Hello Washers!
Welcome to the first of our PowerWash Simulator 2 DevLogs! For this one we’ll be taking a look at the story. We spoke to FuturLab Writer, Mark, to give us a little insight into some of the lore and storytelling.
If you haven’t caught it already, you can see him featured in our video that was shown during the Galaxies Show case a couple of weeks ago here ⬇️
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH6DJo5Ou3E
You can also see an outtakes video here
When we asked Mark a little about the story, he was surprised, and delighted at how well received it was from PowerWash Simulator players.
If you're interested in the story of PowerWash Simulator but haven't played it yet, this may be spoiler territory, so be warned!
“Its biggest weakness – that it wasn’t needed at all, made no requirements of the player and made no difference to the core gaming experience whatsoever - turned out to be its biggest strength. It meant that we could go a bit wild with it. By the end of the career mode there was a synergy between the two, with the narrative helping to inform the latter levels. It’s unlikely the game would’ve finished with the cleaning of a UFO and Atlantis without a story to justify it, although the latter was always the intended endpoint.”
Mark goes on to explain, “For PowerWash Simulator 2, we’ve taken the same approach. The primary consideration when choosing jobs is always game mechanics – would these be interesting and satisfying washing experiences? Then we got started with a story and let it leak in and inform some of the levels.”
Mark continues, “PowerWash Simulator 2 is a sequel, set a few years down the line, so we tried to imagine what might have happened in the interim. One of the design team, Sam, had an amazing idea relating to the Ancient Statue from the first game which, once completely clean, fired a blue laser beam out of its forehead, across the desert and into the nearby volcano, Mount Rushless.
Whilst it served our story’s purposes by warding off an imminent eruption, Sam asked, what if this laser just kept firing, for some reason unknown to science, day and night, like there was no off switch? The locals living under the beam would be fuming at the constant light pollution, whilst the authorities would want to keep it running to draw in tourists from all over the globe. We loved the idea, and the Ancient Statue became the Muckingham Merman, Caldera County a hotspot for the paranormal, and we went from there.”
“We reasoned that even with such weirdness going down, everything would eventually go back to a new normal, with most people going about their lives as before, allowing us to keep it (mostly) grounded, just everyday people with questionable motivations getting into sticky situations.
The Powerwasher has been busy in the interim, too. Obviously it was great to be involved in preventing an apocalyptic volcanic eruption by washing down the Sea Temple of an ancient civilization, but saving the world doesn't always pay the bills. So they've continued to get their head down to save up for a swanky new Home Base, which they've just moved into as the new game commences. Despite Harper's best deal wrangling at the auctions, the Powerwasher was right on the limit of their budget and has had to sell most of their equipment to afford it. But with their reputation and powerwashing prowess, it's only going to be a matter of time before the purchasing of serious upgrades begins again."
“To help out with delivering the story this time around, the Home Base will feature a map and pinboard, which will collect newspaper snippets related to the lore as you progress through the Career. This will fill in some gaps and help players stay invested in the story in a frictionless way."
Check out the WIP Caldera County map, put together by Senior UI Artist, Paul ⬇️
"It’s been a real joy and privilege to write for PowerWash Simulator 2, and we hope the lore hungry among you enjoy where we’ve gone with it. Hopefully it answers some of your questions, springs a few surprises and entertains you along the wash.”
We hope you’ve enjoyed taking a little look into how the PowerWash Simulator story is shaped, and we can’t wait for you to see where we go from PowerWash Simulator to PowerWash Simulator 2
Is there something you’d like to see us take a deeper dive into in future, or something we’ve looked at that you’d like to know more about? Drop it in the comments to let us know!
Next time we’ll be taking a sneak peek into one of the new PowerWash Simulator 2 levels, so keep an eye out for when that drops. Here is a little teaser for you! Any ideas what it could be? 👀
If you didn't see on our socials, we also shared the new key art for PowerWash Simulator 2! We think FuturLab Concept Artist, Anthony & Marketing Artist, Cristina did an amazing job making it look super clean ✨
To keep up with all PowerWash Sim 2 news, you can wishlist it here ⬇️
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2968420/PowerWash_Simulator_2/
Stay clean, Washers 💦
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