Hello Campus Managers!
We are just FOUR DAYS FROM LAUNCH **internal screaming**, we're soooo excited for you to get your hands on Two Point Campus! With that in mind, we thought we'd dive a little deeper into the ins and outs of student life on campus - what they do, how you help them and ultimately... how you make your money out of them. So you know the drill, grab your notepad and some salty snacks, get yourself comfy and let's dive in!
Students
Students in Two Point Campus truly are your very own little people to nurture. They're going to be with you for a number of years as you help them navigate the trials and tribulations of life on campus, so naturally you're going to get to know their unique personalities very well as you play through the game! Each student is unique, their own person if you will; they've all got individual wants, needs and feelings! As you're running your campus you'll want to check in with them to see how they're getting on. Some may be falling behind with their studies, some will want to join a club, others will want certain events and so on. It's your job to make sure they've got what they need to graduate, if you want to of course...
You'll see a wide range of students coming to your campus depending on the type of courses you're running. The courses you choose define the types of students that apply, and the types of students that apply may affect how you decide to build your campus. So for example, you might decide to run a Dark Art course, attracting Goths to your establishment. With lots of Goths on campus, you'd ideally want to decorate parts of the place with their preferred items, like a Bat Poster, Raven Lamp, or Gothic Bookcase to make them feel right at home and keep them happy.
Not only do your students affect how you'll build your campus, but they also have an effect on their classmates too! Goths make everyone around them a little happier for example, Spies will make your research faster by stealing ideas from other campuses and Gastronomy students cook for each other. Each student type has a different way in which they affect your universities!
One of the things we LOVE about Two Point Campus is how attached you can get to these students. In Two Point Hospital you'd have patients come in, get cured and leave... or die... Whereas in Two Point Campus your students are with you for much longer and you'll often find yourself getting involved in their lives. To make this a little easier, we added a feature where you can favourite some of your students so you can always find them and get updates of what they're doing (because let's face it... just like parents with their kids, we all have our favourites).
The ultimate goal here is to get as many students to graduate as possible, so you'll want to keep an eye on how they're all doing in their studies and personal life to make sure they're happy - happy students perform better in class! Let's take a look at some of the things you can do to help your students shine, aside from catering to their basic food and hygiene needs... (please build them toilets and showers).
Clubs
Clubs are an essential part of any real-life university. They give students the opportunity to learn new skills and make new friends, and it's the same here in Two Point Campus. Every time a student in Campus joins a club, they gain a passive skill depending on the club type you've given them. As they continue their membership to the club, they'll level up and become even better at their passive skill, unlocking access to prestigious club items! So what sort of clubs do we have? Let's go through a couple!
Power Nap Club
If this were a real university, Power Nap club would be the most popular choice by far! Who doesn't love the idea of getting reeeaaally good at power napping!? In this club, members learn to sleep standing up and walking around. Meaning they don't have to go all the way back to their dorm room to get some much needed rest.
Speed Walking Club
When you run, you look late. When you speed walk, you look like you're going to be early! Speed Walking club gives students the ability to walk super fast around Campus. This is really useful if you got a large Campus, as your students are less likely to be late to class, and will gain more experience from all that on-time learning they're doing!
The Orb Club
One of the more... controversial clubs here in Two Point Campus. Agatha Sphere, president of the Orb Foundation (yes... the one who brainwashed your patients in Two Point Hospital) has set her sights on academia and will very kindly give you a cash boost for every student who signs up to the club, how lovely! You might find your students get a little unhappy... being brainwashed and all... but if you're struggling for cash, this is a real "cha-ching" option for you.
There are more clubs to choose from in-game, but we don't want to spoil everything for you already. It's not like we're launching in a few days... oh.. we are?? **panic intensifies**
Events
Bored students mean unhappy students, and unhappy students mean bad grades... bad grades means no money for you, in most cases anyway! Your students really are like actual people, if they don't have some form of entertainment now and then, they're going to get seriously bored and that's not good for anyone! Luckily, in Two Point Campus you've got a number of cool events you can put on to keep them happy and entertained, so they can get the best grades possible.
Parties
It's not a university experience without parties right? There's nothing quite like being kept awake until 4am from a student party happening in your kitchen... and Campus is no different. There are a couple of party options here, you can throw one in the Student Lounge with some DJ Decks and a keg of delicious Milkshake to get that classic house party feel. Or you could put one on in the Student Union, with bars, dance floors and again... lots of Milkshake!
Students attending a party are going to get a real boost of happiness when the party ends! Do keep an eye on them though... drinking too much milkshake can really take its toll on some people. We'd recommend building a Health Clinic just to be sure anyone suffering from After-Shakes recovers quickly!
Film Night
This is perhaps one of the more civilised events in Two Point Campus. You can use your empty Lecture Theatres to put on a range of different films for your students, from comedies to horror films. Once you book a Film Night, you'll see your students flocking into the Lecture Theatre with drinks and popcorn, having the time of their lives, without the nasty side effects of Milkshake! Unlike gigs and parties, each film will provide the students with a different buff when the event finishes (you can check the buffs before you put the event on, in the event scheduling menu!)
Gigs
Throw down a giant Stage in your Student Union and book some of the fantastic bands around Two Point County! Some of the music you hear on Two Point Radio actually comes from the bands you invite, so you might recognise some of their sweet tunes.
You'll be able to invite bands like the Boogie Knights, or DJ Sue Chef, and as you level up your Campus you'll unlock more prestigious acts to come in and perform, you'll even get to host Jasmine Odyssey with a good enough Campus! Like the other events, your students will get a boost of happiness after the gig ends, and they'll have a period of time where they perform better during their studies because of it.
Competitions
Some of the courses in Two Point Campus have their own special events! Knight School for example has a jousting tournament where your students battle it out against a rival school, Gastronomy has a Campus cook-off, and Sports has dramatically exciting Cheeseball matches!
If your students win a Cheeseball Match, you'll see them get a nice big buff, but if you lose... they'll going to be feeling a little down in the dumps. So it's important to make sure your students are getting good grades before setting them up with a competition like this!
Relationships
Getting into a relationship, whether platonic or romantic is always an amazing feeling! Your students are at university to learn, but also to make new friends and maybe even find the love of their life. They'll automatically seek out potential friendships to make, but just like in real-life, sometimes they need a little help (consider yourself their wing-person)! There's a whole range of cool items to place down to really encourage your students to chat to each other and grow their relationships, from a simple Water Cooler to a beautiful Rose Garden!
To put it in more of gameplay way, relationships are formed more easily with your help and each students will "level up" their relationships with other students as they go through the academic year. So at level 1 they'll be friends, and as they grow together they could end up being best friends, or even lovers! This REALLY important for students too, they can't be going around your campus feeling lonely, otherwise their happiness levels will fall to the point where they might consider dropping out.
You can keep an eye on the status of your students relationships too by favouriting certain students. While we were playing through the game, we actually found ourselves getting pretty heavily invested in some of their relationships. You see a couple of students getting on well and becoming friends, and you can't help but root for them to take it to the next level!
Student Health
We've said it before and we'll say it again - University can be TOUGH. The health of your students should always be a priority, whether it's physical health or the pastoral care side of things. A lot of the courses in Two Point Campus are a little uhh... dangerous, like we should really get students to sign a waiver before they come. In certain courses such as Knight School, your students can, and probably will get injured. If they're hurt for too long, this can then affect their studies as they won't be able to concentrate from all of those... "Knightmares". It's a good shout to build a Medical Facility somewhere on Campus so you can get your students back into shape before it affects their studies!
On the flipside, there's the pastoral care in the game. Your students have their own thoughts and feelings, and certain things may cause them to become unhappy. So for example, if you're not providing much in the way of entertainment, your students could start getting Bored Stiff. Or if one of their close friends has dropped out (or if you've decided to go rogue and expel them) they could suffer from "Unfriended". Even the courses themselves can cause pastoral problems, Musicality students may get a bad case of Writers Block, Wizardry Students could get cursed, and so on. So take some time throughout the academic year to check in on your students and see how they're doing.
When a pastoral issue comes up, you'll need to invest in a Pastoral Support room for your students so they can chat to a qualified member of staff. Remember though, some of these issues are preventable with a little bit of prep work - lots of entertainment, attractive campus grounds, a nice dorm room, and relationship items can go a long way in making sure your students are happy and healthy!
There's so much more for you to discover in Two Point Campus, but this should give you a great starting point to start your students off on the right foot! Remember, it's not long now... Two Point Campus is out on 9th August 2022 on PC and console!
