Hey everyone,
This week is our 18th Birthday as a studio, so from everyone here at FuturLab, we invite you to celebrate with us!
In the last toilet humor-filled dev log, we covered the Washroom job that came with 0.6; take a flush and read that here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/3069759028627492491
PowerWash Simulator
Birthday Gnome
We'd like to thank everyone for helping us make PowerWash Simulator such a great success, and we haven't even fully launched yet! Fantastic feedback continues to pour in and allows us to shape the game to be the best it can be. Even now, we have come a long way since the Early Access launch with many new quality of life features and content. Though it's now clear the feel-good nature of the game has really resonated with people!
Our developers are constantly delighted by checking the review score on Steam and seeing it is still soaring in the high 90s! Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to give us a review; it really is such an honor.
We don't have anything to tease just yet but don't worry, we've got some great surprises coming in 0.7!
Develop Awards
Last week we were at the Develop: Star Awards, which celebrate the best games and talent in the UK. This year, we were privileged to be nominated in 3 categories: Best Original IP with PowerWash Simulator, Best Studio as FuturLab, and Tomorrow's Star with our Community Manager.
Although we didn't come away with any prizes, it was incredible to be on the pedestal with other amazing games and studios. Congratulations to smash hit Fall Guys for winning Best Original IP and Sumo Digital for taking the studio spot. Fingers crossed that we'll be back next year!
FuturLab Bank Holiday
Sorry that there wasn't a dev log or stream last week; internally, our studio now takes the Friday off during every October half term to celebrate our Birthday! Our very own FuturLab Friday, if you will!
You can catch this week's stream here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1196662287
Grads In Games
As a studio, we know how important it is to foster new talent coming into the games industry, so this year we've partnered with Grads in Games to help guide new graduates and ultimately hope to take some on as FuturLab team members. We have been part of similar programs before and even have development superstars that are still with us! You can read our announcement on that here: https://gradsingames.com/news/futurlab-joins-grads-in-games-studio-partner/
One of our designers, who you may have seen regularly featured in these dev logs, Nick, has given a live Q&A to over 200 students via the program. They were surprised at how interested they were in the everyday tasks in the role but were delighted to delve into the often unspoken parts of work in games
Party Time
We celebrated our 18th Birthday in style with our Back To The Futur party; current and previous employees from over the 18 years of the studio were invited to sunny Brighton to celebrate. With PowerWash Simulator play stations, gnome cakes, and lots of fun, it was great to celebrate the studio's journey together.
We're Growing
It's also been an excellent year for growth at the studio, reaching over 40 employees. This is the most people the studio has ever employed - all of our new starters have been hired and started remotely, which has been a real challenge, but thanks to our small but excellent team, our new employees have been onboarded smoothly.
We still have roles available, and you can check to see if something relevant to you comes up here: https://futurlab.co.uk/jobs/
Thanks for reading this celebratory dev log, sorry there are no teasers in this week's log. However, don't miss our next one because we'll be revealing the addition of one of the most requested quality of life features coming in 0.7!
We'll see you there.
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