Effective date: September 19, 2026
Controller: Piece Factory LLC (“we”, “us”)
Contact: [email protected]

This policy explains what information Custom Hobo (the “Game”) handles, why, and what choices you have. It applies to the Game as distributed on Steam, including the demo.

The short version

  • The Game does not require an account with us and never collects your name, email address, Steam ID, Steam persona name, or IP address for our own use.
  • The only data the Game sends to us is optional anonymous gameplay metrics, and only if you explicitly opt in. The default is off. You can change your mind at any time in Settings → Privacy.
  • We never sell data, never use it for advertising or marketing, and never use it to train AI.
  • Steam features (achievements, Workshop, overlay) are provided by Valve under Valve’s privacy policy.

1. Optional anonymous gameplay metrics

What we ask

When you first reach the main menu, the Game asks whether you want to share anonymous gameplay statistics to help us improve the Game. Nothing is sent unless you choose Yes. If you decline, or never answer, the analytics component of the Game is not started at all and no connection to our analytics provider is made.

What is sent if you opt in

Gameplay events:

  • Missions started, completed, or failed, and how long they took.
  • Which job each player in the party chose for a mission, and the party size.
  • Objects and trigger links placed in the level editor (object types only, never your level files or their contents).
  • Amounts of the in-game currency (“biomass”) earned and spent, by source (pickups, rewards, shop, jobs, chunks, donations).

Technical fields attached to every event by the analytics software:

  • A random analytics ID created on your computer when you opt in. It is not derived from your Steam account or hardware and cannot be traced back to you by us. You can view and copy it in Settings → Privacy.
  • A random session ID, your session count, and session length.
  • The Game’s build version, and the analytics software version.
  • Operating system name and version, platform (Windows, macOS, or Linux), computer manufacturer and model name, and connection type.

Your IP address is technically visible to our analytics provider when your computer sends events, as with any internet request. The provider states that it uses the IP address only to determine your country and does not store it. We never see your IP address.

What is never sent

Your name, email address, Steam ID, Steam persona name, friends list, chat, custom levels, save data, screenshots, precise location, or hardware serial numbers.

We use these statistics, in aggregate, to see which missions are too hard or too easy, which features are used, and where players get stuck, so that we can make a better game. The legal basis is your consent (GDPR Article 6(1)(a)). We also rely on GameAnalytics’s own aggregated dashboards and do not export individual player records.

Who processes it

We use GameAnalytics (gameanalytics.com), an analytics service, as our data processor. GameAnalytics stores the data on servers in the United States (Amazon Web Services, us-east-1) and uses Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Imply as sub-processors. Transfers out of the European Economic Area are covered by the EU Standard Contractual Clauses incorporated in GameAnalytics’s Data Processing Addendum. Events travel from your computer to GameAnalytics over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection made through the Steam client’s networking service.

How long it is kept

GameAnalytics keeps raw event data for up to one month and aggregated data for up to twelve months, after which it is deleted or permanently anonymized. Nothing about you is kept on our own systems.

Changing your mind

Open Settings → Privacy and set Anonymous Metrics to Opted Out, then save. The Game immediately stops sending events, shuts the analytics component down, and deletes the analytics ID and any unsent events from your computer. If you opt in again later, a brand new analytics ID is created, so earlier data cannot be linked to the new data. Data already received by GameAnalytics before you opted out is deleted on its normal schedule, or sooner if you ask us (see section 5).

2. Steam

The Game runs on Steam and uses Steamworks features provided by Valve Corporation:

  • Ownership and launch. Steam tells the Game that you own it. We do not receive your Steam ID from this.
  • Achievements. Achievements you unlock are stored by Valve on your Steam profile.
  • Steam Workshop. If you publish a custom level, it is uploaded to the Workshop under your own Steam account and becomes public under Valve’s Workshop terms. Subscribing to levels downloads them through Steam.
  • Steam overlay. Links in the Game (wiki, bug reports, this policy) open in the Steam overlay.
  • Persona name. The Game reads your Steam persona name to label your local player profile on your own computer. It stays on your computer.

All of this is governed by Valve’s privacy policy and the Steam Subscriber Agreement.

3. Data stored on your computer

The Game keeps player profiles, settings, key bindings, custom levels, and log files in its data folder on your computer. None of it is transmitted to us. Log files are for troubleshooting; if you choose to share one with a bug report, you decide what to share.

4. Bug reports and community sites

The Report button opens our public bug tracker on GitHub. Anything you post there is public and handled under GitHub’s privacy statement. The Custom Hobo wiki and website are separate sites with their own policies.

5. Your rights

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with similar laws, you have the right to access, correct, delete, or restrict the processing of your personal data, to data portability, to object to processing, to withdraw consent at any time, and to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

Because the only data we hold is keyed by a random analytics ID, we cannot tell which records are yours unless you give us that ID. To exercise your rights:

  1. Open Settings → Privacy and click the Analytics ID button to copy it.
  2. Email [email protected] with your request and the ID.

We will act on your request, including asking GameAnalytics to delete the matching records, within one month.

6. Children

The Game is not directed at children under 16. If you are under 16, please do not opt in to anonymous metrics unless a parent or guardian agrees. If you believe a child has opted in, contact us and we will delete the data.

7. Security

Metrics are sent over encrypted connections. Our analytics account is protected by unique credentials, and the keys that identify the Game to GameAnalytics are not shared.

8. Changes to this policy

We will post any changes here and update the effective date. If a change would affect what is collected under your consent, the Game will ask you again before sending anything new.

9. Contact

Piece Factory LLC
[email protected]