Astro Bot fans have heard the story of the creation of the sponge power-up, but did you know developer Team Asobi also prototyped even wackier powers, like a coffee grinder and a roulette wheel? We learned this fascinating detail when IGN attended GDC 2025, where Team Asobi studio director Nicolas Doucet delivered a talk titled, "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'". In his presentation, Doucet provided an in-depth look at the process of creating 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, just a few months after Team Asobi began prototyping. He revealed that the pitch underwent 23 revisions before being presented to top management. The pitch was uniquely presented as an adorable comic strip that highlighted the main pillars and activities of the game—a strategy that clearly paid off.

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 people who wrote or drew their ideas on sticky notes, resulting in a visually impressive brainstorming board.

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

Not all ideas made it to the prototyping phase, Doucet noted. Only about 10% of their brainstorms were actually prototyped. However, this still amounted to a significant number of prototypes. Doucet emphasized the importance of prototyping, stating that everyone on the team, including those from departments outside of game design, was encouraged to prototype their ideas. An example he shared was how audio designers created a theater within Astro Bot to experiment with haptic controller vibrations corresponding to various sound effects, like the different ways a door can open and close.

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

Prototyping was crucial to the development process, Doucet said, to the extent that some programmers were dedicated to prototyping non-platforming elements. This approach led to the creation of Astro Bot's sponge mechanic, which involved using the adaptive trigger to squeeze the sponge dry—an enjoyable feature that was incorporated into the game.

Another slide from the talk, featuring various prototype activities created for Astro Bot.

Doucet shared an image showcasing several prototypes that did not make it into the final game, such as a tennis game, a walking wind-up toy, a roulette wheel, and a coffee grinder, alongside successful elements like the balloon and sponge.

Later in the talk, Doucet discussed how levels were chosen and designed around specific mechanics. The goal was for each level to offer unique gameplay and avoid feeling repetitive. While it was possible to reuse power-ups across levels, the expression of these mechanics had to be sufficiently different to maintain the level's distinctiveness. Doucet provided examples of cut levels, such as one themed around bird flights, which was removed because it reused Astro Bot's monkey power-up in a way too similar to the level Go-Go Archipelago and another level in Astro's Playroom with 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 explained. "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 contains Spoilers for those who haven't finished Astro Bot yet. Proceed with caution.

In the final scene, the player reassembles a broken Astro Bot with the help of other bots. Initially, the player was presented with a completely dismembered Astro Bot—just the torso without any limbs or head. However, Doucet mentioned that this approach upset some players, leading them to opt for 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 other intriguing insights into the development of Astro Bot. We have interviewed him multiple times about the game's creation, which we rated 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."