Developer agreement

Last updated 24 October 2026

This agreement is between Saratoga Games, which owns and runs Smaz Games (smazgames.com), and you, the developer named in your developer account. We are based in Plattekloof, Cape Town, South Africa. It applies when you submit games to Smaz Games. The Player terms, Acceptable use policy, Privacy policy and Copyright policy also apply.

Who can sign up

You must be an adult and, if you act for a business, authorised to bind it. Your developer account is separate from your player profile, although both use the same sign-in. It holds your studio name and, if you add them, your website, a description and a billing email address. Your studio name is shown on your game pages. We do not show your billing email or private business details publicly.

Accept this agreement when you create your developer account, before you submit a game.

Ownership

You keep all ownership of your games, artwork, music, trademarks and other materials. Nothing in this agreement transfers ownership to us.

Licence you give us

For each build we approve, you give Saratoga Games a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence, for as long as the game is published on Smaz Games, to:

Store, cache and back up the build, and deliver it to players in their browser.
Make technical copies needed to run it, such as compressed files and resized images or videos, without changing the gameplay.
Show the game's title, artwork, screenshots and video to promote the game and Smaz Games.

Our service providers may do these things on our behalf. The licence does not let us sell your game or source code, make merchandise, transfer ownership, or use your game or assets to train AI models. Builds that are not approved are used only to review and support them, and for playtests you set up.

Publishing on Smaz Games is not exclusive. You can publish your game anywhere else.

Your promises

You confirm that:

You own, or have permission to use, everything in your game and its media, including code, libraries, art, music, fonts and likenesses, and you meet the licence terms of anything you use.
Your game and media follow the Acceptable use policy and the law.
Your game contains no malware, hidden mining, hidden tracking or undeclared ad, payment or network code.
The information you give us about your game, including its devices, controls, content and the services it uses, is accurate.

If asked, you will show evidence of your rights.

Monetization at launch

These rules apply until we publish an updated agreement that changes them:

Do not put third-party ads, ad SDKs, trackers or analytics code inside your game. Smaz Games shows ads on the site around the game, not inside it. Send gameplay events to the site as the developer documentation describes; the site forwards them to analytics.
Do not include in-game purchases, payment flows, or links or prompts that send players to pay, buy or donate outside Smaz Games, including store and donation pages.
Rewarded ads, where a player chooses to watch an ad for an in-game reward, are allowed only through the Smaz Games SDK, and only while we have rewarded ads switched on for the site.
Revenue share is not active. We make no payments to developers under this agreement. If we offer revenue share, it will be through an updated agreement that sets out how revenue is calculated, the share, and when and how payments are made, and it will apply only once you accept it. This agreement does not promise any amount, traffic or earnings.

Review and approval

Every build, including every update, is reviewed before it goes live. We check that it works, follows these rules and is described accurately.

We may approve a build, ask for changes, reject it, unlist a game or restore an earlier approved version. Common reasons include:

The game does not load, crashes or cannot be completed as described.
It breaks the Acceptable use policy or these monetization rules.
It uses services, ads, tracking or network calls that are not declared.
Its description, artwork or devices do not match the game.
We have doubts about your rights to the game or its content.

We give a reason when we reject a build or ask for changes. You can fix the problem and submit a new build, which is reviewed again. Approval applies only to that exact build, and it is not a confirmation that the game is legally compliant or secure. We do not promise to approve a game, to review it by a certain date, or to feature it.

After approval, do not change the game's content or the services it calls without submitting a new build.

Players and data

Collect only the data your game's features need. Do not collect player email addresses.
Do not try to match players across games or sites, or to find out who a player is outside your game, for example by combining player IDs, usernames, device details or data from other games. Each game receives a different player ID for the same player for this reason.
Never ask for or use a player's Smaz Games sign-in code or session.
Your game must be suitable for players aged 13 and over.
Tell us at [email protected] within 24 hours of finding a security or privacy problem in your game that affects players.

Statistics

You see statistics for your own games only, such as plays, numbers of players, time played, devices, countries and return rates. They are totals. We do not give developers player names, emails, saves, friend lists or other personal data through statistics.

Player details and player tokens

Through the SDK, your game can receive a signed-in player's username, display name, avatar choice, a player ID that is different in every game, and whether the player is under 18. When your game asks, the site can also give it a short-lived, signed player token with the player ID, username, display name and under-18 flag, so your server can confirm who is playing.

Use player tokens only to verify who is playing your game. Do not share, sell, publish or log them, and do not keep them after verifying them.
Use the player ID only to recognise the player in your game. Do not use it, or any other player data, to build profiles of players or sell the data.

Your own servers and multiplayer

If your game uses its own servers, such as for multiplayer, leaderboards or accounts:

Declare them in review so the game page can disclose them.
You run those servers and are responsible for them, for the player data they receive, and for moderating what players do and say there.
Handle player data your servers receive lawfully, under your own privacy policy, and follow the privacy laws that apply to you and your players, including POPIA and the GDPR where they apply.
Offer free-text chat only to signed-in adults with a verified email address. Guests and players under 18 may get only preset messages or no chat. Follow the chat rules in the Acceptable use policy and the developer documentation.
Invite links may carry a room or invite code. Do not put personal information in them.

External links

Your game may open only addresses you declared and we approved in review, through the SDK, which asks the player first.

Error reports

When your game reports an error or crashes, we show you technical details about it, such as the error message, the game version and the device type, so you can fix it. Use them only for that purpose. Error reports and gameplay events your game sends must not contain personal data or player tokens.

Playtests

You can ask adult players to playtest an unreleased build. Testers opt in and agree to each session. You receive a video of the game area, a timeline of game events, the tester's device type and their answers to your questions.

Watch recordings and use answers only to improve your game.
Do not try to identify, contact, follow or publish anything about testers, and do not publish recordings or quotes that could identify them.
Do not download, copy, share or redistribute recordings, or show them to anyone outside your team who works on the game.
Recordings are deleted automatically 30 days after recording, and earlier if the tester withdraws. Do not try to keep copies.
Playtests are unpaid unless you and we have agreed otherwise and told testers before the session.

Removing a game

You can ask us to remove your game at any time by emailing [email protected], and we will take it down within a reasonable time. We may unlist or remove a game, with notice where practical. We may disable a game immediately if it is harmful, illegal or infringes someone's rights, including after a copyright notice.

After removal, we stop showing the game to players. Copies may remain for a short time in caches and backups, and we may keep records we need for legal reasons.

Ending this agreement

You can end this agreement by removing your games and closing your developer account. We may end it, or suspend your developer account, if you seriously or repeatedly break it, if you repeatedly infringe other people's rights, or where the law requires it. Your licence to us for a game ends when that game is removed, except for the copies described above.

Liability

We provide Smaz Games "as is" and do not promise that it will always be available or free of errors.

To the extent the law allows, neither party is liable to the other for indirect or consequential loss, including lost profits. If a third party makes a claim against us because your game, your servers or your materials break your promises above, you are responsible for the reasonable costs that result. Nothing in this agreement limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law, including for gross negligence or wilful misconduct.

Governing law

This agreement is governed by the law of South Africa. If you live elsewhere, you keep the protection of any mandatory laws of the country where you live. Please contact us first so we can try to resolve any problem.

Changes

We may update this agreement. We will post the new version on this page and tell you before a significant change takes effect. If you do not agree, you can remove your games.

Contact

Email [email protected] about your games, reviews, removals and this agreement.