TS2: University Preview

On Sunday 16th January 2005 I spent some time with Sims 2 Senior Producer, Tim LeTourneau, as he gave me a preview of the upcoming expansion pack 'The Sims 2: University'. This one-on-one session also gave me an opportunity to find out some other titbits of info about the game and its future. Before I went, I gave people in our forums the opportunity to put questions to Tim, which I also fired off at him at the end.

As much of the information that I could absorb along with answers to many of the forumers questions are included in the following article. Given that many of my questions were somewhat different to those from average magazine Journalists, I think you will find quite a bit of new and interesting information. I know I certainly did!

The First Expansion Pack

So why an expansion packs about University? Well, Tim explained that something like this had been on the back burner for The Sims 1 for quite some time, but the restraints of the TS1 mechanics with regard to age and generation made it a tricky project, given that TS1 Sims did not grow up. TS2 and its age transitions made this a realistic project which Tim and his team grasped when given the opportunity. Actually, Tim says that you can blame him, as he pushed for University to be the first EP for several reasons.

One of these reasons (the addition of the Young Adult age group) was part of a longer term plan. Tim wanted to see this new age group appear now so that it could be used for future EP's. If left until later down the EP road, it would be very difficult adding a new age group without affecting previous expansions and their playability.

Tim also explained that the creation of EP's was also used to introduce items to the game that are not necessarily related to the EP, but are in high demand from the players. For example, the band items are not necessarily associated with University life, but as many players are creating music videos as part of their storytelling, EA wanted to provide them with an environment to take that further.

Ooo… Let me just touch on those now that I've mentioned them. The band items are great! Given the choice of Drums, Guitar and Piano, Sims can play solo or join/create a band. When two or more Sims are playing together they do actually create music, playing the same song and building on it the more instruments are involved. If they get good, Sims can play on Community Lots and earn Tips from their adoring fans.

Before I move on the game play of University itself, let me brighten up your day with some info on a new cheat options made available. How does unlimited floors grab you? No more restriction on how many floors you can build your Residential and Community Lots on. If five levels are not enough for you, the sky is the limit (assuming that your PC can handle it). Skyscraper height building will be possible and every floor will be useable in the game, but there could be issues. For example, a Sim on the 19th floor is likely to miss his pool car for work.. It could take him 5 real-time minutes to make it all the way down! They will look great in the 'hoods though.

The Juicy Bits

So.. University.. (As a matter of fact, there isn't actually a University in the game as such). Each Neighborhood has its own College in the form of a new area known as 'College Town'. These new areas are made up of Fraternities and Community Lots, and are where your educating Sims will move to when they fly the nest of their parent's homes. Community Lots comprise of Gymnasiums, Music Halls, Libraries and Lounge Bars (you can of course create your own). The only Residential areas in College Town are the Dorms.

On arrival you will notice some things about the existing Dorms that might come as quite a surprise, the first shocker for me being that there is no Build Mode. As you would expect of any apartment type building, you can't go in and start tearing walls down, so your options are fairly restricted. You can of course create your own though, which I will touch on later (there will also be a cheat to allow Dorm refurbs should you get desperate).

This is the point in which I had the most in-depth explanation of the way a door works in my life, and you could tell Tim had explained this a few times during the past few weeks!
You see, it all comes down to rules (see, I'm now an expert!).

Each Sim on Campus will have their own room (so no room shares, but they can have rooms right next to each other). This includes player controlled students, and NPC (Non Playable Character) Students. When you introduce a Sim to a campus you will allocate them a room, which they will consider to be their own space from that point on. A nice little touch included by the developers to help you identify rooms, is that a Sim will post a picture of himself on the outside of the door. Although they cannot hack walls down, Sims can decorate, so you are free to change wall and floor coverings and place furniture objects to suit your taste and needs.

Even NPC's will be allocated a room of their own, although these are managed somewhat differently. Once you allocate a room to an NPC, the contents of that room will fade out (it looks like an empty room until they vacate it). Also, an NPC Sim which enters their room will also fade (all that remains is a thought bubble showing their actions which appears above their room door). This, explains Tim, is to improve performance of the game. Not having to render images for NPC's that are doing irrelevant actions improves the game. If one of your Sims calls by to greet the NPC, their room content and the Sim will show when your Sim enters.

Continued...