Hello Cleaners! Criminals are rarely original; you have seen it all at this point. After many years on the job, you have managed to develop your own type of intuition. Understanding crime scenes is a massive aspect of preparing for the job and making sure that nothing is left behind. To do that, you can use yet another skill at your disposal: Cleaner’s Sense.
Every now and then you will be able to activate a special type of vision, which will highlight every element of the crime scene. Additionally, to help you clean up the most efficiently, everything is color coded. Currently, bodies and miscellaneous trash will glow orange, while blood is pink.
This extends to furniture, which has two different highlights depending on the necessary actions. Some pieces of furniture need to be moved into their designated spaces, while some pieces need to be slightly fixed up, they will highlight in blue and white respectively.
This highlight effect is temporary, but you can still use your tools to show off blood, so you can see it more easily. A UV lamp is especially useful when it comes to exposing hidden and small drops of blood. Thanks to lamps that you can place in multiple parts of the crime scene, uncleaned areas will shine bright like Christmas trees.
Cleaning Sense is only a part of your set of skills, you can treat it like one of the tools under your belt. It will be useful whenever you need to find the final piece of evidence or you want to scope out the size of the overall mess. All the color code is still a work in progress, we want all highlighted elements to be as clear as possible, so you can plan your cleaning routes accordingly. If you have any propositions on how we can distinguish some elements better, let us know! We’re awaiting your suggestions and opinions! The Devs
Devblog #18 - Step up and Mop it up!
Hello Cleaners! We’ve been putting a lot of effort into making sure that every aspect of cleaning brings you satisfaction. Removing blood stains from various surfaces is the bread and butter of almost every mission you are sent to. So we’re pleased that we are finally ready to show off a blood-removing system that feels satisfying and thorough, without being dull.
Follow the stains
Simply whacking your mop at a puddle of blood is not an efficient way of working. Of course, you can still choose to swing your mop in every possible direction and clean with the chaotic evil energy. However, if you desire satisfaction and a smooth sail toward the end of the mission, check out this simple trick:
Whenever you approach a large blood stain, follow its shape to remove the blood quickly and more efficiently. Unlike the powerwasher, the blood is removed in larger and less precise chunks as the fibers of the mop suck up the liquid. Both the mop and the powerwasher are powerful tools that will be essential for finishing your jobs. And they both have their strong and weak sides.
A huge advantage of the mop over the powerwasher is that it can be used inside. The risk of destroying objects with a mop is relatively low under the condition you limit yourself to cleaning. We don’t take responsibility if you decide to demolish the place with your mop. You only make your job more difficult. You can however move the trash around to make picking them up easier. It’s better for your back and soul, as once the trash is bundled together you don’t have to bend as much.
Rinse and repeat
Be careful about how dirty your mop gets, one moment it’s cleaning and then suddenly it’s making more mess. So rinsing the mop once it gets dirty will save you a lot of work and speed up the process. We already talked about various buffs they will introduce to your cleaning routine. They allow you to penetrate the stains even more effectively and if you combine them with the not-so-secret technique of following the shape of the puddle, you will be able to clean large surfaces in no time!
You can choose between a variety of effects. As your mop can have multiple effects on it at once, make sure you use the correct detergents to create the perfect cleaning blend, which will allow you to clean even the dirtiest floors.
A mop is only as good as the hand that yields it, so the versatility only depends on your creativity and cleaning prowess. So before you even start a mission think about all the equipment you need beforehand. What do you think you will need on the bloodiest of missions? Let us know! We’re waiting for your opinions and ideas! The Devs
Devblog #17 - Yoink and Run
Welcome Cleaners! Do you sometimes clean around and find something you think would be worth a lot? Unfortunately on your missions you will be mostly dealing with other people’s stuff. It would be amazing to get richer with less effort, after all, cleaning is hard physical labour. We’d like to let you in on a little secret… you can. Let us introduce a bit of thievery.
During many back-breaking jobs, you may notice that some items have an additional and very tempting prompt. Steal or not to steal! This is the moment when you can choose to go down a questionable path. Some of the items may get you a nice cash bonus because let’s be honest mobsters and criminals pay well, but not THAT well. Unfortunately, you are not an expert and you will have to judge what is worth stealing and what isn’t. Sometimes, it may not pay enough, but you will only find out once you already put it in your pocket.
Stuffing your pockets with other people’s things is not as easy and unproblematic as it may seem. Every item, no matter how small or big, will increase the suspicion meter and influence the final score of the mission. In your inventory, you can see how much money you will make from every stolen item and how much more suspicious you become. Just remember that once you hit the upper limit of maximum suspicion, you can’t really steal anything else.
On every mission, you have a limited amount of errors you can make which will increase how suspicious the police are of you. Those mistakes and missed evidence or blood are combined with every item you stole. You must learn how to assess the suspicion you can let go of before the end of a mission. Once you become too suspicious, there will be a penalty.
So now you can steal almost all valuable or not-so-valuable items. What kind of items do you think will be the most valuable? Which ones are you going to steal? Let us know! We can’t wait to see how much richer you will become!
See you soon! The Devs
Devblog #16 - Just Sit, Relax and Wait
Hello Cleaners! Sometimes even the most prepared gamers have to step away from their PC and leave the game running. Sudden emergencies happen. This is when our game begins to live life on its own. We've put a lot of time and effort into creating these idle animations to entertain you even when you don't actively play the game.
Your adventures are filled with a large amount of blood and shattered glass. This may be a bit overwhelming for even the strongest of minds and will. It may even seem like it's you and the sponge against the world. You need those little moments of joy when you just stand there, take a deep breath and play around with the item you happen to hold in your hand. Take a deep breath, step away and enjoy fiddling with a mop or a sponge. Little moments of relaxation will help you appreciate the hard work you've done or prepare mentally for everything you've got to clean.
We want you to enjoy the game on your own terms, but there is always a bit of encouragement to check out all the hard work that went into all aspects of the game. With tools being a huge focus on the game, our animator created fun little idle animations for each of them. Your skill as a cleaner is highly dependent on your proficiency with the mop, sponge and power washer. Even a quick shake of a bottle to check how much detergent there's left in the bottle can be a sign of cleaning prowess.
Let us know how often you leave the game running just to see the idle animations. We'd also love to know your ideas for more fun interactions with objects and items. With the large number of items to interact with, the more ideas the better! We'll be waiting for you on our social media and in our discord server! See you there! The Devs
Devblog #15 - The "Interior Designer" Update
Hello Cleaners! It’s renovation time! Proper cleanup does not only mean collecting trash or washing up floors and walls. Once the mayhem of a crime happens, there will be some furniture you must move around. These could be a sign of struggle or victims’ attempts to hide.
At the beginning of some missions, you may receive photos which will guide you in cleaning up misplaced furniture. Miscellaneous things should be returned to their spots, so no one can even suspect that anything has happened before. Sometimes you will have to use your own imagination and cleaning sense to make sure everything is in the right spot.
Luckily, you don’t have to worry about perfectly recreating the pictures, coherent look is key. If you find random chairs in the middle of the room, make sure to find which table has an unfinished set. The same goes for other larger objects such as drawers or wardrobes. Every cabinet has to have a full set of drawers and stand in roughly the same place. So before you move on to another room, make sure everything is neat and as clean as possible.
Unfortunately, not every piece of furniture can be simply picked up and placed in its rightful spot. There are those which are too big to simply throw away, in that case, you will be forced to dismantle them into smaller pieces, so they can fit in your van more easily. Luckily you have your powerful fists! Break the old furniture to make space for potentially new! The house owner will thank you later! If they are still alive that is...
These small renovations may be some of the final things you do on the crime scene, so check every corner carefully before you leave. It would be unprofessional to leave the house you just spent time cleaning and renovating in a state of disarray. Hopefully, you enjoy a bit of house decor and macabre renovations. Let us know what you think about this element of cleaning up. We’re awaiting your feedback here in the comments, on our social media and in our discord.
See you next time!
Devblog #14 - Secrets of Your Pockets
Hello Cleaners! Your pockets have just got better! We overhauled the inventory system and made it much more intuitive and faster. All this is thanks to new categorisation and toolwheel. We have also prepared a slight visual upgrade, which will make everything much clearer.
The inventory was a bit of a mess before all items were stored together and had to fit into a small space. Now every item has a separate category, so it is easy to find where everything is, especially when using the toolwheel. If you know that the stain remover you want to use is carefully stored in the detergent group on your toolwheel, you can quickly find it. This way, you don’t have to open your inventory and dig through it. Simply open the toolwheel, enter a category and choose the item you need!
Do you want to focus on penetrating stains? Would you like to carry more buckets? Or maybe one sponge is not enough? As you progress through the game will be able to use the experience you garner for packing more things into your inventory. It’s up to you which slots you upgrade, this way you can create your own cleaning style.
This change makes the gameplay much smoother, as you can choose all your tools on the fly. You don’t have to worry about constantly rummaging through your pockets to find that one sponge you previously might have buried at the bottom of the inventory.
We’re still working on some elements of this system and would like to know what quality-of-life changes you think we should implement! Let us know on our social media or discord!
Devblog #13 - The Night of the Dead
Hello Cleaners! The dead are scattered all over the place! In your cleaning endeavors, you will encounter many different situations and cases, and many of them will include at least one victim. Your job obviously is to get rid of the body and leave no evidence behind, so how exactly will you go about it?
Collect and dispose of. The main objective is to clean up everything to the point where the police can find nothing. You will have to locate all bodies and carry them to your truck for later disposal. This may seem easy at first, but there are a few challenges that come with carrying limp bodies through tight corridors, locked doors, and maze-like gardens. There is a silver lining in all these tough, we took care of the most grueling part of the task. The bodies will automatically package themselves into bags once you put them in the back of your truck.
Bodies are heavy. While you carry them around, your hands are full. This unfortunately means that moving around may be difficult. You movements will be slower and some interactions limited. Even simple doors may turn out to be too difficult to open. So strategize on where you are planning to go and how you will reach your car. We recommend you choose the fastest and easiest routes since you can only carry one body at a time, but we are well aware there is a challenge in taking a long way around.
Bodies are messy. When you think you are ready, you have to factor one more element into your planned routes. Bodies will still drop blood after you pick them up. They will leave drops where you walk, so remember to go back and clean those specks of blood once more. These may be the thin line between a job well done and getting busted. Luckily blood dries relatively fast, so moments after you pick up the body, they will not leave marks behind. Unless you decide to throw them around, then you will definitely have more mess to clean.
Learn their stories. During your time on the scene, you will have plenty of opportunities to learn about the victims. We want them to be more than just props scattered around the job site. Every victim has a story. The place of their death, their position, and even their wounds will help you understand the crime better and help with looking for evidence to clean. Finding a smashed family picture or seeing the last text message they sent to their loved one will also help you understand your own life as a cleaner. So look for clues and find small puzzle pieces which will help you see the bigger picture.
Despite this dark thought of cleaning after violent crimes, there is some comedy to the macabre of walking around with a dead body over your shoulder. After all, we want you to have fun while cleaning. There are some comical deaths coming along the way, so we’d like to know what you expect and want to see from our victims. Let us know here or through our social media. There is also a discord where we try to answer your questions. See you here or there! Until next time!
Devblog #12 - Let There Be Light!
Hello, cleaners!
As you probably know, game development is a constant heroic battle to balance game mechanics with aesthetic aspects. We have introduced you to many tools and mechanics, so it’s time to discuss our approach to environments and lighting. We’ll try to explain our philosophy without spoiling the looks of the map and avoiding story details.
We pay a lot of attention to the world we are creating. Every location has its backstory and unique elements. We want to make sure that the crime scenes we stage tell their own stories, not only through props and bodies but also through atmospheric lighting. The process of finding the correct angle and colour of the light has been a challenge. For the majority of the game, you will spend in darkness searching for evidence, the environment has to lead you through the level. From time to time, you will be forced to rely only on your cleaning intuition and scarce light from your flashlight.
While working on the levels, we want to marry the idea of lights and shadows not only as an aesthetic choice but also as a conscious gameplay element. This is why you will be equipped with many tools emitting light. Darkness will challenge you and allow you to show off your skill in using every tool in the inventory. We expect you to make use of lamps and your flashlight in many spots on maps. After searching through the map and finding evidence scattered around you can use a larger lamp to mark out where the bodies are. But we are aware that our plans and expectations will be walked all over by creative cleaners who will clean in complete darkness.
In the process of choosing which areas have to be darker, we seek to find a balance between a grave atmosphere and the immersive feeling of staying invisible. This is especially challenging since the environment has to look good when veiled in darkness and when lit up by multiple light sources.
While you closely examine provided screenshots and the video, remember that we took some liberty to stage certain elements to more explicitly show our process. We’re looking for general feedback on our principles and philosophy. So don’t leave us in the dark when it comes to your opinions on the matter. You can always shed some light on your expectations in our Discord or on our social media!
Devblog #11 - One Man's Trash is Another Man's Evidence.
Hello, Cleaners!
Every professional knows that cleaning up blood and dragging out bodies is not the be-all and end-all of cover-ups. You will be faced with many items which could lead the investigators to you or the people you are paid to protect. Every square inch of each room has to be void of any evidence and even the smallest items have to be collected and safely disposed of.
No one is surprised that violent crimes leave tons of evidence behind. There is SO MUCH to pick up! This is why you carry a trash can on you. Once you take it out of your inventory, you can see the evidence which you have to get rid of. A system of highlighting items will be helpful in finding things in places you might have not looked before. Anything from empty bottles of a party gone wrong to bullet shells and murder weapons has to be cleared out before the police arrive. This includes any items you might have brought to the crime scene yourself.
When your trash can fills up, it will automatically place all collected items into trash bags which can be easily transported to your truck. Those bags can be put into boxes and crates or carried in your hands. While the trash can has a limited amount of space in it, your car definitely has enough space to transport everything you want to take with you. It’s almost like it has unlimited space on its cargo bed or you have epic packing skills… Like every good father does.
Just like the majority of your equipment, the trash can will be subject to upgrades over time. You will be able to collect larger amounts of items and stuff more of them into trash bags. So even if at the beginning you will fill one trashbag after another, the good news is that you won’t have to worry about running out. Since there will be a lot of things to pick up, we don’t want you to clutter your entire inventory with tons of empty trash bags. You must have space for so many cool tools, detergents and devices.
So with every tool available to you, we are looking into making it efficient and fun to use. What do you think? What functionalities would you like to see attached to this specific mechanic? Let us know as we continue to implement and improve more and more mechanics. We’re always open to suggestions on our Discord and social media.
See you there!
Devblog #10 - The Beast in Your Arsenal
Welcome Cleaners!
Meet more of your tools! In preparation for your missions, you will have a great time choosing between many pieces of cleaning equipment. A true beast hides among buckets, cloths, and mops. This powerful machine will be crucial in cleaning outdoor spaces, as it's far too strong to safely use when cleaning indoors. Smaller objects may not survive meeting with the powerful water stream coming out of its nozzle. Meet one of the most powerful tools you can find in your arsenal: the power washer.
Once you reach the crime scene you can unload the power washer and begin working. This portable machine has a variety of uses when cleaning large spaces and more annoying bloodstains. With ease, it will clean floors, walls and small crevices hidden away from your eyesight. To stop it from being overpowered, we were forced to implement some limitations. After you place the power washer on the location, there is a limit to how far away you can walk away with the nozzle. The hose can only extend so far. You will be alerted about it before the nozzle jumps out of your hands. This means that you will have to carry the power washer around wherever you go.
When compared to a classic mop, a power washer allows you to clean without worrying about dirty water and the need to change it all the time. The machine also doesn’t require detergents cluttering your inventory to do wonders on the scene. Unfortunately, the water in your power washer is not endless. From time to time, you will have to find a source to refill the supply. There aren’t many places where you can get water, but the tank on the power washer is bigger than the majority of buckets allowing you to work longer without breaks and accidentally spreading blood around.
The basic power washer may seem a bit underwhelming despite its utility. There are a few elements we have planned to mitigate this. At the moment, we are considering a set of upgrades available to make using the power wash more pleasant and effective over time. Among larger tanks and longer hoses, we are looking into more versatile nozzles. Let us know what features you’d like to see implemented to this beast of a tool! We’re waiting for your ideas on our social media and Discord server!
