Hey everyone - welcome to dev log 56!
PWS's birthday update is coming May 19th, and last week, we teased the Steam Locomotive as one of the jobs arriving in the 0.9 station; more on that here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/3224024423344970180
You can join our discord and see the announcement if you want a localised time when Update 0.9 will arrive. Here: https://discord.com/invite/powerwashsimulator
Today, Artist Dennis and Designer Dave share their insights into how the magnificent Gnome Fountain job we're teasing today was made!
Gnome Fountain
Magnificant gnome statues, pool-like flat surfaces, and heaps of dirt - what more could you want from a power washing job? Behold, the gnome fountain. This job beat the School Bus 2920 votes to 846 in our official Discord. We set about making a fountain worthy of PowerWash Simulator. Let us know your thoughts below!
Dave worked on designing the level and making it fun to play, here's their insights into the development process:
As it was a job voted to life by the community, we wanted to ensure the Fountain felt grand and celebrated the things that make Powerwash Simulator special. We opted for a huge fountain to ensure we could have large flat surfaces to clean, and players could have fun navigating the multiple layers. Inevitably when we started to think about the centre statue a gnome was suggested and from there, they became prominent features all around the fountain. They offer a real contrast in complexity to the large flat surfaces and give the Fountain heaps of character too. The nature of a Fountain allowed us to use some water-based dirt types (such as algae) alongside the moss and lichen that would have grown over much of the stone work. Players will also have to contend with the efforts of a few local graffiti artists while they bring the Fountain back to its former glory!
Dennis job was to make the fountain a visual feast and had this to say on how they approached making it:
The fountain's been a long requested community job, and I could have gone with a more traditional looking design, but I wanted something fun for the community. That's where all the little gnome statues come into play! The middle row of gnomes are all the same for navigation reasons, but the bottom ones are where I had fun putting them in various different silly poses. When designing the fountain, I wanted it all to be as accessible as possible without needing ladders (which are still there for convenience but you can totally skip them!). There's a tiny bit of narrative in there as well, with all the gnomes goofing up in some way in front of the gnome king, who sits atop the fountain. I also wanted plenty of intricate shapes to wash to keep this job fun, hence all the flourishes and pillars! There's plenty of flat surfaces to wash too which are very satisfying. The outside environment also got some love, with the recreation grounds getting changed to better fit the fountain. We figured this was okay to do as the job isn't directly related to the main campaign where the other recreation grounds jobs take place.
Auto-complete final warning
There are only 6 days until the update splash lands. The game is changing a lot under the hood, many earlier levels are entirely changed, dirt thresholds improved, and much more. These changes require us to bring everyone's saves up to date to avoid corrupted data. We didn't want to reset anyone's progress, but this has meant we needed another solution. Any in-progress jobs that could corrupt saves will be auto-completed when you first load into 0.9.
We recommend not entering your new levels if you cannot complete them in time or working fast to get them done before it drops. All correct money owed for jobs and unlocking new levels will still be given to you upon the auto-complete.
We're sorry for the inconvenience!
More info here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1290000/announcements/detail/3224024423343901085
Weekly Meme
Each week we usually release a PowerWash version of a popular meme format. We don't have one again this week (sorry, we've been super busy). We are taking requests; Marketing Artist Cristina is currently working on posing the PowerWash Sim model into several meme formats. If you have any recommendations, please let us know below!
Also, in the meantime, enjoy this regular meme by Twitter user JoJoMcGiggity:
That's All, Folks!
Thank you to everyone for reading, we hope everyone is looking forward to the Gnome Fountain, and we hope everyone is excited for the update which drops in 6 days! :)
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?
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/powerwashsim
PWS Wiki: https://powerwash-simulator.fandom.com/wiki/PowerWash_Simulator_Wiki