PowerWash Simulator News

Hey everyone - welcome to dev log 60!

Last week we talked about achievements, more on: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1290000/view/3224025758063263090

Today, Sofia, our Senior Quality Assurance Tester or QA, answers a Q&A! Quite the mouthful!



Sofia has been testing PowerWash Simulator since the beginning and is a washing veteran. As she has such a uniquely intimate knowledge of the game, we thought it would be fun to share her behind-the-scenes insights with our community!



Q: How do you test in PowerWash Simulator?

A: We conduct a daily viability test that involves completing the van job and making sure that every aspect of the game is in working condition. This includes the completability of the job as well the overall state of the level, the UI and the HUD. We then proceed with testing various jobs, focusing on newly introduced mechanics and changes. Additionally, we have some very thorough tests that we repeat weekly or when necessary, in order to confirm the quality of the game. Lastly, we also have multiplayer and co-op sessions on all the different modes of the game.

Q: What does your daily routine look like?

A: My daily routine is a mixture of conducting daily tests where I focus on specific aspects of the game, such as the completability and thresholds of a job, the overall look of the game, the economy or the options and controls. My goal is to find any issues and edge cases in the game, as well as offering feedback and suggestions for balancing and enhancing the player’s experience.

Q: Tell us about how the experience of playing a game differs as a QA vs a regular player?

A: A big part of being an in-house tester is that you have an understanding of how things work in the background, the intention behind the design and what is expected in every situation. A lot of the time when I start a test my focus will be on a specific mechanic or condition of the game and ensuring that no matter the approach, we always get the desirable result. For example, we have a thorough break down of the power of each nozzle, extension and powerwasher and whenever a new dirt type is introduced, we need to ensure that each of the nozzles, extensions and powerwashers are able to clean it at the relevant speed.

Q: Which is your favourite level?

A: I really enjoy washing the Shoe House. I completely adore the way the dirt has been placed over the building and I even dare say that it looks like a piece of art. In addition, I feel that it has a nice variety of dirt types, surfaces and colours creating a very satisfying experience while it is washed.

Q: What’s something in PowerWash Simulator that you’ll never get tired of seeing/doing?

A: That would be washing the Van. As part of my tests, I complete the Van several times a day and I have seen it in so many different states that I could probably wash it with my eyes closed. Knowing this level so well allows me to spot any bugs or inconsistencies a lot easier so it will always be special to me. I guess it also helps that it carries a number plate with my name on it!

Sofia recently beat the current world record wash speed for base equipment on the Van in 0.9, check it out here! Also, let us know if you beat her!
Q: What do you think about this meme? (One of the highest rated in Steam!)



A: I found it hilarious that people thought that I only tested this job 20 times, it was a lot more than that! I'm hoping someone will make another meme for the subway platform job as it is a lot bigger! Also, I am not a guy!

Q: How long have you spent playing PowerWash Simulator overall?

A: I have been playing PowerWash Simulator almost every day since January 2021, so I would say somewhere between 2,500-3,000 hours.



Each week we release a PowerWash version of a popular meme format. This week it is 'Washer Remembers'; How would you caption it? If you have any recommendations, please also let us know below!





We also passed 20,000 Discord members. We've got an amazing community over there, so consider joining if you haven't already!





Thank you to everyone for reading. We hope everyone is enjoying the new content and these insights! :)

Keep up with everything PowerWash Simulator by following our channels:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PowerWashSim
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/futurlab
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@powerwashsim?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powerwashsim/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/powerwashsim
PWS Wiki: https://powerwash-simulator.fandom.com/wiki/PowerWash_Simulator_Wiki

Hey everyone – welcome to dev log 59!

Last week we delved into the art of cutting objects up into parts for the perfect dings; more on that here

This week's dev log it's all about achievements!

Before we start, we also announced last week that 1.0 or full launch is coming on July 14th! You can see your automatically tuned release time for your region on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/powerwashsimulator


Achievements are one of the most requested community features and something we've been holding on to until further into Early Access as many are tied to the career mode.

Now we are on the home stretch to 1.0 we thought it was time to talk about them.

We may also run a limited test of achievements before launch, no promises but keep your eyes peeled!

Designer Nick and Lead Design Dan had this to say on the crafting of achievements:

Originally posted by Nick

With the achievements in PowerWash Simulator we wanted to recognise the effort that goes into progressing through the Career Mode. Leaving absolutely no dirt behind and getting five stars on every job that comes your way is no small feat, so we have achievements that act as milestones to celebrate your efforts throughout the quest to clean up Muckingham.

Originally posted by Nick

Expanding your arsenal of cleaning equipment is essential to any great Powerwashing business, so there are also achievements that recognise those players who invest in the range of nozzles, extensions and soaps available.

Originally posted by Nick

Beyond these, we've created many achievements that give extra reason to go back and reexplore previous jobs. Some have punny names that have to be practically actioned on, while others are playful (and sometimes unexpected) takes on the environments and their elements.

We hope you all enjoy hunting down these achievements just as you've hunted down every hint of dirt!

Steven, one of our coders, also has some insights into the technical work that went on behind the scenes:

Originally posted by Nick

As the Achievements touch most levels I had to implement them in a way that used as much existing data from the scenes as possible so i didn't prevent others from making changes to the scene; We added a trophy for gold medals and as this is something we didn't track before I had to account for any gold medals you might already have from early access, so when you first boot up 1.0 the code goes through the previous save data to see how many gold medals you might already have.

We also have a few Achievements around moving the football, and accounting for all the ways players could move the ball into different places was a bit of a challenge.

Again, we may be running a test soon on these but keep an eye on Steam/our socials for more info. As Steven said before, some may be retroactive, while others may need a unique input that will come in 1.0.

Thanks for reading. We'll see you next week for the next log!

Keep up with everything PowerWash Simulator by following our channels:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PowerWashSim
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/futurlab
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@powerwashsim?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powerwashsim/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/powerwashsim
PWS Wiki: https://powerwash-simulator.fandom.com/wiki/PowerWash_Simulator_Wiki

Hey everyone!

PowerWash Simulator launches out of Early Access on July 14th at 5PM UTC / 1PM EDT / 11AM PDT with Update 1.0! You can also see the time automatically set to your time zone in our Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/powerwashsimulator

Our main career mode story will be wrapped up in a clean package with plenty more dirt to spray away in this patch. Keep an eye here and on our socials for more details on what’s coming in 1.0 and past 1.0!

Thank you to everyone who has given us invaluable feedback through our Early Access journey. We can't wait for you to play the new content. Plus, welcome more people to our wonderful community!

Here are some answers to questions you may have with 1.0:

[h2]FAQ for 1.0[/h2]

Will Early Access turn into the full game?

Yes. If you own the game on Steam already, with update 1.0 your game will be updated to the full launch version automatically.

Will the price change at full launch?

The price will increase with 1.0. If you still don't have the game you can still get a a great deal with the Early Access price before the game launches on July 14th!

What will be in full launch?

All of the updates, content and tweaks we've made across Early Access. There will also be new levels, including the biggest yet, cosmetics and more!

Will there be more content after 1.0?

Yes! Our main focus is on getting the game out for 1.0 but we'll share future content plans here in the future, keep tuned!

Will there be achievements?

Yes, complete list of achievements will arrive with 1.0.

Will the career mode story come to an end?

The main career story will come to an end with 1.0. Though, this isn't the end of stories being told in PowerWash Simulator!

Will progress reset with 1.0?
No, you can continue your current save. Though there may be incentives to replay but that is optional.

Keep up with everything PowerWash Simulator by following our channels:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PowerWashSim
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/futurlab
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@powerwashsim?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powerwashsim/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/powerwashsim
PWS Wiki: https://powerwash-simulator.fandom.com/wiki/PowerWash_Simulator_Wiki

Hey everyone – welcome to dev log 58!

Last week we spoke to Laura and Dave, who worked on the Art and Design of our popular mini-golf course level: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1290000/view/3305091754553822107

For this week’s dev log, we wanted to shed some light on how something as simple as naming conventions can impact the fun of PowerWash Simulator. No stone is left unturned (or unclean!) in chasing ultimate DING satisfaction!



An important step in the process of developing any PowerWash Simulator job is determining the subtasks of a job. This involves breaking down the job into all its components. Sometimes this is as simple as identifying the walls, floors and windows of a building but when the jobs get more elaborate and technical quite a bit of research is sometimes required from the designers to identify “What is that thing supposed to be called!?!”

An example of the investigative research process is the Steam Locomotive where we had to identify a myriad of specific terms for such a machine that we were unfamiliar with.



The Smokebox, Cowcatcher, SteamDome, Furnace and the parts surrounding these objects all must be identified and labelled in a way that makes them easy to identify without the terminology being too technical, but also accurate to historical references. Panels, pistons, rods, wheels, dials and skirtings - the list goes on and on until eventually we have a job which has been completely and accurately broken down.

As designers on PowerWash Simulator we often laugh about how we need to become overnight experts on the inner-workings and mechanics of our jobs so that we’re able to label them accurately. We hope that as players progress through the game they get some educational value out of learning the names of components as they clean them. Who knew that the bricks around the top of the castle walls in the Mini-Golf Course were called Crenulations or that the small bumps which appear under the wings of the Private Jet are called Vortex Generators. We certainly didn’t until we started working on these jobs!

 


Of course, accurate labelling of components for educational value isn’t the only reason we breakdown jobs into their subtasks – its all about the dings! We want to make sure that players have an enjoyable and satisfying experience making their way around a job so when we enact the breakdown, we try to ensure that subtasks are appropriately split up to provide maximum satisfaction as the job is cleaned.

The cab area of the Steam Locomotive was deliberately filled with many small objects to ding clean. We could have easily included the dials, pipes and boxes their connected to as singular objects but instead opted to label them as individual subtasks just so players can enjoy the satisfying combo of dings as they run their washer across this area. The cab area was designed this way to act as both a reward and change of pace from the larger subtasks to clean outside the locomotive.



Optimal ding satisfaction also leads us to split jobs further than initially conceived to create extra subtasks/dings. A perfect example of this is in the Ancient Statue job where the mighty height of the figure led us to split the torso, chest, neck and arm areas up into slabs rather than making them singular large subtasks to clean.


 


The final consideration that goes into how jobs are broken down is providing important information in the subtask names. This is to help players find the location of subtasks as they clean the job.

Good examples of this are in levels like the Stunt Plane where we have an Upper Wing, Lower Wings and objects like the Upper Wing Alerions and Lower Wing Ailerons which are linked to their respective wings by name to help players identify where exactly to find them.



We could have just as easily have labelled the wings as ‘Wings’ and their ailerons as ‘Ailerons’ but we believe that providing this positional information is beneficial to helping players hunt down those final pesky pieces of dirt hidden throughout the job.

So, there you have it. Next time you are at 99% clean and hunting down that last pesky speck of dirt, see if there are any contextual clues in the item name to narrow down your search.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this inside look at how and why our developers get into granular detail with naming every single item and surface in PowerWash Simulator – it’s all about the DINGs!




Each week we release a PowerWash version of a popular meme format. This week it is 'Two Buttons'. How would you caption it? If you have any recommendations, please also let us know below!





Thank you to everyone for reading. We hope everyone is enjoying the new content and these insights! :)

Keep up with everything PowerWash Simulator by following our channels:

Twitter: @PowerWashSim
Twitch: futurlab
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@powerwashsim?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powerwashsim/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/powerwashsim
PWS Wiki: https://powerwash-simulator.fandom.com/wiki/PowerWash_Simulator_Wiki

Hey everyone - welcome to dev log 57!

Last week we released Update 0.9, our birthday patch including 3 community jobs and a whole host of QOL changes: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1290000/view/3224025758063263090

Today Artist Laura and Designer Dave give a VIP backstage tour of the Mini Golf Course level's development.



Before we start on this dev log, we are aware of a few issues with 0.9 and are working on a hotfix and will let everyone know when it goes live. There are temporary workarounds to many of the issues including multiplayer desync here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1290000/discussions/0/3389534247558075422/ We are also listening closely to all of the feedback, thanks everyone!




Laura is the artist who worked on making this job a visual fantasy. We asked some questions to show how they got a hole in one:

Where did you start with the level?

Originally posted by Laura

I had a pitch from the design team about a 'fairytale, knight, castle' theme for this minigolf, so I started by thinking about a story. Players will make a little trip, from the forest to a little village, and then they will enter the dragon cave until finally arriving at the big castle! I thought it was important and exciting to bring players into different areas and have this storytelling.

What is the favourite part of the job you worked on?

Originally posted by Laura

I think my favourite part of the job I worked on was all the little animals and particularly the dragon because it was a challenge for me as I'm not used to doing animals/characters in 3D. And I am pretty happy with the final result!

What was challenging working on this level?

Originally posted by Laura

As I said previously, the dragon was challenging, but there are almost 300 objects in this scene, and with Powerwash's workflow, everything needs to be as clean as possible! And it's not easy to find all the issues, but thankfully we have a QA team!

What changed the most during development with the level?

Originally posted by Laura

The composition changed a lot. I had a lot of feedback from the design team during all the development to change this - move this -remove this. And also the materials changed, at first, the castle and rocks were really dark and not very interesting and 'funny' so we needed to find something more colorfull to match the idea of this mini golf level!

Was there something you wanted to have in the level, but it just didn't work?

Originally posted by Laura

I think I have everything I wanted on this level and I'm pretty happy with the result, it was really nice to work on this one because I was free to do what I had in mind!

Any closing thoughts?

Originally posted by Laura

I just hope people enjoy the story, the colors and animals of the minigolf course, I put all my love on it ! haha

Dave is the designer who was in charge of making the level fun to play and clean! Here are their answers to the same questions! :)

Where did you start with the level?

Originally posted by Dave

We had some rough guidelines from the James (Creative Director):
1) We want a Castle on top of a hill that can be seen at all times.
2) We want the course to spiral around the hill to the Castle on top.
3) We want the theme to be Story Book Fantasy (less Dungeons and Dragons, more King Arthur, and Sword in the Stone).

We started with research: Looking at real-world minigolf courses to get an idea for hole and course layouts. While thinking about the layout of our course and where each hole would be positioned, we decided to try and tell a story from Hole 1 to Hole 9. The story is an adventure starting out in a forest, travelling through a village, navigating a dangerous cave, before arriving at the outer walls of a castle. The player goes through training in the courtyard, makes their way through the castle keep corridors, and eventually arrives at the castle itself.

What is the favourite part of the job you worked on?

Originally posted by Dave

My favourite part was trying to figure out the layout of the holes. They needed to fit the space, draw the player along the 'correct path' and I also wanted them to be somewhat viable as real minigolf holes.

What was challenging working on this level?

Originally posted by Dave

Trying to envision how everything would fit together. What was the scale of the objects? What sight lines did the player have? Could we hide and reveal areas to make it feel like the player is exploring and discovering the level as they progress? There were lots of elements I needed to consider as I was designing the level, but it was Laura that really helped pull them all together and make what I had in my head a reality.

What changed the most during development with the level?

Originally posted by Dave

The layout around the back side of the course, after the dragon. We needed to take the player up quite a steep incline, but we also wanted to squeeze in a few holes on the way. Eventually the castle courtyard-to-corridor idea formed and we used steps and stairways between the holes to push the player upwards.

Was there something you wanted to have in the level, but it just didn't work?

Originally posted by Dave

We wanted all the holes to be fully playable. For example, if the player hit the ball in the dragon's mouth, it'd pop out the hole on its back, roll down the tail and into the hole. Hit the ball through the final hole and it'd roll down the gutters in the bucket. The complexity and time needed to get everything working and bug free just made it unfeasible for us unfortunately.

Any closing thoughts?

Originally posted by Dave

I loved working on this level, it was fun to use some more traditional level design techniques to lead the player on the journey through the level and to give a sense of discovery and exploration. I hope players enjoy exploring the minigolf course and returning it to its former, vibrant glory.

We hope everyone has learned more about the level process and has enjoyed some of the in-progress images!



Each week we release a PowerWash version of a popular meme format. This week it is 'Take My Money'. How would you caption it? If you have any recommendations, please also let us know below!





Thank you to everyone for reading. We hope everyone is enjoying the new content and these insights! :)

Keep up with everything PowerWash Simulator by following our channels:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PowerWashSim
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/futurlab
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@powerwashsim?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/powerwashsim/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/powerwashsim
PWS Wiki: https://powerwash-simulator.fandom.com/wiki/PowerWash_Simulator_Wiki