A standout example of excellence when it comes to player experience, popularity and commercial success is the ever-popular survival game Rust, which has garnered acclaim for its robust, dedicated server model.

This deep dive into RUST's backend structure, focusing mainly on its use of dedicated servers, aims to unveil the technical scaffolding that supports its seamless gaming experience and highlight the best practices that other game developers can adopt.

RUST's Backend Structure

RUST, developed by Facepunch Studios, is a multiplayer survival game that has captivated a vast audience with its relentless challenges and player-driven world. Its immersive experience is anchored in its sophisticated backend structure, which is engineered to handle thousands of concurrent players globally.

At the heart of RUST's backend are its dedicated servers, which are pivotal in managing the game's state, enforcing rules, and ensuring consistent game logic. Unlike shared servers, dedicated servers provide exclusive resources for RUST gameplay, essential for maintaining performance stability and reducing lag during peak usage times.

Key Components of RUST's Backend:

The foundation of RUST is its use of dedicated servers for the community to play this survival MMO. Dedicated servers are either self-hosted or hosted on a third-party network, from paid services to open-source ones like Pterodactyl.io. These massively popular “rent-a-server” community, with high specs requirement as to facilitating a stable and controlled player environment. These servers manage the “core gameplay experience” or game world if you prefer; namely game state, process player actions, and synchronize game events, ensuring a consistent and fair experience for all participants during a game.

Additionally, key components includes:

• Database Management: RUST's backend architecture includes database management systems that store player data, game progress, and world states. This persistent storage allows for player progress tracking, world persistence, and data retrieval after game updates or server restarts. Meaning, while their game world may stop, the player’s progression continues thanks to these databases managed by the RUST development team.

• Networking: Given its multiplayer nature, efficient networking is crucial for RUST. The game's backend employs advanced networking protocols to manage data transmission between the client and server, minimizing latency and ensuring swift and accurate communication of real-time updates. It is not officially know which solution the RUST game dev team uses.

• Scalability: RUST's game servers are designed for scalability to accommodate a growing player base – up to 400 in fact. The hardware requirements for these game servers are high and can result in very costly dedicated servers to rent for game players. As the costs are shifted to the player base in dedicated servers model, it remains important for game developers to know which alternative solutions are available for high specs game servers.

Best Practices for Game Developers: Invest in Dedicated Servers

Using dedicated servers in RUST exemplifies their importance in providing a reliable and consistent gaming experience. Developers should consider dedicated servers to enhance game performance, especially for multiplayer games that require real-time synchronization. One thing to note though is that by allowing players to host their own game servers, Facepunch could be leaving money on the table. While Facepunch Studios probably does not need new stream of revenue thanks to RUST’s ongoing popularity, studios seeking to better monetize their game could benefit from a different stream of revenue by allowing players to host their own game servers, but through the studio itself. However, this revenue opportunity is mitigated due to the complexity of hosting servers; including the challenge of setting up customer service and payment systems.

Automated backend “container as a service” now allows for those studios to integrate and resell a dedicated, private game server. It allows for better understanding and analytics of the players behaviors and generate revenue in an area of their business typically seen as a cost center (game server hosting). With the new regulation allowing studios to sell outside of the standard app marketplace, they can make even more money.

Additionally, key insights include

• Emphasize Database Integrity: Robust database management helps maintain game continuity and player satisfaction. Regular backups, efficient data retrieval methods, and secure storage solutions are vital components that developers should consider.

• Prioritize Networking Efficiency: Networking is critical to player experience, especially in real-time multiplayer games. Implementing optimized networking protocols and regularly monitoring network performance can significantly enhance gameplay quality.

• Plan for Scalability: As your game grows, so should your backend infrastructure. Designing a backend that can scale efficiently will save countless restructuring hours and ensure your game can seamlessly handle increased loads.

Conclusion

RUST's backend architecture is a testament to the strategic planning and robust engineering required to support a successful online game. By dissecting RUST's use of dedicated servers and its backend components, game developers can glean valuable insights into creating resilient, scalable, and player-centric gaming experiences. Emulating these practices can help upcoming games achieve similar success and longevity in the competitive gaming market.

The proprietary backend technology behind RUST may not be available to all game studios, as not everyone has the financial resources of Facepunch, that is why indie developers and game studios alike are turning to new platforms for help.

Edgegap is an automated game server and distributed orchestration platform that brings the world’s best latency reduction to all game developers.

Explore its benefits by selecting your game engine, or netcode networking, of choice: