Astro Bot enthusiasts are well-acquainted with the sponge power-up's origin story, but did you know that Team Asobi, the game's developers, also explored even more unconventional powers like a coffee grinder and a roulette wheel? This fascinating insight came to light during IGN's coverage of GDC 2025, where Team Asobi's studio director, Nicolas Doucet, delivered a comprehensive talk titled, "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'". In his presentation, Doucet delved into the development journey of the PlayStation mascot platformer, showcasing numerous early prototypes and cut content.

Doucet kicked off his talk by discussing the initial pitch for Astro Bot, which was drafted in May 2021, shortly after Team Asobi began its prototyping phase. He revealed that the pitch underwent 23 revisions before being presented to senior management. The pitch was creatively presented as an adorable comic strip that highlighted the game's main pillars and activities, ultimately proving 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 then explained the team's approach to idea generation, which involved extensive brainstorming sessions. Team Asobi formed small, interdisciplinary groups of 5-6 members, who would jot down or sketch their ideas on sticky notes. This process resulted in an impressive brainstorming board, as showcased in one of the slides.

Another slide from the talk, showing sticky note brainstorms from Team Asobi.

Not all ideas progressed to the prototyping stage, Doucet noted, with only about 10% making the cut. However, the team still engaged in extensive prototyping, encouraging all members, including those outside of game design, to experiment with their concepts. An interesting example was the audio designers creating a theater within Astro Bot to test haptic controller vibrations corresponding to various sound effects, such as the opening and closing of doors.

Another slide from the talk, showing a sponge prototype alongside concept art of Astro Bot becoming a sponge.

Doucet emphasized the importance of prototyping, highlighting how a few dedicated programmers focused on non-platforming ideas. This approach led to the creation of Astro Bot's sponge mechanic, which utilized the adaptive trigger for a fun and engaging experience that ultimately made it into the game.

Another slide from the talk showing various prototype activities that were made for Astro Bot.

Doucet shared an image of various prototypes, including the balloon and sponge, which were incorporated into the game, alongside others that didn't make the final cut, such as a tennis game, a walking wind-up toy, a roulette wheel, and a coffee grinder.

He also discussed the selection and design of levels, aiming to ensure each one offered unique gameplay and avoided repetition. While the same power-up could appear in multiple levels, Doucet stressed that its implementation had to be distinct enough to maintain the level's uniqueness. He cited a cut level themed around bird flights, which was removed due to its similarities with the level Go-Go Archipelago and another level in Astro's Playroom.

"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 ending, players were presented with a completely dismembered Astro, which some found upsetting. As a result, the team opted for a version where Astro was slightly more intact, as seen in the final game.

A clip from Doucet's presentation showing the original ending of Astro Bot.

Doucet's presentation offered numerous other insights into the development of Astro Bot, a game that IGN previously reviewed with a score of 9/10, 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."