Astro Bot fans are familiar with the tale of the sponge power-up's origin, but did you know that Team Asobi experimented with even more eccentric ideas? During GDC 2025, IGN attended a talk by Team Asobi's studio director, Nicolas Doucet, titled "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'". In this insightful presentation, Doucet delved deep into the development process of the beloved PlayStation mascot platformer, showcasing early prototype images and revealing content that didn't make the final cut.
Doucet kicked off his talk by discussing the initial pitch for Astro Bot, which was drafted in May 2021, shortly after Team Asobi started prototyping. He revealed that the pitch went through 23 revisions before being presented to top management. The pitch was creatively conveyed through an adorable comic strip that highlighted the game's main features and activities, a clear hit among the executives.
A slide from Nicholas Doucet's GDC talk, "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'", showcasing a comic book explanation of the game's pitch.
Doucet then explained the team's ideation process, which involved extensive brainstorming sessions. Team Asobi formed small, interdisciplinary groups of 5-6 people who contributed ideas via sticky notes, resulting in a visually impressive brainstorming board.
Another slide from the talk, displaying sticky note brainstorms from Team Asobi.
Not all ideas progressed to prototyping, Doucet noted. Only about 10% of the brainstormed concepts were prototyped, yet this still amounted to a substantial number of trials. He emphasized the significance of prototyping across all departments, citing an example where audio designers created a theater within Astro Bot to experiment with haptic controller vibrations synchronized with various sound effects, such as different door movements.
Another slide from the talk, showing a sponge prototype alongside concept art of Astro Bot transforming into a sponge.
Prototyping was crucial to the development of Astro Bot, Doucet explained, with certain programmers dedicated to prototyping non-platforming elements. This approach led to the creation of the sponge mechanic, which was integrated into the game after successfully using the adaptive trigger for a fun squeezing effect.
Another slide from the talk displaying various prototype activities developed for Astro Bot.
Doucet shared an image showcasing several prototypes that were explored but not implemented in the final game, including a balloon and sponge that made it in, as well as a tennis game, a walking wind-up toy, a roulette wheel, a coffee grinder, and others.
In discussing level design, Doucet highlighted the importance of unique gameplay in each level to avoid repetition. While the same power-up could be used across multiple levels, its application needed to be distinct enough to maintain the level's uniqueness. He cited a cut level themed around bird flights, which was discarded for being too similar to existing levels using Astro Bot's monkey power-up.
"In the end, it was decided that the overlap was not healthy enough to create variety, and we just cut this level entirely," he remarked. "We'll never know if that level would have been popular. But in hindsight, I think it's a good thing that we got to spend that time elsewhere."
Another slide showing a cut level from Astro Bot alongside two other implemented levels.
Spoilers ahead for those who haven't finished Astro Bot yet. Proceed with caution.
Doucet concluded his talk by discussing the game's final scene. Initially, players were presented with a completely dismembered Astro Bot, but this approach upset some testers, leading to the slightly more intact version seen in the final game.
A clip from Doucet's presentation showing the original ending of Astro Bot.
Doucet's talk was filled with fascinating insights into Astro Bot's development. IGN has previously interviewed him about the game, which we awarded a 9/10 in our review, praising it as "A fantastically inventive platformer in its own right, Astro Bot is particularly special for anyone with a place in their heart for PlayStation."
