News about Astro Bot Reveals Cut Content: Bird Flight Level and Headless Astro

Astro Bot fans are familiar with the beloved sponge power-up, but did you know that Team Asobi, the game's developers, also experimented with even more unconventional ideas 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 captivating talk titled "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'". In his presentation, Doucet delved into the intricate process of developing the PlayStation mascot platformer, showcasing a range of early prototype images and content that didn't make the final cut.

Doucet kicked off his talk by sharing the initial pitch for Astro Bot, which was drafted in May 2021, shortly after Team Asobi began prototyping. He revealed that the pitch underwent 23 revisions before being presented to top management. The pitch was creatively presented as an adorable comic strip, highlighting the game's main pillars and activities, which evidently struck a chord and secured its approval.

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 generating ideas, which involved extensive brainstorming sessions. Team Asobi formed small, multidisciplinary groups of 5-6 members, encouraging everyone to jot down or sketch their ideas on sticky notes. This method led to an impressive brainstorming board, as seen in the images shared during the talk.

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

However, not all ideas progressed to the prototyping stage, with only about 10% of the brainstormed concepts being developed further. Doucet emphasized the significance of prototyping, noting that all team members, including those outside game design like audio designers, were encouraged to prototype their ideas. An example he shared was an audio team's creation of a theater within Astro Bot to experiment with haptic controller vibrations corresponding to various sound effects, such as different door actions.

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

The importance of prototyping was further highlighted by Doucet, who mentioned that a dedicated team of programmers focused on prototyping non-platforming mechanics. This approach led to the creation of Astro Bot's sponge mechanic, which was prototyped using the adaptive trigger and eventually integrated into the game due to its engaging gameplay.

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

Doucet shared an image showcasing a variety of prototypes, including some that didn't make it into the game, such as a tennis game, a walking wind-up toy, a roulette wheel, and a coffee grinder. He also discussed how levels were selected and designed to ensure unique gameplay experiences, avoiding repetition by varying the expression of mechanics across different levels. For instance, a level themed around bird flights was cut due to its similarity to existing levels using the monkey power-up.

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

**Spoiler Alert for the final scene of Astro Bot:** In the game's closing scene, players reassemble a broken Astro Bot with help from other bots. Originally, the scene featured a more dismembered Astro, which some found distressing. The final version was adjusted to be less unsettling, reflecting player feedback.

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

Doucet's presentation at GDC 2025 offered a treasure trove of insights into the development of Astro Bot, a game praised in our 9/10 review as "A fantastically inventive platformer in its own right, Astro Bot is particularly special for anyone with a place in their heart for PlayStation."