CRIMELINK / FAQ
QUESTIONS
What is Crimelink?
A location-based crime strategy RPG for mobile. Your city becomes the board: real, publicly accessible venues become digital turf you can search for weapon parts, claim, and fight over.
Underneath the map it is a duel game. Fights are real-time — read the tell, dodge the swing, snap back a counter. Your timing decides it, not a dice roll behind a loading bar. Haul parts back to the workbench, craft a signature special onto your weapon, and bank what you carry before someone takes it off you.
For what’s live versus what’s coming, see the roadmap.
Do I have to go outside?
No. Crimelink is playable three ways: on-site, local, or fully networked. Networked mode never touches your GPS and still gives you the whole game — the map, the venues, the duels, the crafting, the crews.
Standing at a venue in person earns at a higher rate, because that is the point of a location-based game. But it is a bonus for going out, not a wall to keep you in. If you can’t travel, don’t want to, or it isn’t safe where you are — you can still play.
Which cities work?
Kalispell, Montana. One city, mapped street by street — 578 real venues. That is the whole world today, and we would rather say so than imply a network that doesn’t exist.
More cities are prioritized by demand. A Signal Map marker shows interest; it does not guarantee city support, alpha access, or a launch date. Flying between cities is on the roadmap, not in the build.
Is my location shared with other players?
No. Never your precise live location. Other players see your presence in the game — standings, crews, fights, bounties — not a dot following you down the street. That is a permanent design rule.
The app reads your location only while it is open and on your screen; background it and tracking stops. The public-alpha rule is that the main player record keeps only the most recent verified position—not a travel trail. The private build’s request and anti-cheat logs are still being brought into compliance with that rule, and public alpha stays closed until their redaction and retention pass. Full detail in the Privacy Policy.
Is it pay-to-win?
Right now the question doesn’t apply: there is nothing to buy. No purchases exist in the build. Every item in the game is earned.
That rule will carry into crowdfunding: supporter rewards are cosmetic and status-based. They will not buy combat power, venue influence, leaderboard position, faster progression, or any other competitive advantage—temporary or permanent.
Will alpha progress carry over?
Plan for a competitive reset when alpha ends. Combat progression, weapons and materials, currency, venue control, crew standings, and leaderboard records are expected to reset so launch starts on even ground.
Only account-bound cosmetics that are clearly marked as persistent before they are earned or sold—such as verified supporter entitlements or a specifically announced alpha outfit—may carry forward. Do not assume an ordinary alpha unlock is permanent.
How do I get into the alpha?
The launch list is not accepting registrations in this reveal release. Follow the official Discord and social channels for the activation announcement; the public page will change visibly when email and city registration opens.
Join the launch list with your email and a city/state selected from the U.S. Census place list, then use the one-time link sent to your inbox. Your entry and city signal do not count until that confirmation succeeds. Launch news and alpha invitations go to that list.
Joining the list is not a guaranteed alpha slot — invites go out in waves as the build is ready for more players. But it is where the first wave comes from.
How does the Signal Map work?
The current Signal Map is an interactive visualization preview using simulated demand bands. Its spikes, totals and selected cities are not connected to player signups or visitor data.
Only confirmed launch-list members appear in the totals. The first confirmed member who selects a city creates a deliberately dim signal after separately agreeing to singleton city visibility. It gets brighter in five demand bands as more people choose the same canonical city. We publish bands instead of raw city or state counts; the dim first band explicitly means one confirmed signup.
The marker is the public U.S. Census representative point for the selected place—not anyone’s GPS, home, device, or live position. The map does not publish identity, email, street address, or device location. Because a first signal reveals that at least one person selected that city, the form asks for that permission separately.
A signal helps us plan expansion. It is not a promise of city support, alpha access, or a release date.
What does it run on?
A private Android build is playable now, and every gameplay screenshot on this site is captured from it. The public alpha is coming.
iOS is planned, but there is no announced date. We will not call a platform supported until there is a tested build ready for players.
Who can join the first alpha?
The first alpha is planned for adults age 18 or older in the United States. Access will roll out in controlled waves, starting with the current Kalispell build.
Do I have to break the law? Is this safe?
No, and that isn’t a disclaimer — it’s a design rule. Crimelink never requires a real crime. No trespassing, no purchases, no interaction with any business, ever. The crime is fiction, start to finish.
Play only from lawful, publicly accessible areas, and never while driving. If a place is closed, private, or restricted, it isn’t worth a venue search — the interaction radius is deliberately generous so you never have to get closer than the sidewalk. Watch where you’re going: your surroundings are real and the game is not.
Virtual control of a venue is not real ownership or access, and a venue on our map is not a sponsor or partner. See the Terms.
Can I play with other people?
Yes — crews are real and running. Shared bank, shields, objectives, crew hunts, and live chat. You can also put a price on a rival’s head: bounties and marks are live, with a hunter rank track that’s entirely separate from your player level.
Fair warning: the world is new and thinly populated. Crews work; a crowd to fill them is what an alpha is for.
Where can I talk with the community and follow development?
The official Crimelink Discord is our central channel for player conversation and discussion about the game’s development. Official public updates also come from the @playcrimelink accounts linked in the footer.
Discord is not the channel for private account, safety, privacy, venue-removal, legal, or employment requests. Send those to the appropriate monitored email address instead.
My business is on the map. How do I get it removed?
Email support@playcrimelink.com with the venue name, location, your relationship to it, and what you want reviewed. We will verify the request and can hide a location from competitive play while a credible safety concern is investigated.
How it’s made
Crimelink is an independently developed, human-directed game. AI tools assisted with portions of the visual pipeline and implementation — and every shipped asset was selected, composited, repainted, and edited by hand. No generative AI runs during gameplay.
Nothing in this game got here by typing a prompt and shipping the result. It got here the way it looks like it got here — by hand, one pass at a time. The full statement — creative lineage, tools, and who decides what ships — is just below: Built with respect. Built in the open.
Something else
Read the reveal-stage Privacy Notice and Website Use Notice. The future team page explains our hiring principles, but talent intake is not active in this release.
Read the Privacy Policy and the Terms of Service. If you want to help build it, the talent network is open.
For general help, email support@playcrimelink.com. For press or partnership inquiries, email business@playcrimelink.com.