Month: November 2017

Get your motor runnin’..!

…Head out on the highway!

Introducing Serenity Valley Patronage! Beginning today is a whole new phase of growth for our game community. We’ve just launched a new page through Patreon to allow players to contribute to Serenity Valley through a monthly subscription, which will fund our newest initiatives.  For our free players, that means more admins, more servers, and more ways to enjoy our unique community standards.  For our patrons, it’s a new way to get fun new rewards to make your gameplay experience even more fulfilling on our servers!

For as little as $1 per month, players can customize their gear with a $1,200 skin collection, get hundreds of duct tape to use each wipe, gain access to unique base customization, custom landmarks near their homes, and oh yes:  Cars.

You can see all of the donation tiers on our Patronage Page, and from now until December 7th, 2017, each new subscription gets 1 bonus car at any subscription tier, for 1 month!

Planned Improvements:

The donations we have received so far and all one-time donations that people make go to maintaining our current server, website, and console customization. The new patronage system is entirely building toward growing the offerings available through our community. Some new features that you’ll be seeing as our budget increases:

  • New Admin Support:
    By adding additional admin support and actually compensating them for their time, we can get people who are well-trained, dedicated to the server’s welfare, and compensated for their time, so that the need or desire to play on the server is negated. By eliminating the temptation or possibilities for admin abuse, you get improved, outrageous customer service, without any of the worries of fair play being compromised.
  • New Servers:
    Right now, we have two new servers planned, with more on the way!  These new servers will still have a server store created and maintained, and both donors and patrons can choose where to have their rewards delivered in part or in total, allowing them to play on multiple servers concurrently!  Serenity Valley Long will only wipe the map and blueprints when forced by Facepunch! Serenity Valley Advanced will be essentially identical to Serenity Valley Main, but without the newbie-friendly play policies, allowing for bases and raids to be conducted completely without limitation by the rules.  The only things that won’t fly there will be cheating and griefing.
  • New Games:
    There’s a great deal of value added to a moderated community that’s led with a light touch and an expectation of fair play and basic human respect. We’ve made ourselves a home in Rust where play can go on without the hateful toxicity found in other communities–why not have a few other games where we can play with the same expectation of fairness and decency?  While it’s too early to settle on exactly which game will be our next, the community will get to vote to decide which survival game is the next to be added to our roster!
  • More to Come!
    That’s right.  We’re watching how development proceeds in this and other games, as well as how patronage affects gameplay on our main servers, and adjustments and new products and services will be added as the need or desire becomes apparent! Physical awards are also in the works so you can rock your support of Serenity Valley both in and out of Rust!

…And the Winners Are..!

The 2017 Halloween Build Contest has concluded!  From October 19th until now, players have had the opportunity to build their dream base, and they were scored last night by a panel of five judges, scored for Theme, Design, Decoration, Creativity, and that certain “Je Ne Sais Quoi” that tickles a judge’s fancy. We had 13 people enter the contest, and every one of these bases was a sight to behold!

Our Grand Prize winner was KILLSHOTT with a haunted farmhouse.  The design was gorgeous, featuring a log farmhouse, a creepy field of withered corn and lush pumpkins, all guarded by a field of scarecrows. Inside the house was an assortment of fearsome decor, hinting at some sinister agenda in this household.  Where other people might keep a teddy bear or an extra blanket at their bed, this household kept a rusty axe. Tucked away, hidden in the attic, some dark dealings were happening with a coven of evil teddy bears, and the arrangement of the home on the edge of a desert gave the whole place a sense of death and desperation.  All of the judges very much enjoyed the attention to minute details, and we’re very pleased to announce this house as our grand prize winner!

KILLSHOTT will start the next wipe with 3 handy blueprints, scrap, and duct tape to give a nice head start for the wipe, as well as 3 elite crates to get a good head start!

Second Place went to RANDY for his Haunted Village entry.  This place was massive, consisting of ten buildings, an outhouse, and a graveyard! Inside the haunted mansion, there were some amazing features, including a “functioning” chemistry bench, a brick hearth, and a wonderfully decorated mausoleum. This entry made amazing use of deployable items and very much deserving of its place on this list!

(This place was huge.  You can find more pictures of it by checking the contest entry on the forum.)

Finally, our second runner up was TIMBERWOLF, with the Serenity Valley Correctional Facility!  TimberWolf’s take on a Rust prison was absolutely great, featuring security checkpoints, watch towers, visitation rooms, and three cell blocks for incarcerating folks trying to get themselves banned!

A huge thanks to all of our participants for this event–keep an eye on our Steam Group, as well as this blog for our next contest event! There’s more to come, and soon!