Astro Bot's Cut Content: Bird Flight Level and Headless Astro Revealed

Astro Bot fans are familiar with the iconic sponge power-up, but did you know that developer Team Asobi experimented with even more unconventional abilities? From a coffee grinder to a roulette wheel, these quirky concepts were revealed during IGN's coverage of GDC 2025, where Team Asobi studio director Nicolas Doucet delivered an insightful talk titled "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'". In this session, Doucet delved into the intricacies of developing the beloved PlayStation mascot platformer, showcasing early prototype images and discussing content that didn't make the final cut.

Doucet kicked off his presentation by discussing the initial pitch for Astro Bot, crafted in May 2021, shortly after Team Asobi began its prototyping phase. The pitch went through an impressive 23 revisions before being presented to top management. The pitch was creatively delivered as an adorable comic strip, highlighting the game's main pillars and activities—a move that evidently resonated well with the audience.

A slide from Nicholas Doucet's GDC talk, "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'", illustrating the game's pitch through a comic book style.

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 to foster diverse perspectives. These groups used sticky notes to jot down and draw their ideas, resulting in a visually striking brainstorming board.

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

However, not all ideas transitioned into the prototyping phase. Doucet revealed that only about 10% of their brainstormed concepts were prototyped, yet this still amounted to a substantial number of prototypes. He emphasized the significance of prototyping across all departments, including an example where audio designers created a theater within Astro Bot to experiment with haptic controller vibrations corresponding to various sound effects.

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

Prototyping was crucial for Team Asobi, with dedicated programmers focusing on non-platforming elements. This approach led to the development of Astro Bot's sponge mechanic, which utilized the adaptive trigger for a unique squeezing effect, ultimately becoming a beloved feature of the game.

A slide from the talk showing various prototypes, including a balloon, sponge, tennis game, wind-up toy, roulette wheel, coffee grinder, and more.

Doucet also discussed how levels were chosen and designed around specific mechanics, ensuring each level offered unique gameplay and avoided repetition. He illustrated this with examples of a cut level themed around bird flights, which was discarded due to similarities with existing levels using the monkey power-up.

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

In the closing segment of his talk, Doucet addressed the game's final scene, warning of spoilers for those yet to complete Astro Bot. In the original concept, players were to reassemble a completely dismembered Astro Bot, but this idea was revised to a less distressing version after feedback indicated it was too upsetting.

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

Doucet's talk at GDC 2025 provided a fascinating glimpse into the creative and meticulous process behind Astro Bot's development. This game, which we awarded a 9/10 in our review, was praised as "A fantastically inventive platformer in its own right, Astro Bot is particularly special for anyone with a place in their heart for PlayStation."