Terms of Service

1. Who we are and what this covers

Broadside Battle Arena (the "Game") is developed and operated by Siphaawal, an independent developer based in the United States ("we", "us", "our"). There is no company behind the Game yet; if one is formed, these terms will be updated to name it.

These terms are a binding agreement between you and us. They cover the Game client (including test and pre-release builds), our online services (accounts, lobbies, matchmaking, parties, chat relay, voice rooms, rankings, statistics, feedback, and any optional wallet or paid features, together the "Online Services"), and this website. By installing or playing the Game, using Online Services or using this website, you agree to them. If you don't agree, don't use the Game.

Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect and why. It's part of this agreement.

If you got the Game from the Epic Games Store, Epic's own terms and the Epic Games Store End User Licence Agreement also apply to your use of the store, the launcher and your Epic account. Where they and these terms cover the same ground, these terms govern the Game itself and Epic's govern Epic's services.

2. Who can play

• You must be at least 13 years old. Where the law of your country sets a higher minimum age for agreeing to online terms or for using online services without a parent, that higher age applies, and you need your parent or guardian's permission below it. The Game is not directed to children under 13.
• If you're under 18 (or the age of majority where you live), a parent or guardian must read and agree to these terms for you, and is responsible for your use of the Game.
• Optional wallet features, paid features and any tournament with a prize are for adults only: you must have reached the age of majority where you live.
• You must not be barred from using the Game by the law of your country, and you must not have been previously banned by us.
• An Epic Games account is required to play online. Epic applies its own age rules and parental controls to Epic accounts.

3. Your licence to play

We grant you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and play the Game on devices you own or control, for your own entertainment, subject to these terms. The Game is licensed, not sold. We and our licensors keep all rights not expressly granted.

You may not:

• copy, sell, rent, lend, sublicense or otherwise distribute the Game or any part of it;
• modify, decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer the Game, or create derivative works from it, except where the law expressly allows it despite this term;
• use the Game commercially, for example in a venue that charges for play, without our written permission. Streaming and recording your own play for a general audience, including on monetised channels, is fine and encouraged;
• remove any copyright, trademark or other notices;
• use the Game's names, logos or art to suggest that we endorse or are affiliated with you.

The Game is pre-release software. Features will change, ships will be rebalanced, matches may be interrupted, and progress, ratings and statistics may be reset. Please treat every build as a work in progress.

4. Your account

• We create your player profile from your Epic Games sign-in (or, where offered, Google sign-in). We never hold your password. Your account is yours alone: don't share it, sell it or transfer it, and don't use anyone else's.
• Your player name defaults to your Epic display name and is visible to other players. Names must not be offensive, impersonate anyone, contain contact details or advertising, or infringe anyone's rights. We may change or reset a name that breaks these rules.
• You're responsible for everything done through your account. Tell us at clawdistani@hotmail.com as soon as you think it has been compromised.
• You can ask us to delete your account at any time (see Ending the agreement and the Privacy Policy).

5. Rules of conduct

Broadside Battle Arena is a small game played by real people. When you play, you must not:

• Cheat. No modified clients, memory editors, aim or macro tools, bots, automation, packet tampering, or any software that reads or changes the Game's state or network traffic. No exploiting bugs to gain an advantage; report them instead.
• Attack the service. No probing, overloading, scraping or interfering with our servers, match servers, other players' connections or Epic's services, and no attempts to get around rate limits, bans or feature gates.
• Abuse other players. No harassment, threats, hate speech, discrimination, sexual content, doxxing, impersonation, spam, scams or advertising in chat, voice or names. No content that's illegal where you or the recipient live.
• Manipulate results. No match fixing, win trading, deliberate disconnecting to avoid a loss, colluding with an opponent, or using more than one account to affect ratings, queues or prizes.
• Misuse the Game commercially, including selling accounts, ratings, boosting or anything that trades on access to our services.

We may investigate any of the above. Our servers keep security records of sign-ins, matches and disputes for this purpose, as the Privacy Policy describes.

6. Chat and voice

• You are responsible for what you write and say. Section 5 applies to every message.
• You can mute any player's text chat in the Game. Voice rooms include only the players on your side of a match, and you can switch your own microphone off at any time (the MIC button, or the V key).
• To report a player, email clawdistani@hotmail.com with their player name, the match or time, and what happened. Because chat isn't stored, a screenshot or recording of your own screen helps.
• Don't share personal information, yours or anyone else's, in chat or voice.

Some countries' age-rating authorities treat unmoderated online communication as suitable only for older players. Parents and guardians should take that into account, and can use Epic's parental controls to restrict communication features.

7. Fair play and match results

• Our servers decide. Match results, ratings, statistics and eligibility for any competitive feature are determined by our Online Services, not by your machine or your report of what happened. In a casual match one player's computer may host the battle, but the result is still validated and recorded by our servers.
• Automated checks. Our servers flag results reported before a match could plausibly finish, matches an opponent never joined, disagreeing result claims and statistics outside plausible limits. A flagged match may be recorded with no winner, held for review or excluded from ratings.
• Disputes. If you think a result is wrong, contact us within 7 days with the details. A person will look at the records. Our decision on a match result is final, except where the law gives you a right to challenge it.
• Ratings and statistics have no monetary value, aren't your property, and may be adjusted or reset, particularly during pre-release.

8. Enforcement and appeals

If you break these terms, we may, depending on how serious it is: warn you, reset your name, void match results, exclude you from ratings, queues or competitive features, suspend your account for a period, or ban it permanently. Where we can, we'll tell you what rule was broken. For cheating, match manipulation and serious abuse we may act immediately and without warning.

You can appeal by emailing clawdistani@hotmail.com with "Appeal" in the subject line within 30 days. A person will review it and reply. We'll reverse any action we find was a mistake.

Banning an account doesn't affect anything you hold in a self-custodial wallet: those assets are yours, on the blockchain, and never in our custody.

9. Free to play, and paid features

The Game is free, and there is currently nothing to buy in it. Play, ranked and casual matches, squads and every ship are available to every player.

We plan an optional subscription for extras such as cosmetic skins, detailed statistics, match history, replays and private games. If and when we offer it:

• we'll show the price, what's included, the billing period and how to cancel before you pay, and we'll update these terms;
• paid extras will be cosmetic or convenience features. They will not make ships stronger or affect the outcome of a match;
• subscriptions will renew until cancelled, and you'll be able to cancel at any time to stop the next charge;
• where you buy through a store or platform (for example the Epic Games Store), its refund policy applies. Where you buy directly from us, we'll tell you the refund terms at purchase, and consumers keep their statutory rights (see section 20);
• digital features are delivered immediately. Where the law gives you a withdrawal period for digital content, you'll be asked to consent to immediate delivery and acknowledge that you lose the withdrawal right, as the law allows.

Prices include any tax we're required to charge unless the checkout says otherwise. Taxes that you owe on anything you receive through the Game are your responsibility.

10. Donations

The Game's title screen shows a public wallet address you can donate to if you'd like to help cover hosting costs. Donations are entirely voluntary, are not purchases, grant no features, benefits, rights or expectations of any kind, and are not refundable. Cryptocurrency transfers are irreversible by nature; check the address before sending anything. A donation is not an investment, and it doesn't make you a customer, a shareholder or a partner in the Game.

11. Optional wallet and blockchain features

• Self-custody. A wallet you create or import in the Game is yours. Its private key is generated and stored on your device, encrypted with a password you choose. We never receive it and can't recover, reset or restore it. If you lose the password or the device, the wallet is gone. A wallet created in the Game is a convenience wallet for play: don't move significant holdings into it.
• Your transactions. Every blockchain transaction is authorised by you, on your device, with your key. It is public, permanent and outside our control. You're responsible for checking what you sign, for network fees, and for any tax that results.
• Preview status. Wallet and asset features are in a limited preview. They may be available only to invited accounts, may run against a test network whose tokens have no value, may change without notice, and may be withdrawn entirely. Nothing you do in a test-network preview creates any claim to real assets.
• Cargo Loot Drop. A planned mode in which two players each commit game assets they own and the winner of the match receives both. When and where it launches, it will be offered only to adults, only where lawful, only under additional terms shown before you commit anything, and only on matches run by our dedicated match servers. Until those terms are published, it is not available to the public.
• Where it isn't allowed. Don't use wallet or asset features from any country where they're prohibited, and don't use them to launder money, evade sanctions, or transact with anyone you're not allowed to. We may restrict these features by region and may ask for proof of age or residency before enabling them.
• Assets aren't from us. The digital assets these features work with are issued by third parties on public networks. We don't issue them, custody them, set their value, or guarantee that any network, program or asset will keep working.

12. Tournaments and prizes

We may run tournaments, and some may have prizes. None are running today. Each tournament will have its own official rules, published before entry opens, covering eligibility, format, schedule, prizes and how disputes are handled. Those rules add to these terms. Tournaments are contests of skill; entry to any tournament with a prize will be free of charge, open only to adults, and void where prohibited by law. Prizes may be subject to tax and to identity verification before payment.

13. Ownership and your content

The Game is ours. The software, art, models, effects, audio, text, design and the name Broadside Battle Arena are owned by us or our licensors and protected by copyright, trademark and other laws.

Star Atlas. Broadside Battle Arena is inspired by Star Atlas and features ships from the Star Atlas universe under the rights that apply to them. STAR ATLAS and STAR ATLAS: POWERED BY THE PEOPLE are trademarks or registered trademarks of ATMTA, Inc. Broadside Battle Arena is an independent project and is not published by ATMTA, Inc.

Your content. You keep whatever rights you have in things you provide, such as your player name, chat messages and feedback. You give us a worldwide, royalty-free licence to use, store, transmit and display that content as needed to run the Game and Online Services, enforce these terms and, for feedback, to improve the Game without owing you anything. You promise you have the right to provide it and that it doesn't break section 5.

Feedback. If you send ideas or suggestions, you agree we can use them freely, with no obligation to credit or compensate you. Don't send us anything you consider confidential.

Your recordings. You may capture, stream and publish footage of your own play, including on monetised channels, provided you don't misrepresent it as official, don't use it to promote cheating, and respect other players' rights.

14. Third-party services

The Game depends on services we don't control: Epic Games (sign-in, the store and launcher, relay networking, voice, friends), Google (optional sign-in), our hosting provider, and, for optional features, public blockchain networks and the node providers that reach them. Each is governed by its own terms and privacy policy. We're not responsible for their availability or conduct, and a fault in one of them may make part of the Game unavailable.

15. Changes, availability and the end of service

• We'll change the Game. We may add, alter, rebalance or remove features, ships, maps and modes at any time, and updates may be required to keep playing.
• Online Services may be interrupted for maintenance, by faults, by our providers, or by events outside our control. We don't promise any level of availability.
• Online Services may end. If we decide to shut them down, we'll give at least 90 days' notice on this website and, where we can, in the Game. Where the law requires it, we'll refund the unused part of any paid subscription. Anything in a self-custodial wallet stays yours regardless.

16. No warranty

To the fullest extent the law allows, the Game, Online Services and this website are provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, and that they will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure. The Game is pre-release software; expect bugs. Nothing in this section limits rights that consumer law gives you and that can't be excluded (see section 20).

17. Limits on our liability

To the fullest extent the law allows:

• we're not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, lost ratings or progress, or the loss of any digital asset, cryptocurrency or wallet, arising from or related to the Game, Online Services, this website or these terms, however caused;
• our total liability to you for all claims together is limited to the greater of US$100 and the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose;
• we're not liable for the acts of other players, or for content they send you, or for third-party services.

These limits don't apply to liability that can't be limited by law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for gross negligence or wilful misconduct.

Your responsibility to us. If your breach of these terms or your unlawful use of the Game causes a third party to bring a claim against us, you agree to compensate us for the reasonable costs and damages that result, to the extent the law allows this in your country.

18. Ending the agreement

• You can stop at any time by uninstalling the Game, and you can ask us to delete your account by email. Deletion happens within 30 days, as the Privacy Policy describes.
• We can suspend or end your access as described in section 8, or if we end Online Services under section 15.
• Sections that by their nature should survive, including 13, 16, 17, 19 and 20, continue after the agreement ends.

19. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey, United States, and the federal laws of the United States, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute that we can't resolve informally will be brought in the state or federal courts located in New Jersey, and you and we each agree to their jurisdiction, except that if you're a consumer living outside the United States, you may also bring a claim in the courts of your own country, and you keep the protection of any mandatory law there (see section 20).

Talk to us first. Before starting any formal proceeding, email clawdistani@hotmail.com and give us 30 days to try to sort it out. Most problems are fixed this way.

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply. If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in force. If we don't enforce a term on one occasion, we can still enforce it later.

20. Your legal rights as a consumer

If you're a consumer, the law where you live may give you rights that these terms can't take away, such as rights about the quality of digital content and services, withdrawal periods, unfair contract terms, and where you can bring a claim. Nothing in these terms limits those rights. Where a term here conflicts with a mandatory consumer law that applies to you, that law wins and the term applies only as far as the law allows.

In the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, that includes your rights under the Consumer Rights Directive and the Digital Content Directive (and their UK equivalents). In Australia, it includes the consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law, which can't be excluded; where the law allows, our liability for a breach of a guarantee is limited to resupplying the service or paying the cost of resupply. Similar rules apply in New Zealand, Brazil, Canada and elsewhere.

21. Changes to these terms

We'll update these terms as the Game grows, for example when paid features, wallet features or tournaments launch. We'll change the "Last updated" date, and for material changes we'll tell you in the Game or on this website at least 14 days before they take effect, or sooner if a change is needed for legal or security reasons. If you keep playing after a change takes effect, you accept it; if you don't accept it, stop playing and, if you like, ask us to delete your account. Previous versions are available on request.

22. Contact us

Siphaawal, independent developer
United States
Support, reports and appeals: clawdistani@hotmail.com
Privacy: clawdistani@hotmail.com

These terms are written in English. If we provide a translation and it conflicts with the English version, the English version applies, except where local law requires otherwise.