Astro Bot enthusiasts are well-acquainted with the story behind the sponge power-up, but did you know that Team Asobi, the game's developers, also experimented with even more whimsical powers like a coffee grinder and a roulette wheel? This fascinating tidbit came to light when IGN attended GDC 2025, where Team Asobi's studio director, Nicolas Doucet, delivered a talk titled "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'". In his presentation, Doucet delved deep into the creation process of the PlayStation mascot platformer, showcasing numerous early prototype images 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. The pitch underwent a staggering 23 revisions before being presented to top management. It was initially pitched through an adorable comic strip that highlighted the game's main pillars and activities. This approach clearly struck a chord.

A slide from Nicolas Doucet's GDC talk, "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'", featuring a comic book explanation of the game's pitch.

Doucet then explained the team's approach to generating ideas, which involved extensive brainstorming sessions. Team Asobi formed small, interdisciplinary groups of 5-6 people, where each member contributed ideas via sticky notes. This method led to an impressive brainstorming board, as shown in one of the slides from the talk.

Another slide from the talk, showcasing the sticky note brainstorming process at Team Asobi.

Not all ideas progressed to prototyping, Doucet noted. In fact, only about 10% of their brainstorms were actually prototyped. However, this still resulted in a substantial amount of prototyping. Doucet emphasized the importance of prototyping across all departments, even beyond game design. For instance, audio designers created a theater within Astro Bot to experiment with haptic controller vibrations that matched various sound effects, such as the different sounds of a door opening and closing.

A slide from the talk, displaying a sponge prototype alongside concept art of Astro Bot transforming into a sponge.

Prototyping was so integral to Team Asobi's process that some programmers were dedicated to exploring ideas unrelated to platforming. This led to the development of Astro Bot's sponge mechanic, which was prototyped to utilize the adaptive trigger's squeezing action. It proved to be fun and was subsequently integrated into the game.

A slide from the talk, showing various prototype activities developed for Astro Bot.

Doucet shared an image that included several prototypes that never made it into the final game, alongside those that did. The balloon and sponge were successful additions, while other concepts, such as a tennis game, a wind-up toy, a roulette wheel, and a coffee grinder, did not make the cut.

Later, Doucet discussed how levels were chosen and designed around specific mechanics. The objective was to ensure that each level offered unique gameplay and did not feel repetitive. Although it was acceptable to reuse power-ups across multiple levels, Doucet emphasized that the implementation had to vary significantly to maintain the level's distinctiveness. For example, he showed images of a cut level themed around bird flights, which was scrapped due to its similarity to the level Go-Go Archipelago and another level in Astro's Playroom that used a similar power.

"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."

A slide showing a cut level from Astro Bot alongside two other implemented levels.

Finally, Doucet concluded his talk by discussing the game's final scene. **Spoilers ahead for those who haven't completed Astro Bot yet.** In the game's ending, players reassemble a broken Astro Bot with limbs and help from other bots. Initially, the player was presented with a completely dismembered Astro, consisting only of a torso without a head or limbs. This version upset some players, leading to the more intact version seen in the final release.

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

Doucet's talk was packed with intriguing insights into the development of Astro Bot. IGN has interviewed him multiple times about the game's creation, which we rated a 9/10 in our review, 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."