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

Astro Bot fans are well-acquainted with the story behind the sponge power-up, but did you know that developer Team Asobi also experimented with even more outlandish powers, such as a coffee grinder and a roulette wheel? This fascinating tidbit came to light during IGN's attendance at GDC 2025, where Team Asobi's studio director, Nicolas Doucet, delivered a comprehensive talk titled "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'". In this session, Doucet delved deep into the creation process of the PlayStation mascot platformer, sharing numerous 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, which was crafted in May 2021, shortly after Team Asobi began its prototyping phase. He revealed that the pitch underwent 23 revisions before being presented to top management. The pitch was uniquely presented as an adorable comic strip, illustrating the game's main pillars and activities. Clearly, this creative approach struck a chord and paved the way for the game's development.

Doucet then explained the team's method for generating ideas, which involved extensive brainstorming. Team Asobi formed small, interdisciplinary groups of 5-6 people who contributed ideas on individual sticky notes, leading to an impressive brainstorming board that showcased the team's creativity.

However, not all ideas progressed to the prototyping stage. Doucet noted that only about 10% of the brainstormed concepts were actually prototyped. Despite this, the team placed a strong emphasis on prototyping, encouraging everyone to bring their ideas to life. This approach extended beyond the game design team; for instance, audio designers created a theater within Astro Bot to test haptic controller vibrations corresponding to different sound effects, such as the various ways a door could open and close.

Prototyping was so crucial to the Astro Bot team that a few programmers were dedicated to experimenting with non-platforming ideas. This led to the creation of the sponge mechanic, which was prototyped using the adaptive trigger and ultimately included in the game due to its fun factor.

Doucet shared an image featuring several prototypes that never made it into the game, alongside those that did. Notable among these were a balloon and sponge, which were used, as well as intriguing concepts like a tennis game, a walking wind-up toy, a roulette wheel, and a coffee grinder.

Later in the talk, Doucet discussed how levels were selected and designed around specific mechanics. The goal was to ensure that each level offered unique gameplay and didn't feel too similar to others. While it was possible to reuse power-ups across levels, Doucet emphasized that each use had to be distinct enough to maintain the level's individuality. He cited an example of a cut level themed around bird flights, which was dropped due to its similarity to the level Go-Go Archipelago and another level in Astro's Playroom that used a similar power-up.

"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."

Doucet concluded his talk by discussing the game's final scene, which contains **spoilers for those who haven't finished Astro Bot**. In the scene, players reassemble a broken Astro Bot with the help of other bots. Initially, the player was presented with a completely dismembered Astro, but this was changed after feedback indicated it was too upsetting for some players.

Doucet's talk was filled with fascinating insights into the development of Astro Bot, a game that IGN awarded a 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."