Hey everyone - welcome to dev log 64!
Last week, we celebrated the launch of PowerWash Simulator 1.0, you can read more on that here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/3421064519320020730
This week, we're diving into the narrative of PowerWash Simulator and are joined by Mark Ginbey, the writer of the story behind the mysteries in Muckingham.
Story Time
We've been watching everyone's reactions to the end of PowerWash Simulator's main career mode closely! (more content will drop in the future) There's definitely a lot like these:
It's been a pleasure to be subverting people's expectations of story in a sim game, but we are so happy that it is paying off! Internally, once there was a Game Theorists video on PowerWash Simulator's lore, we knew we were onto a winner!
Also, please no spoilers but let us know what you thought of it in the comments below!
If you haven't finished, we highly recommend sticking around until after the credits!
With that, let's hand over to the writer of the background narrative, Mark Ginbey:
Hello clean machines, Mark here, writer for PowerWash Simulator, with a few words about its lore. When FuturLab‘s producer Toby first asked if I’d be interested in writing for a power wash game and finished his pitch with ‘it ends with you washing down grubby, [final job – no spoilers],’ I knew it was going to be my kind of project. If there’s one enemy that’s been consistently overlooked by games, it’s dirt. It unites us all, and it must be stopped. The design team already had a strong idea of the jobs they wanted; they just required a few narrative elements to help tie them together. Development Director Kirsty Rigden was keen for the game to include more unusual and fantastical places to clean, and that was the launchpad for the entire tone of PWS. FuturLab didn’t want a bunch of unrelated jobs, but something with more soul, placing the player at the heart of a community. It helped the jobs to feel like they had real value within the world, which it seems is something people weren’t expecting, but which helped make it feel special. The game is built on its mechanics, and the team have done a phenomenal job with it. We all know that cleaning an object that’s absolutely caked in cack is instinctively satisfying. But breaking down something that initially appears overwhelming into smaller, manageable units, giving a framework to personal progress, is a quite profoundly beautiful paradigm that can be applied to any area of your life, especially in these uncertain times. From a writing point of view, because the game mechanics were front and centre, people were free to embrace or ignore any narrative elements, allowing us take it anywhere, really. We tried to ground it with personal stories, and then have fun with characters with unusual motivations. I’ve always loved stories that start small and gradually get bigger, and hopefully there’s some sense of this here. All story in games is collaborative. It’s always great to see designers and artists transform your budding ideas into great story elements. For example, a mayor’s cat goes missing – that might have something. But when every job you do has pawprints running through it, and there are missing cat posters everywhere, suddenly the idea springs to life, and a mystery emerges that can run through the entire story. It's been an absolute joy working on a project that’s had such a positive impact on its community, and it’s been great to see some of the lore theories that have been bouncing around. Hopefully, there’s lots more to come. In the meantime, keep it clean, y’all.
We Partied
CAKE!
All of FuturLab gathered in sunny Brighton to have cake, celebrate PowerWash Simulator's launch and have lots of drinks! Thanks for giving us something to celebrate!
Community feature
We don't have a 'Meme Monday' to share this week, so, instead here's a community creation we love! WARNING, it contains spoilers but ties into the dev log really well!
Art by Steam user: Kafkaesque
That's All, Folks!
Sorry this week's installment is late, I, Josh, the community gnome was off sick, but hope everyone enjoyed a Monday rendition of our weekly log! There should be another this Friday.
We continue to be mind blown at the response we're getting to launch, thanks again to everyone for the amazing feedback and reviews.
Until next time!
Keep up with everything PowerWash Simulator by following our channels:
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/powerwashsimulator
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