In March last year, I spoke to FuturLab and PowerWash Simulator’s lead designer to discuss the Final Fantasy VII collaboration Midgar Special Pack DLC. Since then, the game has gotten many content and feature updates across platforms with a few more paid DLC packs launching. The most recent one is the PowerWash Simulator – Alice’s Adventures Special Pack based on Alice in Wonderland. If you’ve not gotten that yet, read Shaun’s review here. I also reviewed the Warhammer 40K, Midgar Special Pack, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Back to the Future DLC packs. I had a chance to chat with Alex Dawson (Senior Artist at FuturLab), Dennis Morgovan (3D Artist at FuturLab), Antony (Ant) Lingard (Senior 3D Artist at FuturLab), Laura Fontaine (3D Artist at FuturLab) & Nick Peacock (Concept Artist at FuturLab) to discuss the newest DLC release, learnings from past packs, dream collaborations, coffee, and more.
TouchArcade (TA): It has been over a year since I interviewed FuturLab about PowerWash Simulator. How has the development team changed (if at all) since then?
Dennis: It’s changed a lot! We have expanded almost all departments across the company – we’re grateful to have more people to work with and develop games with!
TA: One of my favorite aspects of the game is how each DLC pack is a surprise. It usually involves an IP we don’t expect to see in-game. How did the team decide to work on PowerWash Simulator – Alice’s Adventures Special Pack and how did the pitch go to the license holder?
Laura: A few of us in the Studio are big fans of Alice, as some of us grew up reading the book. Alice in Wonderland also gave us an opportunity to explore an IP that was open to interpretation, and we thought it would be interesting to explore something different for the world of PowerWash Simulator.
TA: The response to this pack has been great in my own circles and seemingly online as well. What learnings from past DLC packs did you take into ensuring PowerWash Simulator – Alice’s Adventures Special Pack was as good as possible?
Ant: We’ve learned a lot about what our players like and don’t like, which has helped us plan our levels and helped improve our workflow. One thing that we wanted to focus on was making less “fiddly” bits, which we achieved by refining the number of frustrating models to clean in each level. Finding the balance between challenging and fun is always the topic of discussion, because ultimately, we aim to provide a relaxing experience.
Alex: We have also improved our contrast between dirty and clean models. making the dirt look better and the final clean model look super pristine – we’ve found that high contrast makes for the ultimate satisfying reveal.
TA: Was there any additional behind-the-scenes work on this DLC compared to prior ones?
Nick: Although our previous Special Packs have focused on faithful recreations of iconic and established worlds, our approach to the Alice’s Adventures Special Pack was about conjuring up our own interpretation of the book’s world.
Ant: Nick created concepts for each of the locations, individual assets and the world we wanted to create. This gave the 3D Art team a very good basis for how each level was meant to look. Of course, we are creative people, so personal touches are always encouraged!
TA: Hypothetical situation: If there were no financial or licensing restrictions, what game IP and movie IP would you like to bring into the world of PowerWash Simulator?
FuturLab: Great question! Yes, here we go!
- Nick – Movie: Ghostbusters, Game: Rayman Origins.
- Dennis – Movie: Lego The Movie, Game: Warhammer Fantasy.
- Laura – Movie: Silent Hill, Game: Dofus.
- Alex – Movie: Jurassic Park, Game: Resident Evil.
- Ant – Movie: The Fifth Element, Game: Control
TA: Has the team been doing additional optimization work for the game on Switch and Steam Deck in the last few months?
Alex: Optimization is always something we’re working on. Due to different platforms having different specifications to work with, there’s never a “one size fits all” solution. As the game has developed, so have our tools and artists.
TA: What have you been playing lately and what is your favorite game of 2024 so far?
FuturLab: Oh, this is fun!
- Nick – Game of 2024 Hades 2 (so far) and currently playing Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart.
- Dennis – Game of 2024 Elden Ring DLC, and I’m currently playing Dread Delusion
- Laura – I’ve not played too many games of 2024 but I’m currently playing Once Human!
- Alex – Game of 2024 is Crow Country, currently playing Stray.
- Ant – My game of 2024 (so far) is Pacific Drive, I’m currently playing Parasite Eve 1.
TA: I’d love to see PowerWash Simulator do a Monster Hunter DLC pack letting players clean huge life-size statues of monsters from the games. Not really a question, but just expressing interest in seeing a Monster Hunter-themed DLC pack.
Dennis: We can tell you that people in the studio firmly agree with you!
TA: How do you like your coffee?
Ant: Black coffee from a cafetiere, first thing in the morning.
I’d like to thank Alex Dawson, Dennis Morgovan, Antony (Ant) Lingard, Laura Fontaine & Nick Peacock from the PowerWash Simulator team and also Maddie Chase from fortyseven communications for their time and help here.
You can keep up with all our interviews here including our recent ones with Shuhei Matsumoto from Capcom about Marvel Vs Capcom here, Santa Ragione here, Peter ‘Durante’ Thoman about PH3 and Falcom here, M2 discussing shmups and more here, Digital Extremes for Warframe mobile, Team NINJA, Sonic Dream Team, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and more. As usual, thanks for reading.