Shaft Bound
For parents
In short: Shaft Bound has no chat, no strangers and no accounts, and we keep no personal information. Progress is saved only on your child's own device. Google AdMob shows child-directed, non-personalised ads (Google receives some device information when an ad is requested; see our privacy policy). There is one optional purchase, Remove Ads, behind a grown-up question. Test versions may have no real ads or purchases at all.
What the game is
Shaft Bound is a 3D mining game with tower defense and building. Players dig tunnels, set up drills, carts, trains and defenses, and protect their mine from cartoon creatures that come up from below. The story runs through 10 regions with a boss in each, and then the mine continues endlessly.
About the creatures and fights
The fighting is mild cartoon fantasy: players tap creatures to bonk them, and beaten creatures and bosses puff into dust. There is no blood, no weapons aimed at people, and no swearing. We're aiming for the lowest age rating this allows (around PEGI 7 / ESRB Everyone); the final ratings come from the stores.
Ads, and how they behave
- One ad network. Ads come from Google AdMob, on Android and iPhone.
- Child-safe settings for every player. Every ad request is marked child-directed and asks for G-rated, non-personalised ads only. The game never reads the device's advertising ID, and never asks to track you.
- No banners, ever.
- Reward videos are optional. A video only plays when the player chooses one, for example "Double it" on the "While you were away" screen. The reward is shown first, closing early gives nothing, and each reward is paid once.
- Full-screen ads are rare. Never in the first session, never in the first 5 minutes of play, never during the tutorial, fights, bosses, digging or discoveries, and at most one every 12 minutes. Every ad can be closed after 5 seconds.
- No consent forms for kids. Because every ad is child-directed and non-personalised, the game never asks your child to agree to anything.
Purchases
There is one purchase: Remove Ads, a one-time purchase that removes all ads (including the optional reward videos). It sits behind a grown-up question (a multiplication question like "What is 7 × 6?"), and payment is handled by Google Play or the App Store. There's a Restore Purchases button if you reinstall. There are no loot boxes and nothing else to buy.
Starting over and deleting data
In Settings, use Reset progress to erase the game's progress. Deleting the app removes everything it saved. Nothing is stored on our side, so there is nothing for us to delete. See Delete data.
Report an ad
If an ad ever shows something that doesn't seem right for children, email orionlabstudios@gmail.com with roughly when it appeared and what it showed. We check every report and have unsuitable ads blocked.
Questions
Email orionlabstudios@gmail.com. We answer within 30 days. Full details are in our privacy policy.