PowerWash Simulator News

April 1st will bring the start of the London Games Festival, a loosely affiliated series of events which almost inevitably involves some poor fella in a Sonic costume posing for press photos on Westminster Bridge. Today, the Festival announced its Official Selection, 33 games which will be showcased online and in various events. Some good games in there, including PowerWash Simulator and Failbetter's Mask Of The Rose.

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Hey everyone - welcome to dev log 47!

Update 0.8 has only just splash landed last week bringing in new levels, cosmetics, and more! Today, we are looking into the future and to an upcoming feature that is one of the most requested we've had during Early Access.





One of the unique challenges we have had for the game is overcoming motion sickness which affects some players and can be a complete blocker to playing! Part of that is due to how so far the motion of washing has been tied to moving the camera. Whilst we have put in small tweaks to help and many players have adapted the way they wash we knew we could do more.

Say hello to the Aim Mode which will bring a form of fixed perspective washing to the game. When toggling this mode on by the press of a button, your washer will move independently of your camera. Currently, your view only turns if your crosshair reaches the edge of your screen. This wash mode is totally optional and you can go back to the normal washing mode fixed to your camera/movement at any time.

Please note this is still very much a WIP and will come in a future update. It is not in 0.8. We're now certain it will come to the game and have made it integrated into the main control scheme but it still needs some work.

Here are some insights into the development and design of Aim Mode from programmer Louis:

Originally posted by Louis

Always looking to improve on accessibility features and reduce motion sickness in PowerWash, we've been wanting to implement Aim Mode for a while! Working closely with the design team, we settled on building a system that would lock the camera rotation and seamlessly blend player input from the camera rig into the character model, to allow players to swap in and out of Aim Mode on the fly.

With a lot of the foundation already laid thanks to the work on our new camera rig for implementing custom FOV options, the majority of efforts went into improving the stability of the washer visuals and water VFX rendering to reach all possible angles when in Aim Mode.

We also overhauled the crosshair UI to dynamically target washable surfaces that can be focused on when in Aim Mode, to give players that extra bit of precision when washing those hard-to-reach spots (or to help put the finishing touches on some dirt drawings…)

We're super pleased with Aim Mode, it further improves accessibility for the players who need it, and has the added bonus of giving players the tools to clean with more precision and more creativity. It's also a fab way of appreciating the amazing glove and washer cosmetics from some brand new angles.
It's my new favourite way to play, and I hope the community will love it too :D happy washing!

We'd also like to thank everyone who filled out our motion sickness feedback form, it gave us some really useful insights into what is working, what we could do better, and suggestions like those for this very feature!

More info on that here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/3132818923050869740

As Louis mentions, not only do we hope it will help with accessibility but also it adds a new way to play which many of the devs in internal play sessions have said they now prefer. Also, we will be looking forward to the art that can be created when the perspective isn't warped as much by moving away from your wash target.

Again, it isn't ready just yet but we really wanted to let everyone know it was coming, especially to those that are affected by motion sickness! Let us know your thoughts below.





Inspired by anecdotes of wellbeing from PWS players through Steam reviews and comments. We've partnered with the Oxford Internet Institute (OII: a department in the University of Oxford,) to better understand the implications of the game. We've also hired a dedicated programmer to help conduct the study and to feedback recommendations of how we could potentially make the game better.

The full MCV/DEVELOP article is here with interview snippets from the FuturLab director and OII researcher working on the project.



We release a format of a popular meme template using PowerWash Simulator models every Monday at 2 PM GMT, this is our latest one - Tap Mask.





Let us know if there are any formats you would like to see created! :)



Our weekly Twitch stream or FuturLab Friday will be canceled this week. However, we will be back next week where we'll show this new washing system in action! :)



Thanks to everyone for reading, we hope everyone is excited about the new 'Aim Mode' feature and we can't wait for those to have suffered from motion sickness to try it. We'll be back next week with more dev insights so watch this space! :)

Join our Discord to submit and vote on ideas for PowerWash Simulator, find other players, and more!

---> https://discord.com/invite/powerwashsimulator

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

Welcome everyone to Update 0.8!



It's time to once again equip your power washer and discard decades of dirt in our largest level yet. Plus, uncover filthy ancient secrets at a dig site, fly through the eggy exterior of a stunt plane and implement your clean vision onto the fortune teller's caravan. We can't wait for people to dive into all of the new content in this update and discover more of our world's lore!



New jobs: Subway Platform, Stunt Plane, Fortune Teller's Caravan & Ancient Statue.



New cosmetics: Say hello to our first Prime Vista Pro skin, Carbon:



We've also added all of the default suit colors to the starter gloves for some extra fashion options.

New challenge: Vintage Car - Time & Water





99% Save issue

• An issue in which players loaded data from a previous save will be unable to finish half-finished tasks has been fixed.
  

Any level with washing progress will be auto-completed when booting up the game after the update. The partially completed levels will auto-complete when you join the level. Though will appear at the percentage you left it at on the menu initially. Also, the menu UI may not show fully complete but you can ignore this and progress as normal.

We have tried to give an advanced warning to those who may have been in progress but we apologise to anyone who may be caught unaware by this.

The game has changed a lot under the hood (bonnet) since the first Early Access Launch and whilst this wasn't ideal we feel it was necessary to get on top of some issues that occurred with conflicting saves between the patches. This will bring everyone's save data up to date with the current version 0.8. Anyone who was stuck with unwashable objects at 99% in the last patch will now be able to continue as normal. Those who had the Ferris Wheel completed will just be able to go straight into the new patch!

All money from the parts and job completion will be given to all players for any jobs that auto-complete. Note, the UI in job details may get slightly confused and display something like $149/$150 but the total earned will be correct.

More fixes:

• An issue in which clients could not open the inventory in a multiplayer game if they had soap selected in Career Mode before has been fixed
  
• A rare issue in which the tablet would occasionally get stuck on the screen has been fixed
  
• Some localisation corrections
  

New non-slippy ladders are in. A lot of players have complained about being able to stay on the ladders without slipping off the sides. In Update 0.8 you will no longer easily slip off the side and it will keep you inside unless you are purposefully trying to get off the ladders.



we hope everyone will have a much better experience when climbing up walls etc!



The gnomes have been a running gag for us and something that has become quite iconic to PowerWash Simulator. We were all a little upset that they last-minute broke the game before 0.7 and had to be taken out.

Don't worry, they are back and are better than ever! There is now a gnome in every level! Not just that, you can also pick them up and move them if they are in the way of your washing. Or, even to put them in a better position for a nice picture.

Keen gnome hunters, it is your time to shine!



Known Issues

• Messages for the Stunt Plane & Ancient Statue job appear out of order in the messages tab of the menu
  
• Unable to mute the game audio via the options menu
  
  

Update 03/03/22 from devs on sound:

Master Audio Not Working 0.8

Hey everyone, the master audio slider isn't working as intended, we're investigating. The master will not go to 0 on its own with some sound remaining.

A current workaround would be to lower the individual sound levels - water, ambient and non-diagetic. In the menu. If you want to mute them all, reduce all to 0.

Also you can lower the application audio by going into your volume mixer. Right click the speaker symbol in taskbar > open volume mixer and then lower PowerWash Simulator's application sound.

Sorry to anyone affected.

Thanks for reading, we hope everyone has an amazing time with the new content and we can't wait for all of the new lore theories following these levels. We have some exciting things to share that we have been working on in the background that weren't ready for 0.8 but are pretty massive that we can't wait to share in our weekly dev logs.

Have fun all!

If you want to vote on new game ideas, talk to the community, find some tough dirt - then join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/powerwashsimulator

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 46!

This week's edition is a little early but there's a good reason...

Update 0.8 splash lands on Steam next Wednesday, March 2nd at 2 PM GMT / 9 AM EST / 6 AM PST! Hopefully, that's a good enough reason for the early episode!

Coming is 4 new career jobs including the biggest yet the Subway, new pro skin, glove skins, challenge level, gnomes, 99% fix, and more!





We have had issues with a small but significant amount of players getting stuck on uncleanable surfaces on levels they started before an update was installed. We're sorry to anyone who ran into this issue!

To make sure the same problem doesn't occur again the game will automatically complete whatever level you have partially completed. This will bring all players into the new update with fresh 0.8 save data for uncompleted levels. So, for those currently stuck on 99% it will get rid of their blocker to continue. Any in-game money you are owed for a career job will still be paid to you as normal via auto-complete for finishing both the parts and the job bonus itself. (Please ignore the in-job details as it may show the total money incorrectly but the amount given to you will be correct.)

Following that, this is a friendly nudge to complete any levels you haven't yet completed before 0.8 goes live.

If you have finished the Ferris Wheel, sit back and relax as you will go straight into the new career jobs.



We'll see you all for the update on Thursday, and the full change list with the update post here on Steam.

Join our Discord to submit and vote on ideas for PowerWash Simulator, find other players, and more!

---> https://discord.com/invite/powerwashsimulator

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 45!

Today we reveal last week's mystery map! Though the real question is were your guesses right? Find out below!

Before we fly into that, we had hoped to have a date to share for Update 0.8 today. Unfortunately, we still haven't got everything 100% to where we'd like it to be but we'll share a time frame as soon as we can! Ultimately we too want to get the update out to everyone as fast as possible!

If you want to take a look at the initial mystery images and guesses in the comments check out the full dev log 44 here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/5489328168222629821



One of the main priorities has been to address the corrupted save data issue that has affected some players in 0.7 and previous updates (getting people stuck at 99% with no dirt).

The current workaround is not ideal and it has been something that was high on the list to address.

We do have a solution that we have been working on and we'll go into more detail on this when we announce the patch date. Keep an eye out for it!



Ta-da! Say hello to the Stunt Plane, one of four career jobs coming in Update 0.8.

It seems quite topical today with here in the UK being battered by a strong storm and the heroic landings of pilots into Heathrow airport going viral on YouTube. (On that note we hope everyone stays safe today and isn't impacted too seriously!)

Anyway, there's nothing clean about this new vehicle job's landing gear or anything really. Thick grime and even a good helping of the new toughest layer of dirt (oily) are splattered all over its exterior.

This job is the smallest of the four jobs coming but it still has rewarding colors to reveal and challenging dirt to jet blast away! Plus, it is in a rather stunning locale which you will find some interesting objects placed nearby.










The other two maps have a heavy lore element to both of them and we don't want to spoil that before the update goes live. We are really excited to see people experience them first hand as they both bring something completely new to the game mechanics-wise.

Our weekly live stream also focused on the new level and you can watch the whole thing here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1302018278

Let us know your feelings on this pair of wings in the replies below! :)



Each week we release a blank meme format for people to caption and create their own memes on. These are created by our marketing artist Cristina and are based on popular memes with our player models.

This week's template is 'Always Was Dirty,' feel free to use/caption this or edit as you'd like!



https://imgflip.com/memetemplate/371451861/Always-Was-Dirty

As always, these drop every Monday on Twitter at 2 PM GMT! (We also share them early in Discord)

[h2]That's all folks![/h2]

Thanks again for tuning this week. We're sorry if anyone is slightly burnt out on teasers, we've definitely slowed down for the moment but once we announce that 0.8 release date - the flood gates will open again!

We'll see you all next week for dev log 46!

Join our Discord to submit and vote on ideas for PowerWash Simulator, find other players, and more!

---> https://discord.com/invite/powerwashsimulator

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