PowerWash Simulator 2
Core systems for a multi-platform sequel — a widget-based HUD architecture, the message archive, content loading and release ownership.
Clean-room write-up · describes the approach, not FuturLab’s code or internal data
The challenge
A sequel on five platforms, with base-game and DLC updates on the way, needs UI and content systems that can grow without breaking. The HUD was built on hard-coded screen references, so changing one part of it meant touching others.
My approach
From hard-coded screens to a widget system
I owned a modular HUD architecture overhaul. Hard-coded screen references gave way to independent controllers and reusable widgets: toast messages, the radial menu, job and item progress, the wash feed and context buttons. Each widget owns its own behaviour, and screens put widgets together instead of reaching into each other.
Before · hard-coded references
- Screen A
- Screen B
- Screen C
- Screen D
↳ every screen referenced directly
After · controllers + reusable widgets
- Controller
- Controller
- Controller
- Controller
- Controller
↳ widgets reused across screens
Nothing on the HUD is hard-coded any more. Everything is driven through the widget system: the game state fires events at the screen, and the widgets on it (if they exist) listen for those events and update their own visuals. The state never needs to know which widgets are present.
The same overhaul, which in practice became a rework of the whole UI system, let us prototype elements and entire game screens quickly without changing any existing logic. By my estimate, that saved weeks of effort.
The message archive: new feature, no changes underneath
The message archive lets players re-read any message they’ve received throughout the game. I built the screen and its logic.
The implementation was close to trivial, because two pieces I’d built earlier did the heavy lifting:
- The modular ScriptableObject approach I designed for message sequences.
- A message box system I created to show those messages during gameplay and on the summary and completion screens.
The archive simply plugs into both. It needed no changes to the original systems, which is what well-architected pieces should allow: new features built on top, not hacked in.
Content loading and live safety
I work on Addressables content loading and on remote-asset security controls, including a server-side kill switch for remote asset requests.
Messaging, chat and tools
- Overhauled the story messaging system, creating a ScriptableObject-based solution that gave designers full creative freedom.
- Improved the multiplayer group chat UI for job completion and summary screens.
- Built designer-facing editor tools for managing power washers, their attachments and skins, so designers can author and tune content without a programmer. The tools were built mostly for PowerWash Simulator 2, with a few smaller ones for PowerWash Simulator VR. Setups that used to take 5–15 minutes became a few clicks.
Ownership beyond code
- Tech Branch Owner for major content releases: stable → release merges, build integrity, and coordinating the Art, Design and QA pods.
- Stability engineering: runtime hard-locks, crashes triggered by server-side cache clears, UI memory leaks, offline-state UI bugs, and splitscreen/multiplayer edge cases.
- Dev-kit fleet operations across PS5, PS4, Switch 2 and Xbox, plus studio documentation on branch governance and hardware tracking.
- Regression investigation: I led a timeboxed, cross-discipline look, with a Data Analyst, QA and programmers, at why previously-fixed bugs come back. We combined churn and defect data with interviews to give tech leads a prioritised list of fragile systems and root-cause hypotheses.
Outcome
The story messaging and group chat work shipped in PowerWash Simulator 2, across the base game and DLC updates, on PC, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S.
The game itself has been well received by the industry:
- Nominated for two BAFTA Games Awards in 2026, Family and British Game, after being longlisted in December 2025.
- Shortlisted at the Ukie Awards 2026 for UK Game of the Year and Best UK Console Game.
- Shortlisted at the TIGA Awards 2026 for Casual Game and for Education, Serious or Simulation Game.
- Nominated at the Steam Awards 2025 for the Sit Back and Relax Award.
What I learned
This project let me test, first-hand, something I’d only believed before: spending a little extra time to architect a system well pays dividends long into the future.