothingordinarystudio.com with your player ID (shown in the game's settings).

Depending on where you live (for example California, other US states, the EU or the UK), you may have the right to access, correct, delete or port your data, to object to or limit some uses of it, and to complain to your local data protection authority. Email us to use any of these rights. We won't treat you differently for using them.

For people in the EU and UK: we rely on providing the game service you asked for (contract) to run online features, on our legitimate interest in keeping games safe and working, and on your consent for personalized ads.

Children

Our games are made for a general audience and are not directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has used our online features, email us and we'll delete the account.

Security and location of data

Connections to our game server are encrypted (HTTPS, secure WebSockets, and DTLS for Pupvilla's online world from Pupvilla 1.0.1). Sign-in keys are stored on our server only in hashed form. Our server is in the United States, so if you play from another country, your data is transferred to and stored in the US. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your data and keep as little of it as we can.

Changes and contact

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top of this page, and tell you in the game if the change is significant.

Questions? Email support@nothingordinarystudio.com.