Starcraft 2: The Crystal Shards Campaign
This is a custom campaign starring Stetmann and his journeys after leaving the Hyperion.
Join Stetmann as he explores the stars for ancient Xel'Naga Crystal shards.
Level up Stetmann, your base, and armies with new tech and many challenges along the way!
Features:
- 3 (of 7) Planets available
- 9 (of 21) total Missions available
- Fully Voiced
- Original Soundtrack
- In-game Cinematics
- Upgrade your arsenal with Tech earned from various objectives
- Customize your perks and research capabilities
- Achievements
- Balanced for 4 difficulties ( Casual / Normal / Hard / Brutal)
- Archive mode (replay older missions with tech and units earned in later missions)
IMPORTANT: If you are upgrading from a previous release (e.g. v1.0), copy and REPLACE ALL of the files.
Every single map and mod file has been updated and is not reverse-compatible.
Do not worry, your campaign progress will not be affected by this overwrite.
1. Download the latest The Crystal Shards release
2. Open up your Starcraft 2 install directory (e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\StarCraft II )
3. Extract the `Maps` and `Mods` folders into the Starcraft 2 install directory *Note: You might need to manually create the `Mods` directory
4. Your file structure should look something like this:
That's it! You're ready to play!
There are two methods for how to launch the campaign.
It is important to always use the "Launcher" map instead of jumping directly into a mission. Skipping the launcher can result in incorrect loading or corrupted data for this campaign.
[OPTION 1] - Use the Editor
1. Open the Starcraft 2 Editor (Battle.net Launcher > Starcraft 2 > Launch Editor)
2. Open up the "Maps\TheCrystalShards\Launcher.SC2Map" local file
3. Press the "Test Document" button (the green SC2 button in the upper-right)
[OPTION 2] - Skip the Editor
1. Open up the Starcraft II install directory
2. Open up the "Support" folder (or "Support64" if you're on a X64 machine)
3. In a separate file explorer open up the "Starcraft II\Maps\TheCrystalShards" directory
4. Drag and drop the "Launcher.SC2Map" file on "SC2Switcher.exe"
Tip: You can make this even easier by creating a desktop shortcut of SC2Switcher.exe so you don't need 2 file explorers open.
Enjoy the campaign!
Discord:
Discuss the campaign, earn server achievements, and get cool strats on Discord!
https://discord.gg/WbepzGYrVB
Credits:
Campaign by Gemster312
Original Soundtrack by Shimshon the Gadite
Patreon:
All of my content is free for everyone to enjoy! However, it costs a lot of time and resources to make. If you'd like to help fund this passion project, I would greatly appreciate your donations. Even if you cannot, I still greatly appreciate you for reading this. Have a wonderful day!
https://patreon.com/Gemster312
In reply to hydroaero:
Thank you for playing and for the feedback!
I do think adding some Attack Waves to Mission 2 on Brutal might be a worthy addition. I'll look into that for a future release thanks for the tip.
Stimpacks will be an unlockable "Research Tech" on the next planet, so I hope that adds a fun layer of "worth-healing" when that releases :)
Thanks for the great wishes!
Played the first three missions. It's been a while to have played a great custom campaign even though mission 3 is pretty tough even on hard difficulty but still manageable, can't wait for the next update although I noticed a mistake here.
- Marine and Marauder can't use stimpack as the research for that ability is unavailable.
In reply to RageMast007:
Thanks for playing! Glad you enjoyed your experience :) Good reminder about the Stimpacks, it's a Research Tech opportunity in the next update, but it does seem I forgot to hide it on the units for this build. Thanks for pointing that out! Have a great day~
In reply to Gemster312:
This is literally one of the greatest campaigns ever created and rivals blizzard easily. It tingled almost every my kink but objectively it is worth its weight in gold by initiative and effort put into it alone. My admirations is based on how the creator approaches telling story by action and developing military potential by telling the story, cause and outcome, tactical needs and strategical goals.
For example when collecting samples for bonus upgrades in original sc2 campaign all blizz did was some hurr durr zurg semples herp derp protuss semples but here we have creative and unique scenarios tighten to the story that is being told and unravels additional narration before us. We recover scientific data from remains of previous expedition, we examine stetman`s favorite animal, we loot secret safes. Every time it is incorporated into the scenario and looks natural and belivebable in curent situation. Medic story is great and how she introduces technological advancement is great. Also the environment plays a role and i am big sucker for environmental mechanics. The desert planet has little resources and is shaped like a canyon in every mission by default because it is its personality. It can be explained by weather conditions and overall climate. I like the sandstorm play. The writing is so cool. Not my battle to fight - simple and rich. The goals of every scenario are cool. The reasons behind acquiring new vehicles are cool. Achievements are creative and actually want me to try to achieve them because mining minerals without additional cc but with a chain of bunkers looks like nice challenge and not only a colorful badge to acquire because something MUST be there because no everyone expect some silly achievement. The graphical design is professional to the point it looks like top tier company produced this campaign. The camp changes accordingly to the planet it is set on and the equipment collected are noticeable and praise worthy.
In reply to katalizatorjonowy:
The issues i have:
1. Stateman forces do not like unique fraction. There is just generic marine and generic marauder and so on with their generic upgrades and they have the same role and utilization as normal ones. No variety.
2. Stateman tech panel is mostly uninteresting. I pumped 5 points into healing and 1 into energy regen and this is enough for him to heal forever without depleting his batteries. What for is there bigger energy bank and better regen if i can not exploit it? Why invest in his durability when he never is in danger and already have the hit points on a level of a tank? What for is this healing grenade that heals 20hp for everyone? There is no aoe that i need to defend against. Marines are targeted and dying one by one if at all.
3. Medic has ability to heal 50hp instantly. But i can not use it. If something dies is is because it was hurt rapidly so in most cases i can not react fast enough anyway. Outside combat passive healing is too high to even bother with manual abilities. Similarly for marauder`s stun ability - if something is in range of that stun it is in range of 6 rockets already flying towards its face and will die in 2 seconds so mostly the stun gives me no advantage.
In reply to katalizatorjonowy:
In reply to katalizatorjonowy:
4. Aside of the fact it is only 9 missions but the infantry with healing is overpowered. I have 3 mechanical units and all of them simply sux because the combined durability and firepower per kg of minerals is so high and the mending during combat so efficient there is no incentive to use anything else. WoL campaign had the same problem where even on brutal there was no need to use any siege tactics nor air assaults because infantry was very durable and very mobile. That is bad map and bad unit design. The only thing that was making a dent in my army was taldarim immortal for obvious reasons but there was no mechanical counter to him anyway.
5. Mission with catching a wagon on a rail needs reworking. Nothing happens there. The objective itself is slow moving, the guard is always low in quality and numbers, there is no need to take down shield generators if a small bunch of marauders will take it down anyway. There are no raids on base that would bother me. So every objective in this mission - main or side - is inconsequential.
6. There is - i think - set of five upgrades increasing durability of bunkers and turrets. But what for? The attacks are so sporadic and small they are no threat. Fully upgraded bunker vs regular bunker with scv repairing has almost the same performance. Totally not worth the cost of upgrades and the time spent on them neither. Also the goals of campaign require to be mobile and aggressive.
In reply to katalizatorjonowy:
Thank you for playing and thank you for taking the time to write this up! It made my whole day :)
I know that I've still got a long way to go and a lot to learn, but I'm really glad the level of detail and quality I'm providing with the campaign feels fun and polished.
Per the feedback: When I first started this campaign, I had no knowledge on how custom factions/units worked and thus didn't plan on having unique playstyles. My original plan was simply to create a generic Terran campaign starring Stetmann. My original vision was going to be simply the Research Tech as the only unlockables/progression. As I developed more and more, I learned more skills and introduced systems like Hero Tech and eventually Unit Tech (to test new abilities, passives, and effects). In other words, the project grew in scope and complexity by a mile. As the campaign continues, more and more unique tech / abilities / skills will be added to spice things up to feel more and more unique from a typical Terran campaign, hopefully. I also wanted players to be able to adapt into this campaign smoothly without needing to learn a bunch of new systems, thus the default skill trees start with simple stat increases and research opportunities, but you unlock potential strategies and unique tactics through new skills over the course of the campaign. For example, Hephaestus will introduce "Mech Healing", which should open up some new unit compositions.
Food for thought/Teaser: Once the full campaign is beaten, I plan on having a "Nightmare" mode of each mission. Essentially you get access to 100% of the tech you've collected for ALL missions, but each mission is even harder than before (with some modifiers too -- e.g. replacing enemies with a different race, different objective, altered map, unique unit limitations, etc.), essentially allowing you to go all out with specific tech builds. My goal is for the tech tree to feel relatively open-ended during the campaign allowing players to decide how they want to spec their tech. THEN require them to be very strategic for the hardest of content.
Still got a ways to go -- and I know my approach is not perfect. I'll see if I can adjust the current content to help mitigate these issues you've brought up. I super appreciate your feedback! Thanks for sharing your positive comments and constructive criticisms :)
In reply to Gemster312:
Ye, if you have your own balance in your head then you should not bother yourself with my whining. HOWEVER, all your hard work on units will go to the trash if you maintain the firepower of infantry. Either nerf them or put some hardcore siege units for the enemy that will require player to use vehicles. In sc2 you can destroy everything with marines alone but in sc1 and bw it is not that simple. There are psi storms, reavers, siege tanks, lurkers, guardians placed in strategic points that make infantry assault impossible.
And you should sell your skills. Go show your map work to some indie studios. If i had any company i would hire you simply based on the campaign alone. Blizzard had different people for the story, for the balance, for the gameplay, for the map and sometimes different people for the details on the map. You did all by yourself and again it rivals what blizz did.
In reply to katalizatorjonowy:
Thank you so much! Yeah I agree, I've got a ways to go with balancing still. Luckily, this project is still deep in development so there are many opportunities to tweak the numbers, skills, and enemy setups. If you want, you can join the discord (in original post) and request Beta Access. You can then provide feedback as I release internal builds and then I can adjust the maps accordingly before they hit public :)
I appreciate your kind words. It would be wonderful if this could land a career hah. I will keep an eye out~
In reply to Gemster312:
I may join but i am unreliable person and i would just drop something and then do not respond for month or six. Too much heavy stuff in my life for me. Also i would rather comprehend why you did thigs that way than another instead of jumping into conclusions first and stating it is not quite right. What i see on your maps and battles in them is that you model your maps after sc2 which models its maps after wc3 which is not a strategy game but single-hero-micro-management-agility-tester. It means in most parts the terrain is a corridor or set of corridors and not flat ground. I would suggest to check how sc1 is made in that regard. There is space for heavy units and for siege supported assaults. Meanwhile in sc2 every unit on terran side is useful only in the scenario it was introduced and not after that. Not regarding firepower and overall relative usefulness, not even with upgrades. In your campaign the only mechanical thing that was needed were the vikings for jumping on cliffs and collecting stuff. Because no threat was present taht would require thier presence in direct combat, maybe outside the last one protoss airvessel. And the only place where i had to do something more than a-move was vs immortals and colossi. To solve this i would increase the cost of a medic, decrease its healing during combat, placed obstructions and defensive blockades. give the enemy longer range that should be countered with own siege tanks, decreased the amount of resources available in starting point and vicinity, not treated a campaign mission like it should be 20 min skirmish.