PowerWash Simulator News

Hey everyone - welcome to dev log 54!

Last week we looked at the upcoming tutorial system and Shoe House changes; more on that here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/3228526756466913188

Today, we have a date!



Update 0.9 releases on the day Early Access launched, [h2]May 19th 1 PM UTC / 10 AM EDT / 7 AM PDT [/h2]



We can't wait to celebrate our first birthday with you all! Thanks to everyone for their overwhelming feedback and support so far. It has been one incredible year!

What is coming?

New Community Jobs:

All of these jobs came from community members' suggestions and a public vote; more info here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/3006699741749732225

• Mini Golf Course
  
• Gnome Fountain
  
• Steam Locomotive
  

Major quality of life features:

In this next update, we don't want only to say we're listening to feedback; we will be adding many community requests and improvements based on your responses.

• Aim Mode (anti-motion sickness)
  
• Threshold reworks
  
• Job enhancements
  
• Economy Revamp
  
• Tutorial pop-ups
  

You can peek at the past few weeks' dev logs for more info on these QOL changes. In the next couple of weeks we'll be giving sneak peaks of the new levels!

We hope everyone is excited about all of the new content and changes.





With Update 0.9 all partially completed levels will autocomplete when you first open them after updating the game. This will only happen once after you load the game after updating.

This autocomplete will give you the correct money owed from the job (both parts and bonus) and let you continue to the next level.

We again don't want to reset everyone's progress completely but with all of the changes coming, save data needs to be brought up to date to avoid issues like the uncleanable surfaces in previous patches.

If you want to avoid this happening, complete your levels or don't enter the jobs you are saving for later before the 19th.

We hope that giving everyone more time will help but again, we apologize to anyone caught by this as we know we won't be able to get this information to everyone.

Good luck and happy washing!





PowerWash Simulator has been nominated in the 'Most Innovative Gameplay' of this years MCV Develop awards. Many of the team here at FuturLab and one of our friends from Square Enix Collective will be attending. Wish us luck!



Each week we release a PowerWash version of a popular meme format. This week it was the 'Traumatized Mr. Gnomey' template:



Featured meme from Discord community member Tixxel:


Have fun!



Thank you to everyone for reading, we'll be back with spoilers of the Steam Locomotive, and we hope you will tune in next week! :)

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 53!

Last week we looked at the completely revamped Forest Cottage; more on that here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/3228526756466913188

Today, we look at our new handy tutorial pop-ups and the changes to the Shoe House job!





Another QOL (quality of life) change coming in 0.9 is tutorial pop-ups. These will appear the first time you load into the game after updating to the new patch. They will guide new players through many mapped controls to show the game mechanics, rotating nozzles, selecting attachments, aim mode, etc. Once completed they will disappear, never to be seen again... unless you start a new save.

Not looking at any Mark-named content creators, but inside the FuturLab development camp, we paid close attention to coverage of the game. Many times early in development, we watched with anxiety as some big streamers and YouTubers used the red nozzle for the whole of the van, for example. We changed the first nozzle attached to be yellow for this reason.

Overall we hope this will be a gentle helping hand to get the most satisfaction from cleaning for first-timers! :)



The Shoe House job is one of the most memed about levels due to some suspicious text messages from Martha Hubbard. Who is hungry for some yogert? while we're not ready just yet to tease the next slew of new levels coming in 0.9, this is the last significant redux coming.

The main complaint with the level was the roof section was difficult to clean with parts obscured and overall making the experience more frustrating than it needed to be. So we have lifted the roof section higher. Simple.

New:


Old:


New:

Old:

There are also a few more minor changes and tweaks to other levels we haven't covered but shown in these past dev logs have been the most visual changes coming in 0.9 based on your feedback.



Each week we release a PowerWash version of a popular meme format. This week it was the 'Firey Washmo' template:



Featured meme from Discord community member Tixxel:


Have fun!



Thank you to everyone for reading, we'll be back with spoilers of new content next week, and we hope you will tune in next week! :)

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 52!

Last week we took a recess to visit the new and improved Playground. More on that here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1290000/view/3222895988541581944

This week we're showing off the most visually changed career job, the Forest Cottage!

But, before that. Happy Easter, everyone, for this weekend! :)





This is our latest reveal of many changes we have been making to levels based on your feedback. The changes will come in the next update alongside new jobs, but we aren't quite ready to show those off just yet.

Designer Nick and Artist Laura have been busy giving the forest cottage more life whilst making it less frustrating to traverse. Take a gander:

BEFORE:


AFTER:


The biggest design change has been to make the roofs less rounded and add more rectangular beams to the top of the house. We had made inclined surfaces more sticky in a previous update which stopped people from having to slip and slide across the whole map. Though, it could still be frustrating in some areas due to the roof's curved and more rounded shape.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Many details have also been renamed to be clearer, and objects have been split into more parts.

Laura has been busy going back and making the dirt and colors of the house more satisfying to clean. You can see above the change of the house's color from the original pale brown, which, when uncovered, isn't super obvious you cleaned it in the first place. The wood slats on the roof were tough to tell, dirty to clean, and have been made a much brighter wood.

New wood:



Some added details have also been like the rooster weather vein and some extra window detail.



If you want to see more and also how we've stopped the Skate Park floor from stealing a chunk of dirt, you can watch our latest dev stream: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1455664641


Last week, we attended the new gaming event WASD and had our own PWS booth! In short, it was epic! Thanks to everyone who stopped by.

If you want to read our full blog (wash-up) on the event, you can here: https://futurlab.co.uk/2022/04/12/w-a-s-d-event-washup/



Each week we release a PowerWash version of a popular meme format. This week it was the 'they're the same picture' template:



Easy template: https://t.co/4F7A9IBVIe

From community member Shaxxy:



Have fun!



Thank you to everyone for reading, have a fantastic Easter weekend, and we hope you will tune in next week! :)

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 51!

Last week we showed off the first of the big changes we've made to levels. More on that here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1290000/view/3222895988526712047

This week, we're showing off our WASD booth ahead of our first gaming expo in a while! We're also once again joined by designer Dave and artist Dennis who have been improving the Playground job. We also want to make it clear that more jobs are coming with the next update too! Early Access has given us a unique chance to return to old content and ultimately make the whole game better!





We're exhibiting at WASD, a new gaming event in London at the Tobacco Docks. Come meet members of the art, production, and marketing team. Play the game. Plus, take a photo with a life-size cardboard cutout of a gnome. If you are at WASD over the weekend, be sure to drop by at GG10 booth 13! :D



Ding!



Stickers!


More info on the show:
https://www.wasdlive.com/





Dave the designer who worked on the upcoming changes to the Playground job is here to give his behind-the-scenes insights!

Originally posted by Dave

The playground has long been a location we wanted to revisit, it’s a fairly big level but the way it was originally broken down grouped a lot of parts, it had fewer tasks than the PowerWash Van! We’re very happy to say the Redux version of the Playground has many more tasks, giving a much better sense of progression and satisfaction.

For instance, there were three climbing frame towers and each was a single task. In the new version, the towers have been broken down to around 20 tasks each, greatly increasing the number of DINGs. The floor has been divided by colours and shapes too, which makes it much more satisfying to clean.

When we reworked the playground we had to repaint the dirt. This allowed us to improve the thresholds (how much dirt is left before the task auto-completes) of everything in the level. You should find everything DINGs closer to when you’d expect, and you spend less time hunting for elusive specks of dirt. We can't wait to see what you think of the new playground![/Quote]



Dennis from our art team has also worked on several art tweaks including:

• Lighting under towers so you can see!
  
• Remade the dirt on the washables to appear thicker and more satisfying to wash (the floor got completely covered in dirt for instance)
  
• Tiny tweaks to the colours of the washables (probably the bigger one's making the blue contrast better with the dirt)
  
• Increased the height of the climbing frame to accommodate a taller player collider
  
• Tick-tac-toe symbols added
  

We have felt for a long time that the Playground job has always almost been in people's favorites, but these changes may move it up players' rankings!



Before and after of the upcoming Back Garden Redux:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Aim Mode Preview:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We'll



Each week we release a PowerWash version of a popular meme format. This week it was the This Is Fine washer.





Have fun!



Thank you to everyone for reading, have a fantastic weekend, and we hope you will tune in next week! :)

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 50!

Last week we shared insights from Dan, our Lead Designer, on how the economy is being tweaked with more multiplayer and repeat play rewards. More on that here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/3133949262585464694

This week we preview improvements coming to some of the earlier jobs!





We've been busy putting older jobs under the microscope, which has led to many tweaks and changes and, in some cases, overhauls of the entire levels. We also had guidance from a feedback form we released months ago where over 3500 people rated levels on a scale of 1-10.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/2992066214554670810

Four levels have received significant changes: the Back Garden, Playground, Shoe House, and Storybook Cottage. The changes are often threshold tweaks, splitting large parts into smaller parts and visual improvements. There are other levels with some of these improvements, but these four are the most striking.



We'll be highlighting more of these Redux Jobs in future dev logs, but we want to stress that this is not yet in live PWS but is coming in a future update!

Dave from the design team has these insights to share on the changes coming to the Back Garden job:

Dave:

Originally posted by Dave

It's been over a year since PowerWash Simulator was released in Early Access. Since then, we have learnt a lot! As the jobs got more elaborate, we looked back at some of the levels initially released and formed a list of things we'd love to improve about them.

We're pleased to say that we have had the opportunity to return to these jobs ahead of the game's full release.

The Back Garden is the first big job players encounter in the game. To help players progress, we've broken down some of the objects into smaller parts and changed their names to indicate better where they can be found.

Also, to further improve the sense of progress and satisfaction we've made some colour changes. From the floor and trims to the trellis and shed, everything has been given a brighter coat of paint to improve the contrast between dirty and clean areas.

We've rebalanced some cleaning thresholds too. Everything should DING when you expect it to - no more hunting for tiny specks of dirt or having large patches simply vanish before your eyes. Cleaning the Back Garden has never been more satisfying, and we can't wait to share these changes with the community to see what you all think.

The Back Garden, in particular, is heavy on visual changes. Dennis from our art team has been working hard to make the level even more satisfying and has this to share:

Dennis:

Originally posted by Dennis

Me and the art team thought that some of the earlier levels could be brought in line with how our newer levels look and feel. The older levels were much colder in colours, which detracted from the colourful, happy vibe we're going for and want the players to experience. This rings true not only for the washable assets themselves but also for the environment!

Originally posted by Dennis

The colours on the washable objects in the improved Back Garden were chosen with particular care to give maximum contrast when washing. All in all, the whole level feels more cohesive and unified now!

Another thought we've put in was the dirt, which focused a lot on looking realistic in some earlier levels. That doesn't always translate well to great washing satisfaction, so we were keen on updating that on the backyard to be thicker and contrast better with the underlying object colours.

The Back Garden is one of the first levels players come across, so we hope that the improvements will make things more satisfying and better set the tone for the rest of the game! We also hope that it will give players more of a reason to go back and replay these levels again! Will you be returning to these redux levels?

Again, we have much more to share, and it is coming in a future update.



Today is April 1st. Do we need to say more?

Warning: it's probably wise to turn the volume down if you want to watch the below spoof!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We warned you!

Also, did you spot the improvements to part of the Playground at the very end of the video?



Each week we release a PowerWash version of a popular meme format. This week it was the T-Pose PWS meme.

Here's the base image:


An easy template is here, too: https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/380129083/TPose-PWS

Have fun!



Thank you to everyone for reading, have a fantastic weekend, and we hope you will tune in next week! :)

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