Hi all, I'm thinking of making a campaign and want to draw upon the inspiration of you guys as well as take into account what's cool and been done before. What's your favorite custom campaign you've played and why? What makes it so special? Write as much as you want just 2 words or give me explanatory paragraphs. Thanks looking forward to discussing.
I think the Perfect Soldiers trilogy is the best set of campaigns. It was the first custom campaign I played and it really inspired me to make my own. It's also one of the few campaigns that I've actually gone through and completed more than twice.
I just love the design of the missions, and the story, in particular. It's all so well thought-out. One thing Perfect Soldiers did particularly well was it's use of awesome twists and turns and there were hints to everything scattered around the campaign. That, combined with very unique map mechanics, made every map different.
In second place, I'd probably put Odyssey. Story is fantastic, terrain is absolutely superb. The maps are just beautiful to look at and fun to play through. It also introduces some very unique mechanics which has never been seen before. Like, all the different abilities you can use from your command center and such.
StarCraft II: Annihilation Campaign - A 24 mission single-player campaign featuring unique heroes, custom tracks, boss battles, a varied set of mission scenarios and three intersecting storylines.
In the modern era, I agree with Dudki—Perfect Soldiers is really great, and very impressively creative.
My favorite campaign, period, is the Antioch Chronicles, not because I'm working on the remake, but because it really established the custom campaign scene for Starcraft. Most of its maps are pretty dated by SC2 standards, but there are several gems that are still astounding. My favorites are 2-2: Planetfall, which has an absurdly huge city map with crazy amounts of polish, and 2-8: Boomerang, which has the player switching control between three sets of forces.
If you do decide to make a campaign, I recommend starting small! Make something that spans a few maps. Start with your story—figure out what your central conflict is and who the main actors are. Before you start working in the editor, do some sketches of your maps and figure out what the gameplay will be. Then write your script, making sure that the script reflects the gameplay as well as the story—there's a ton of work needed to flesh out mechanics (hints on how to deal with it, progress indicators, etc.).
You should be sure the check out the Custom Campaign Initiative. There are a ton of great tips for creating campaigns there.
I think that for now my favourite campaign is Annihilation campaign, great challenge, great terrain, good story that keep itself interesting and i was able to exploit it like a bitch with Dudki great surprise
Second one is Marauder Campaign, not beacause i am a boss on it, because it's different, the only campaign that doesn't take itself seriously and it's funny on both story and gameplay, plus... who doesn't love imbarauders ? (RIP 2010 - 2015)
Third one is Perfect Soldier, i love the story, i love the atmosphere, terrain, gameplay difficulty, but i really can't bear it's bosses and some stealth sections
Definitely check out Shadow of the Xel'Naga and LifeForce if you haven't already. Two very unique and professional level campaigns that are more than worth playing, along with the rest that have been mentioned.
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Check out my YouTube channel for test playthroughs of custom campaigns as well as editor tutorial videos. Mapmakers, don’t hesitate to PM me if you would like me to test your campaign.
Never played a custom campaign but I liked the Liberty one because it did not focus on time limits unlike HOTS and LOTV and there Brutal difficulty lived up to its name.
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Contribute to the wiki (Wiki button at top of page) Considered easy altering of the unit textures?
My brain is tied between Shadow of the Xel'Naga and LifeForce, but my heart says Amber Sun so I'll explain my thoughts on that one.
A lot of folks are mentioning Perfect Soldiers and I played them when they were technically separate campaigns, so I'll stick with Amber Sun, the middle campaign. The missions are unique, the story is engaging, and the challenge felt just right to push my abilities without being obnoxious. When I talk about unique missions, I mean they changed the way you play - remember there was very, very little data editing in Perfect Soldiers. So, even using the vanilla SC2 tech trees, the maps were designed creatively in ways that remained incredibly engaging. EivindL just had/has a real knack for creating encounters that pressure the player and feel incredibly rewarding when completed. I'm not really even sure a better way to describe them other than 'They just feel right'.
Visit my channel where I showcase custom content! Send me a PM or respond to my YouTube thread if you'd like to see your map/s on my channel (eventually!)
Well, I'm much divided between gameplay, story and potential, so I'll talk about the best of both three, IMO.
GAMEPLAY: I'm pretty much split between both Annihilation and LifeForce. Annihilation because it's taking big steps to keep stuff fresh and entertaining, even after 15 missions, where you'd normally get bored and just want to finish it, and LifeForce because of, what else, we finally figured out what banks are for and how Blizzard managed to keep their campaign progress in the official WoL/HotS/LotV/NCO campaigns. Both the confrontations make sense within the story, both are varied in many ways other than just installation or B&D missions and both are fun in their unique way.
But if I were to consider the 'invested' factor, I'd say LifeForce comes out on top, because it does everything it can with the material it has to keep a player invested and distracted, despite the apparent initial flaws. So, a point for you Bilxor, but don't feel ashamed, Dudki.
STORY: The Perfect Soldiers trilogy. Yeah, yeah, I still have criticisms concerning the endings, a bit of the logic employed in some situations or the lack of them in others, and how some people get a little bit TOO much attention than others. But the thing is, this is the first SCII campaign I've played and I'm still impressed on how much time and effort were spent on some of the characters, most notably Amber Sun. While the story is your basic 'little guy versus the big establishment' thing, just with guns in the middle, there are some people you get to root for, because you get to quickly understand and relate to with their struggles, and you know what? You'd fight for the same reasons they're fighting as well. So that's that.
POTENTIAL: If I had to describe a campaign that held a great promise, was bold with it's choices and felt different and unique, than Narudek/CybrosX work is my definite choice. This is the kind of work that pledges and does go a bit beyond of what we expected - It offers new characters, it offers new sides to play with, it offers a bit of fun and even offers some interesting storylines as well. So why, and this is a criticism I wanted to make in a long time, why doesn't Cybros exploit this potential to it's fullest!?
Yeah, it's a pretty big claim, but he DOES seem to have the skill, the will and even the boldness to go even further and even possibly make a campaign that could literally become a pillar, along with EivindL's work, of what makes a great custom StarCraft II campaign. All he'd need is a longer storyline and even learn a bit of what Bilxor did, concerning upgrade points and stuff, and he'd soar really high. Your campaigns are great are unique and they have potential, but the biggest weakness is that they're too short and when it's finished, you feel wanting for more, much more. So, just an incentive, you've already scored A+ on the campaign-making babysteps, Cybros, and it's time to get 200 meter dashing in your work. Give us more, and especially, give us even lenghtier!
Be sure to check out the extension mod: Hots Custom Map support on NA and EU, Despite the name it greatly expands the roster of options for the default 3 races and is updated all the way to NCO.
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Hi all, I'm thinking of making a campaign and want to draw upon the inspiration of you guys as well as take into account what's cool and been done before. What's your favorite custom campaign you've played and why? What makes it so special? Write as much as you want just 2 words or give me explanatory paragraphs. Thanks looking forward to discussing.
Subjection by Gradius!!
Loved the story and the gameplay. Voice-acting really made the immersion solid.
I think the Perfect Soldiers trilogy is the best set of campaigns. It was the first custom campaign I played and it really inspired me to make my own. It's also one of the few campaigns that I've actually gone through and completed more than twice.
I just love the design of the missions, and the story, in particular. It's all so well thought-out. One thing Perfect Soldiers did particularly well was it's use of awesome twists and turns and there were hints to everything scattered around the campaign. That, combined with very unique map mechanics, made every map different.
In second place, I'd probably put Odyssey. Story is fantastic, terrain is absolutely superb. The maps are just beautiful to look at and fun to play through. It also introduces some very unique mechanics which has never been seen before. Like, all the different abilities you can use from your command center and such.
StarCraft II: Annihilation Campaign - A 24 mission single-player campaign featuring unique heroes, custom tracks, boss battles, a varied set of mission scenarios and three intersecting storylines.
Starcraft II: A War Story Campaign - A multi-act campaign with custom factions. Follow my discord for updates: https://discord.gg/Ztu44gZ
If you want to see a list of other awesome campaigns, go to: Custom Campaign Initiative
In the modern era, I agree with Dudki—Perfect Soldiers is really great, and very impressively creative.
My favorite campaign, period, is the Antioch Chronicles, not because I'm working on the remake, but because it really established the custom campaign scene for Starcraft. Most of its maps are pretty dated by SC2 standards, but there are several gems that are still astounding. My favorites are 2-2: Planetfall, which has an absurdly huge city map with crazy amounts of polish, and 2-8: Boomerang, which has the player switching control between three sets of forces.
You can check out Jayborino's playthroughs of our SC2 remake, but I really do recommend checking out the originals so you can see how intricate the work was given the primitive tools from back then.
If you do decide to make a campaign, I recommend starting small! Make something that spans a few maps. Start with your story—figure out what your central conflict is and who the main actors are. Before you start working in the editor, do some sketches of your maps and figure out what the gameplay will be. Then write your script, making sure that the script reflects the gameplay as well as the story—there's a ton of work needed to flesh out mechanics (hints on how to deal with it, progress indicators, etc.).
You should be sure the check out the Custom Campaign Initiative. There are a ton of great tips for creating campaigns there.
I think that for now my favourite campaign is Annihilation campaign, great challenge, great terrain, good story that keep itself interesting and i was able to exploit it like a bitch with Dudki great surprise
Definitely check out Shadow of the Xel'Naga and LifeForce if you haven't already. Two very unique and professional level campaigns that are more than worth playing, along with the rest that have been mentioned.
Check out my YouTube channel for test playthroughs of custom campaigns as well as editor tutorial videos. Mapmakers, don’t hesitate to PM me if you would like me to test your campaign.
Never played a custom campaign but I liked the Liberty one because it did not focus on time limits unlike HOTS and LOTV and there Brutal difficulty lived up to its name.
Contribute to the wiki (Wiki button at top of page) Considered easy altering of the unit textures?
https://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/resources/tutorials/179654-data-actor-events-message-texture-select-by-id
https://media.forgecdn.net/attachments/187/40/Screenshot2011-04-17_09_16_21.jpg
My brain is tied between Shadow of the Xel'Naga and LifeForce, but my heart says Amber Sun so I'll explain my thoughts on that one.
A lot of folks are mentioning Perfect Soldiers and I played them when they were technically separate campaigns, so I'll stick with Amber Sun, the middle campaign. The missions are unique, the story is engaging, and the challenge felt just right to push my abilities without being obnoxious. When I talk about unique missions, I mean they changed the way you play - remember there was very, very little data editing in Perfect Soldiers. So, even using the vanilla SC2 tech trees, the maps were designed creatively in ways that remained incredibly engaging. EivindL just had/has a real knack for creating encounters that pressure the player and feel incredibly rewarding when completed. I'm not really even sure a better way to describe them other than 'They just feel right'.
Visit my channel where I showcase custom content! Send me a PM or respond to my YouTube thread if you'd like to see your map/s on my channel (eventually!)
Well, I'm much divided between gameplay, story and potential, so I'll talk about the best of both three, IMO.
GAMEPLAY: I'm pretty much split between both Annihilation and LifeForce. Annihilation because it's taking big steps to keep stuff fresh and entertaining, even after 15 missions, where you'd normally get bored and just want to finish it, and LifeForce because of, what else, we finally figured out what banks are for and how Blizzard managed to keep their campaign progress in the official WoL/HotS/LotV/NCO campaigns. Both the confrontations make sense within the story, both are varied in many ways other than just installation or B&D missions and both are fun in their unique way.
But if I were to consider the 'invested' factor, I'd say LifeForce comes out on top, because it does everything it can with the material it has to keep a player invested and distracted, despite the apparent initial flaws. So, a point for you Bilxor, but don't feel ashamed, Dudki.
STORY: The Perfect Soldiers trilogy. Yeah, yeah, I still have criticisms concerning the endings, a bit of the logic employed in some situations or the lack of them in others, and how some people get a little bit TOO much attention than others. But the thing is, this is the first SCII campaign I've played and I'm still impressed on how much time and effort were spent on some of the characters, most notably Amber Sun. While the story is your basic 'little guy versus the big establishment' thing, just with guns in the middle, there are some people you get to root for, because you get to quickly understand and relate to with their struggles, and you know what? You'd fight for the same reasons they're fighting as well. So that's that.
POTENTIAL: If I had to describe a campaign that held a great promise, was bold with it's choices and felt different and unique, than Narudek/CybrosX work is my definite choice. This is the kind of work that pledges and does go a bit beyond of what we expected - It offers new characters, it offers new sides to play with, it offers a bit of fun and even offers some interesting storylines as well. So why, and this is a criticism I wanted to make in a long time, why doesn't Cybros exploit this potential to it's fullest!?
Yeah, it's a pretty big claim, but he DOES seem to have the skill, the will and even the boldness to go even further and even possibly make a campaign that could literally become a pillar, along with EivindL's work, of what makes a great custom StarCraft II campaign. All he'd need is a longer storyline and even learn a bit of what Bilxor did, concerning upgrade points and stuff, and he'd soar really high. Your campaigns are great are unique and they have potential, but the biggest weakness is that they're too short and when it's finished, you feel wanting for more, much more. So, just an incentive, you've already scored A+ on the campaign-making babysteps, Cybros, and it's time to get 200 meter dashing in your work. Give us more, and especially, give us even lenghtier!
Marauders is clearly the best campaign ever made. No contest.
For real though, definitely don't try and learn anything from marauders. If anything it's a good idea of what not to do, or Laziness 101.
@acidragoon: Go
Lies! Marauders is the best ever! And if the creator disagrees, then the creator must be destroyed!
Amber Sun specifically, just really immerse.
http://www.sc2mapster.com/assets/nolanstars-textures/
Be sure to check out the extension mod: Hots Custom Map support on NA and EU, Despite the name it greatly expands the roster of options for the default 3 races and is updated all the way to NCO.