Quite frankly, I’ve been looking for an excuse to show off my piano skills on Eurogamer for some time – and this month the perfect opportunity fell right into my inbox. A few weeks ago, Rust – the survival game infamous for its anarchy and general brutality – added a surprisingly wholesome instruments DLC pack, allowing players to construct a variety of instruments such as trumpets, drums… and pianos.
This was already intriguing, but one line of the press release really caught my attention. The instruments accept MIDI input. Oh boy. Did this mean I could hook up an entire electric piano to a computer, and play live piano in Rust? I had to try it out.
And, of course, it’s the Christmas season – so to make it festive, and my life extra complicated, I announced to my editors that I would go carolling. Live. In Rust.
I had mixed results.
Christmas Carols in Rust Watch on YouTube
First things first: the setup. I ordered myself a MIDI to USB cable, a book of easy Christmas carols, and hijacked my flatmate’s Kawai keyboard. Due to space constraints I had to move all my PC gear into my flat’s living room – but the upside of this was I able to easily swivel between keyboards, and have a Christmas tree in the background to set the mood.
Next, I had to actually acquire a piano in Rust, which is easier said than done. The Wheelbarrow Piano requires 200 wood and 100 metal fragments to craft, and players must be in the radius of a level one workbench (which in itself requires 500 wood, 100 metal frags and 50 scrap). Thanks to the nature of Rust, you die — and I quickly realised playing on ordinary servers would take me days to craft a piano, with a high chance of then being offline raided. I also (correctly) anticipated being frequently shot and mugged – thus meaning I needed several back-up pianos.