DEV BLOG #2
Hello everyone, it’s been a while since the last Dev Blog and we have a lot to share!
As we now begin moving into the next phase of Rust Console Edition, we would like to take a moment to explain what’s going on behind the scenes. To start, crash metrics, both ours and those via the console platforms, are confirming a 96% decrease in game stability issues, with the remaining being edge cases. The most common is a crash during game resuming, which players are unlikely to be affected by. Community feedback via Discord, Twitter, Reddit etc reflects just how rare crashes in-game now are. A lot of the early major bugs are finally out of the way and the game is in a strong place.
During the lifecycle of a new live game we build confidence at each step and prepare for the next but no matter the number, length and size of betas or the internal simulations we run, nothing can fully replicate what over 100,000 concurrent players (players online at the same time) bring to the table. Since launch it’s been exciting to see the unique play-style of our players evolve over the course of wipes, and alongside the impact exploits found from early bugs it has taken time to get to the next step but stability is the foundation of everything else we will do in the future.
Of course, work does not stop in this area and will be ongoing with more fixes and updates to come but now we are running in a much more balanced form. More teams with breathing room to finalise newer content and features, meaning fixes for minor gameplay bugs, art bugs and quality of life improvements are now unblocked and will feature in regular patches.
Server stability has also massively improved too, unplanned restarts and outages are at all time lows! We have a lot of plans for servers to assure the least amount of downtime possible, but this sometimes can happen. Just know that we will act as fast as possible to get you back in the game!
Blueprint wipes
The next wipe will be a blueprint wipe! We intended to wait for the Tech Tree related update, which enforces a blueprint wipe. However, in light of the imbalance caused by the launch site window exploit it is best to wipe now. Server names are changing, we are adding more weekly servers, which are currently planned to now always blueprint wipe (at least until the Tech tree update - subject to change) and we will also be adding new servers featuring a reduced 60-player slot limit.
Popular during the beta, the 60 player server configuration brings a different style of play and will be available at least until the community servers are released. By then we will reassess if they are being used, and if they are welcome additions to the Rust Console official server list.
Public Test Branch!
As you may be expecting, the Public Test Branch will see the roll out of features ahead of the core game - in the short term this includes the tech tree, returning monuments like the water treatment plant and more. The Public Test Branch will also include a chance to try out:
Adjusted gun handling
Aiming and recoil improvements
Different map sizes
Test performance of different server configurations
We had to get the stability of the core game to a high level now so the Public Test Branch does not have the same issues. The Public Test Branch builds have been going through the certification process with platforms for a little while now, and we are very close to being out the other-side. The Public Test Branch further unlocks the roadmap for us so it is really exciting! Players with access (Deluxe and Ultimate edition owners) have the opportunity to try out new content, features and server configurations ahead of the core game, providing feedback and helping shape the game going forward.
In case you want, you can also join our Public Test Branch Discord server. Invites will be available soon and we will share them on our main Discord server and on our official Twitter page.
Let’s talk about the skin store!
The art team have been doing an incredible job on the skin designs and really taken advantage of the extra time afforded to them, with an exciting backlog of themes and styles queued up. Before we dive in, let’s take a look at one of the awesome concepts our Art team has created!
We, like many of you, are eagerly awaiting the store to come out, the storefront will continue to evolve over time but functionally, the skin store is complete! Skins will be released in bundles which you can buy as a collection, or each item individually in case you don’t mind missing out on some of the items in a pack. Players of course can use the Rust Coins they already own to buy the skins (nothing was lost and once the skin store opens your Rust Coin balance will reflect that).
As previously mentioned, performance and stability for current and future gameplay releases is our number one priority over cosmetics. With thousands of skin-able objects and 100 player servers on base previous generation consoles, we have a unique challenge handling the memory constraints. We are now in the final stages of the release process, and it is important to take our time. QA testing is in full swing and this much requested addition will be available for everyone in the near future. More details to come soon!
Team size restricted servers
We know demand is high for team size restricted servers - this is not a supported mode given the nature of Rust’s gameplay. Currently the official team size is limited to 8 within the game and simply reducing that to 2 or 3 will not stop teaming up using methods outside of the game. On the non console version of Rust dedicated admins enforce the rule set via moderation on community servers. We are expecting this server type will be very popular and common once custom servers are released.
That said, teaming up is part of the game and we have seen some great friendships being created because of that. In case you are reading this and you want to join a big group, we have tools on our Official Discord server to help you find the right players to play with. You can join through this link, follow the steps to become an official member of our Rust Community, and look for the #LFG room. I’m sure someone will be happy to take you in regardless of your experience or skill level.
Timing of custom server release
So logically the next question is “When Custom Servers?” A lot of work has been done on the official servers to improve stability, and the infrastructure has been working for sometime internally. We know how important community servers are to people, so what is the hold up?
Costs: From day one we built all the infrastructure for our game servers, meaning we don’t need to go to a third party to run our game servers, we can just buy and manage the servers ourselves . We spent two years building this with the goal of making it as easy as possible and cost effective without unnecessary middlemen that would result in us having to pass that cost on to you.
One of the big things we did to improve server stability was to increase the spec of each game server, higher than we had tested successfully during the betas. We pay that increased per server cost to our providers. Hopefully you are only really seeing the improvement.
We want to offer the best possible experience playing the game so we’ll pay it, however it’s currently too high for us to want to pass cost that onto our player wanting to host their own. Especially as we are working hard to decrease the spec needed to run a game server and therefore the cost we’d have to charge.
There are a number of factors that contribute to what size/spec of server we need to run a game server, the principal ones are memory and Tech Support.
Memory - After stabilising, we’ve recently been able to reduce the server memory usage of the game (with no real impact on the game) by 20% and we’d like to go another 25-30% to allow us to be able to offer the most competitive priced servers we can. This work happens consistently outside of patches and it is always improving.
Technical support - Final point, there are a lot of people behind the scenes working to ensure everything works with the official servers we have now. On consoles, players rightly expect things to just work, that means our tech support team needs to be confident we’re stable with our current official servers so that they will be able to fully support people who are paying for custom servers.
The good news is the Public Test Branch will again help us test performance of different server configurations and the latest evaluation of server hardware needs was a lot more positive than expected. Our designers have also had extra time to consider the admin and configuration options, taking into account all of our community feedback.
So, overall we are happy with the progress made, just not happy about the time it is taking.
Thank you!
There’s a lot more that we can talk about and we will when the time comes, but at the moment these are the concerns the majority of the player base has and we hope we were able to address them for all of you.
Once again I would like to thank you for all the support you have been showing for the game. The community has been awesome to us, constantly providing valuable feedback even outside of a test environment and that has helped us tremendously making the game better for everyone. We hope you can continue to have fun and support Rust Console Edition.
- Kevin Mann, Game Producer & Pedro Silva, Community Manager.