PowerWash Simulator News

It’s World Mental Health Day on 10th October, so this week, we’re partnering with Better Health - Every Mind Matters, to encourage more discussion around mental health and the little things we can all do to make a big difference to how we’re feeling.

We all know it’s been a tough 18 months, most of us battling through as well as we can, but during all the chaos, it’s important to take a minute to reflect on how we’re doing and ask ourselves, “how have I been feeling lately?”.

Enter Every Mind Matters, a mental health and wellbeing campaign that encourages you to create a free, NHS-approved ‘Mind Plan’ that can provide you with tips to help deal with stress and anxiety, boost your mood, sleep better, and feel more in control. To find out more, search Every Mind Matters or visit the website here for practical tips and expert advice to help you look after your mental health and wellbeing.

That’s not all! We will have a special FuturLab Friday live stream on Friday 8th October, 3pm BST, as part of Ukie’s Play & Talk Weekend. We’ll be showing a sneak peek of the next PowerWash Simulator update and pointing you towards more helpful resources for World Mental health Day. 

Hey everyone!

The mystery is revealed, the 'Frolic Boat' is coming in update 0.6! We sail closer to this content update and look forward to everyone seeing the rest of the surprises! This follows last week’s speculative dev log about this level here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/2906501075565402901

Onto the new job, are you ready to hear all a'boat' it?





The Mayor has once again called upon the aid of your power washing prowess! Today we have some insights from the team on how this ship came to be.



Here's some of the behind-the-scenes info on the art direction of this majestic vessel from Artist Torger:

Originally posted by Torger

Revisiting the Mayor's Mansion we had an opportunity to further explore his world. We wanted to keep the implications of wealth and luxury that contribute to the local hatred of Mayor Jeff Jefferson. We landed on a classic luxurious River Launch that implied cruising down the local canals in comfort and style. With some extra added gold detailing and a pretentious name.

At least the mayor has some fine taste with that pirate cat figurehead!

Designer Dave gives some insight into the dirt, challenges, and changes it saw through development:

Originally posted by Dave

The Frolic Boat is our first water vehicle, which allows us to introduce new types of dirt like algae and slimy moss. I avoided leaning too far into water-based dirt types as this isn’t a boat that’s recently been used, it’s been forgotten in an overgrown dry dock somewhere. I tried to tell that story with heavy use of lichen and a good base of grime stains that formed after years of exposure to the elements. We have some bronze elements that enabled us to introduce a new dirt type: verdigris. Verdigris is just as tough to remove as rust, so it’s going to require quite a bit of work (or some soap) to remove.

The figurehead was a fun idea that came out of a desire to make a platform at the front of the boat to aid player navigation, providing a route to the roof as an alternative to using ladders. In researching ideas for figureheads, we saw some old ships had lions, which quickly lead to the idea of the mayor’s cat being the figurehead. To make the cat's head flat we had the idea that it should be wearing a hat, which was also a nice callback to a message from one of the very first jobs in the game.

As for the design of the frolic boat, initially, it was narrower and closer to real-life proportions. But we felt it was important for the player to be able to comfortably walk down the sides of the boat rather than require them to clean it all from the ground or from ladders. The design worked with the art team to make the boat wider, which helped to ensure the deck area of the boat was large enough to navigate to.

What are your thoughts on the first sea vehicle to splash land in PowerWash Simulator? What part of it are you most excited to clean? Also, do you enjoy hearing from the developers directly? Let us know in the comment sections below!





We've added a suggestion bot to the PWS Discord server. This will allow everyone to submit suggestions for the game to then be polled for their popularity. This is in part to give us a better idea of how popular certain suggestions are but also generally for everyone to be able to participate. We'll be testing this out over the next few days but hope that it can be useful and fun! (Note,

To submit suggestions and instructions on how to do so, join the server here:

[h2]PWS Discord[/h2]

Also, whilst it is useful feedback for us, we cannot promise to develop the ideas however popular they may be! Thanks to everyone for helping us make PWS the best it can be!

We loved the reaction to being able to vote on community-suggested maps over the past few months.

[h3]Until Next Time...[/h3]

0.6 isn't too far away and we can't wait to ship it onto all of your steam accounts! We'll see everyone next week for #31!

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!

It's a map mystery developer log this week! Can you guess one of the upcoming levels in 0.6 with only some close-ups and odd perspective screenshots? We cordially challenge you to share your wildest speculations! This follows last week’s slippy instalment where we talked about the Helter Skelter coming in the next update: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1290000/view/3989616160679436577

Guesses at the ready!



Coming in the next update is 4 new career jobs, we have already shown the Helter Skelter which takes part in the Fairground Zone, though what are these next 3 coming? 2 of the jobs take place in a zone you've already visited but 2 are in completely new zones.

Today, it's time to guess this level!



Does this wall look familiar?



Have you got a handle on the map yet?



Ok, now this building is something we mayor may not have seen before!



We a'door' all of your guesses so far on our socials and here on Steam!



Well, take a seat and begin to speculate!

That's enough puns for one developer log. We hope everyone is having an epiphany at this moment, be sure to share your thoughts down in the comments section below!



Last week with the Helter Skelter we showed off its entrance which was originally a clown. We got very quick feedback from players who have a phobia of clowns with concerns on needing to wash one. It also looked especially menacing when covered in dirt.



Whilst Coulrophobia may affect a minority of players. PowerWash Simulator's primary goal is to be as satisfying and chilled out as possible. With cleaning the object being unavoidable, we thought in this case it was best to remove it from the game. This decision was made last Friday in our weekly play through/discussion of PowerWash Sim as a team.

We're currently still working on its replacement but wanted to get everyone in the loop. Thank you for letting us know so we could make the change.

[h3]Until Next Time...[/h3]

We hope that your excitement for 0.6 is building and you've had fun making some guesses this dev log. We'll see you all next week for #30!

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!

We slide into new content coming in 0.6 with this week's dev log! Before delving deeper into the new fairground ride you can learn more about lighting, movement and other new features that came in 0.5 with last week's instalment: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/2992066214554670810

We've also released a hotfix yesterday to address the issue with being unable to complete certain subtasks at 99%, you can read more about that here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1290000/view/3989616160675737466

Today, say hello to the Helter Skelter!



Following on from the Carousel, the Fairground seems to be getting more rides! Which is good, wouldn't a fairground with just one ride be a little disappointing?

You may have also heard the proprietor of the Helter Skelter get in touch during your cleaning of the Carousel. It's fair to say there may be some healthy... or well, just plain heated rivalry between ride owners at this carnival. We can't wait for you to pick at the new lore dropped in 0.6.

You can also see the cleaned carousel you will have completed from the tall top of this new job! Satisfying or what?



Nick, one of the designers that worked on the Helter Skelter had this to say on the vision for the level:

This job features a huge bright and colourful fairground slide hidden beneath caked-on layers of mud, streaks and grime. Just like the carousel, there are lots of shining lightbulbs to reveal. Many satisfying 'dings' are to be had cleaning up, down around this one! :wink:

Are you up to the task of this attraction? Let us know all of your thoughts on the Helter Skelter in the comments section below!



We stream every week with our FuturLab Friday show on Twitch at 3PM GMT+1. This week we showed off the Helter Skelter in action and also answered lots of community questions. If you want to watch the VOD on demand, you can find it here:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1151267827

Follow us to catch us every time we're live!

[h3]Until Next Time...[/h3]

We hope you've enjoyed sliding into this developer log and that you're excited for 0.6 to drop. We're still a few weeks away but be sure to keep your eyes peeled here and on socials for more teasers!



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 all!


Hotfix 0.5.1 is now live:


Fixed:

• Issue where jobs weren't completable if there was progress prior to 0.5 in save data.
  
• Missing controller glyph for button to toggle the Carousel on and off.
  

Sorry to everyone who experienced the completion issue and thank you to everyone's reports that helped us identify/fix the problem as quickly as possible.

Entering an issue job again that is stuck should instantly move it to 100% and fix it. The new jobs that may have been missing should now appear in career mode.

We hope everyone is now able to enjoy the content in 0.5 and has been enjoying it if they didn't experience this issue.

We look forward to seeing everyone for this week's dev log and live stream tomorrow!