Community Update #4

This week's main image was painted by Abdulmanap Bogoslovskiy. It comes from an art competition organised by Russian fan site, Inforustpub. I'm a philistine, and I had to crop the original to make it look nice for the page, but the full version is here. It jointly won the competition, with Iwan Burma's rendition of Rust's alopecia afflicted citizenry fighting for wood also scoring highly from the judges. The rest of the entries can be viewed in this post on the Rust forums, and in a sports day kinda way they're all winners.

A few updates ago, I discovered an purpose-build deathmatch arena in a Rust server, and I wondered aloud about a server where all the buildings were built to house battles. That goal has changed: after seeing this remake of Counter-Strike's cs_assault in Rust, I now want to see a Rust server dotted with remakes of classic FPS maps. Look at this. If you click the screenshot, it'll take you to more images of the map. Here it is as seen in the mildly popular Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It's a remarkably good cover version. And here's the map fulfilling its purpose by playing host to sweary gun men. Worlds are shaped by our understanding of landmarks, so in the procedural map you'll need a shared lexicon that all gamers understand in order to find your way. I'd definitely spend time in a world where you'd need to "turn left at de_dust". Someone build that and invite me.

A few months ago, I had a plan for a video series where I would play online survival games and walk around as an "End Is Nigh" preacher. I downloaded a copy of the bible, practised a few barks, and then completely forgot about it. That's my Youtube career in a nutshell. And though The Game Survivor's wandering preacher isn't quite the same thing--he's more of a door-stepping servant--it is in the ballpark. You can guess the extremes in reaction he receives from the Rust community: from being murdered to gaining disciples, there's little middle-ground when you're spreading the good word in a bad world. To the guy who said: "I'd actually like to talk to you about how you have no dick," and then ran away. Man, you had a chance to say something witty. To engage. And what did you do? You mentioned a cock and ran off. Embarrassing. Something sort of similar happened to me on a server this week. I was minding furnace on the top of an abandoned tower, trying to smelt the metal for a door so I could hide from everyone, when I was approached by a chap in full kevlar. He was pointing a rifle at me. I saw him come from a fair distance, and decided that my meagre belongings weren't worth the hassle. He approached, aimed his gun and squeaked out: "If you live or die depends on how you answer the next question... er, do you like boys?" I scolded him for his unoriginal line of questioning and then threw myself off the top of the tower. How do you lot deal when threatened in Rust?

Experimental is taking shape, but there's still a lot about the game we don't know. Excitingly, that means the community offers ideas and solutions to things. They're often incredibly nerdy and specific, which is pretty rad. Forum user leminlyme started a thread in the Experimental folder called Headgear Vision Obstruction!, and made a plea inside for Rust to include immersive headgear. Like the best suggestions, it included mock-ups. I'm in two minds over this. I love immersion, but I don't like my view being restricted in games. Still, Rust is all about the decisions you make. If I don't like having my view obscured, then maybe I just don't get to wear helmets?

You know I can't do this post without you guys. We have a dedicated forum post, or you can post in the Reddit thread. I also poke around the the Steam Community, but it's better if you link me to something you've seen on there. You can follow and respond to Rust on Twitter, and I'm on there as well.

As I'd hoped, there's more to talk about in Experimental than in previous weeks. I've popped into the servers a bunch of times now, and though they're mostly long, gorgeous vistas dotted with broken builds and half-nude psychopaths, there's a few dedicated people trying to put down roots in the lawless lands. Is this a tipping point? Johnathan Bringmann's maze skills--probably the most terminal of the dying arts--has resulted in a multi-levelled labyrinth that unsurprisingly turned into a deathmatch arena. Take note of the way it steps down, following the flow of the land. His first build wasn't quite as in-tune with Mother Nature. Whenever I try to build, I always try to make it part of the landscape, particularly if doing so hides me from view. Redditor InTheOldWest shares that sentiment. He came across an overhanging rock and, using Experimental's system of creating a frame before filling it out, made a small house. An unfilled frame acts as a window, while the roof is made up of the natural rock. It has been valued at two stacks of metal and a IOU of not being killed and eaten. Sevigor's story of climbing a mountain in Experimental is pretty atypical: you see the landmark, you cagily climb, and you take out other players as you take in the view. There are a few details that make it worth sharing: I particularly enjoyed the transition from the green field at the bottom to the snowy peaks on the mountain. Seeing that being experienced by a player as I watched it come together at Facepunch is lovely.