In-depth simulation games can be incredibly rewarding to play over the long-term, but getting invested in a new one can be a challenge, and even games with a helpful tutorial often don’t present you with all the information you need to succeed in business on your first try. If you’re looking for a few pointers to help you get off to a good start, look no further, as on this page we’ll run down our top ten tips and tricks to help out beginners just arriving for their first semester at Two Point Campus.
Start slow — there’s no money cheat!
The temptation to splurge on all the best facilities available to you right off the bat is a strong one in a game like this. But there’s no infinite money cheat in Two Point Campus. There’ll be plenty of time for rapid expansion when your education empire is off the ground, but to begin with, focus on small projects while you get set up. To which end…
Classrooms and laboratories should be your #1 priority
Educational facilities are at the core of a university experience. So your first expenditure ought to be on a good suite of classrooms and laboratories for your chosen course(s). It’s a good idea to go a little bigger than the minimum room size for laboratories in particular, since over time you’ll want to upgrade the room with better supplementary furnishings to support the main learning machine. But, at the same time, don’t make a huge (and expensive) room with no plan for how you might fill all the space. It’s a delicate balancing act.
Choose courses with higher tuition fees
Ugh, just typing that as an arts graduate makes me feel yucky. While I might heavily disapprove of this practice in real life, in Two Point Campus it’s a matter of fact that some degrees bring in higher tuition fees than others. While you might be tempted to choose a cheaper (or just more fun-looking) course to found your school on, it’s actually a better long-term plan to start with one or two courses that will guarantee you a higher pay-out. You can then use those funds to expand into less lucrative courses a few years in.
Student health and hygiene should be your #2 priority
Once you have the basics of learning covered, ensuring that your students have suitable accommodation belongs next on the list. The cornerstone of this is a big dormitory space with plenty of beds and wardrobes, because students who can’t meet their minimum comfort needs are inclined to drop out. Right after that you want to add some bathrooms and shower rooms nearby to take care of their hygiene — and don’t neglect to hire enough janitors to keep the space clean while you’re at it! Finally, with the students’ physical needs met, you can start thinking about adding a student lounge where they can relax and have some fun for the sake of their mental health.
Avoid hiring staff with too many negative traits
In the Two Point games, an employee’s suitability for a role is determined by the traits they possess. Most potential hires will have a mix of positive and negative traits, but better candidates will have more positive than negative ones. You might be tempted to keep costs down by hiring the cheapest candidates to begin with, but it’s actually well worth investing in an experienced workforce from the get-go, even though they’ll want slightly higher salaries. You might not have the budget to hire the very best workers immediately, but there’s no reason to over-compensate by hiring the very worst applicants.
Fill a whole campus building before purchasing the next one
Just like in Two Point Hospital, you’ll begin at new locations in Two Point Campus with just a single building unlocked, but surrounded by a number of other lots you can purchase to expand into. It’s tempting to purchase new buildings as soon as you have the ready cash, but this is actually the quickest route to bankruptcy in a Two Point game! Instead, it’s better to carefully plan out your buildings’ interiors and spend your early-game budget improving what spaces you have, and only purchase the plot of land for Building B when you’ve placed every room you intend to house in Building A. In fact, Building A should be ideally operating at a profit before you purchase Building B, so consider holding off unless you really need a new facility as soon as possible.
Keep an eye on your yearly estimated profit/loss figures
Your yearly estimated profit/loss figures can be viewed in the lower left-hand corner of the UI, and can help you plan out your next year’s expansion ahead of time. Don’t underestimate the usefulness of knowing roughly how much money you’ll have in your pockets in the near future — but remember that this figure isn’t guaranteed, so don’t use it as an excuse to overspend!
A spacious and well-stocked library should be your priority #3
As a former university librarian, I’m back in my comfort zone for this one. Towards the end of your first term at the very latest, with exams approaching, your students will need a dedicated space for self-directed study. A library doesn’t need to be fancy to begin with: as long as there are plenty of bookshelves and workspaces, you can worry about the aesthetics later, so put as much of your budget as possible towards the key facilities.
Make space for your students to socialise
As anybody who’s been to university in real life will no doubt tell you, meeting new people and making friends is a very important part of the student experience. It’s no different in Two Point Campus, where socialising is a key factor in determining student happiness. Building a student union is one of the most effective ways to help them mingle, but if you’re tight on space to begin with, there’s good news: students also like to meet up in parks, which can be placed in the outdoor spaces around your campus buildings, making them a bit cheaper to set up when you’re just getting started.
Keep an eye on your students’ grades
If most of your students have A and B grades throughout the semester, then you’re on track for a strong pass rate at the end-of-term exams. If you find you’re seeing more C grades and below, then it’s time to think about upgrading your facilities. Increasing room prestige improves both enjoyment and learning for your students, so it’s a good place to start if their grades are beginning to slip! That’s all we have for you on Two Point Campus for now, but if you came here looking for our thoughts on the game, be sure to check out Ed’s Two Point Campus review. And if you’re a fan of the management and/or simulation genres generally, you might like to have a glance at our lists of The Sims 4 cheats and Stardew Valley cheats while you’re here.
