Astro Bot fans are familiar with the beloved sponge power-up, but did you know that developer Team Asobi also experimented with even more unusual powers during development? At GDC 2025, IGN learned from Team Asobi studio director Nicolas Doucet's talk, "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'", that the team prototyped concepts like a coffee grinder and a roulette wheel, among other creative ideas.
During his presentation, Doucet delved into the intricate process of crafting the PlayStation mascot platformer, showcasing early prototype images and discussing content that didn't make the final cut. He revealed that the initial pitch for Astro Bot, which started in May 2021, went through 23 revisions before being presented to top management. The pitch was creatively formatted as an adorable comic strip that highlighted the game's main pillars and activities, which ultimately proved successful.
A slide from Nicholas Doucet's GDC talk, The Making of 'ASTRO BOT', showing a comic book explanation of the game's pitch.
Doucet explained that the team's idea generation 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. However, not all ideas transitioned to the prototyping phase, with only about 10% making it that far. Prototyping was a crucial part of the development process, with every team member encouraged to experiment, even those outside the game design department. An example included audio designers creating a theater within Astro Bot to test haptic controller vibrations corresponding to various sound effects.
Another slide from the talk, showing sticky note brainstorms from Team Asobi.
Prototyping was so integral to the project that some programmers were dedicated to creating prototypes unrelated to platforming. This approach led to the development of Astro Bot's sponge mechanic, which utilized the adaptive trigger for a squeezing effect and became a memorable feature of the game.
Another slide from the talk, showing a sponge prototype alongside concept art of Astro Bot becoming a sponge.
Doucet shared an image that showcased various prototypes, including the balloon and sponge that made it into the game, alongside others like a tennis game, a walking wind-up toy, a roulette wheel, and a coffee grinder, which did not.
Another slide from the talk showing various prototype activities that were made for Astro Bot.
The talk also covered how levels were chosen and designed to feature unique gameplay mechanics. Doucet emphasized the importance of ensuring each level felt distinct, even if the same power-up was used across different levels. An example he cited was a cut level themed around bird flights, which was removed due to similarities with existing levels using the 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 said. "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.
Doucet concluded his talk by discussing the game's final scene, which includes **spoilers** for those who haven't completed Astro Bot. In the original concept, players were to reassemble a completely dismembered Astro Bot, but this was changed to a more intact version after feedback indicated it was too upsetting for some players.
A clip from Doucet's presentation showing the original ending of Astro Bot.
Doucet's presentation offered a wealth of insights into the development of Astro Bot, a game that IGN praised with a 9/10 score, describing 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."
