Virtual Window Cleaning - First VR Game Released

Virtual Window Cleaning - First VR Game Released.

Wipe on, wipe off: Pane In The Glass is a VR window cleaning sim you need to play. Now the day where we finally get to play with our own HTC Vive headset isn’t all that far in the future, thanks to the pre-orders being open, it’s time to start making a list of must-try games. How about one that simulates the joy of cleaning windows? Yeah, really. The game’s called Pane In The Glass, and it just may be one of the first free games you download for the Vive.

That’ll be welcome enough on its own, considering the amount of money you’ll have already spent acquiring the kit, but the great news is, cleaning windows while wearing the HTC Vive turns out to be way more fun than actually cleaning windows in the real world. We got a chance to play Pane In The Glass during the VRUK Festival event held at the beginning of February.

Now the day where we finally get to play with our own HTC Vive headset isn’t all that far in the future.

Developed specifically for the HTC Vive by UK-based VR content production studio Rewind, it makes great use of the Vive’s controllers. One is your sponge, and the other a squeegee — the only weapons a window cleaner usually needs, except this is no ordinary mission. You’re being sent up in one of those unsteady-looking platforms that climb up the sides of massive buildings. Here you get a bucket, water, and a speed control, plus your lunch for later on.

What do you do? Clean the windows, of course. Standing on the platform, the windows pass in front of you, requiring a sponge down and a wipe over with the squeegee. Sounds easy, right? It’s not. The sponge soon gets gross from all the dirt, requiring constant dipping, windows are left open and need to be closed, and there’s a seagull that’s always after your grub. And all the while you’re ascending higher and higher, and the windows that need cleaning are more than a stretch away.

Like the sponge you wield in the game, Pane In The Glass was utterly absorbing to play. The platform setting means you don’t stray outside of the Vive’s play area, you get to use both the controllers in unison, and the gameplay gets more frantic the higher you get. The bright colors, convincing feeling of being in motion, chunky Lego-look world, and the voiceover from your boss giving you feedback emphasize the fun. If you didn’t guess from the title, Pane In The Glass doesn’t take itself seriously at all. Enjoy knocking that seagull off the platform. We did, and could have channeled our inner George Formby all day.

Games like Pane In The Glass, and the most recent Job Simulator demo, where you complete silly tasks set by robots, prove VR isn’t only going to be about engrossing first-person shooters or horror games. It’s about fun, creativity, and easily accessible time-wasters. Pane In The Glass is exactly the type of game many will use to demo the wonders of VR to non-gamers, and is reminiscent of the titles that came right before mobile gaming exploded in popularity. Rewind will release Pane In The Glass through Steam in time for the HTC Vive’s official release.

Window Cleaner "Wipe On - Wipe Off"

Tom Tudehope of Clear View Window Cleaning of Sioux City carries the tools of his trade on his hip.

For 26 years, window cleaner has wiped on, wiped off: Street construction. Field work. Circling winds and sparse rains have contributed to an arid Siouxland autumn. The conditions and work progress have also kept Tom Tudehope and his staff of three full-time workers hopping from home to business to home again. For 26 years, Tudehope has been charged with -- and has charged for -- keeping windows streak free. "Everyone has dirty windows," says Tudehope, owner/operator of Clear View Window Cleaning of Sioux City.

What prompts a business or homeowner to call for a professional window cleaner? There are a variety of reasons. "There are people who have high windows that are hard to get to," Tudehope says. "Or, some get to the point where they can afford to have it done. We allow them to spend their time doing other things." Various businesses treat the service as a top priority, a way to keep customers feeling good about the professional appearance of the store or shop.

There's another cost factor at work: The life of a window. "Clean windows in some situations can help the window last longer," says Tudehope. "If water runs along a brick wall and onto the window, you can get a stain. Sprinklers that hit window areas can leave hard-water spots. Hard water has minerals in it, and glass is made of minerals. The two bond."

Tom Tudehope of Clear View Window Cleaning uses a squeegee to get windows sparkling clean.

Employees at Clear View Window Cleaning use Basic H, a Shaklee soap product as their primary cleaning agent. The low-sud soap works better with a rubber squeegee. "We've used the same soap for 26 years," Tudehope says. "And a guy I work with has used that soap for 35 years." Tudehope says Dawn dish washing soap produces similar clear results. The keys are using a two-sided squeegee and not going overboard on soap application. "We have a brass squeegee channel that holds the rubber squeegee in place, that's a difference you get with a professional," he says. "And if you use too much soap, it can become sudsy and that creates problems with a squeegee."

Tudehope's view of a window washer didn't match reality when he entered the trade in 1985. "My perception was of a guy walking with a bucket and going door to door," he says. "I learned that you have 150 customers on a set route each week. We end up going from Morningside to Hamilton Boulevard to the north side." The toughest season approaches as snow flurries fly and ice forms atop glass. Tudehope and staff will add methanol to their soap solution, to keep it from freezing. "We haven't used any alcohol yet this fall, which is kind of rare," he says. "Adding methanol is hard on our hands, it dries them out." For the window? No problem.

Tudehope didn't realize when he started wiping on, wiping off -- to borrow a phrase from the 1984 "Karate Kid" hit movie -- that he'd still be at it nearly a quarter-century later. Customer demand, it seems, has kept pace. It's his job to see that a streak-free effort keeps customer satisfaction in the clear. "Some people are ecstatic about a clean window," he says. "It really does brighten their day. When you have a perfectly clean window, it's kind of nice."

Tom Tudehope of Clear View Window Cleaning of Sioux City finishes a window in Sioux City.