"Astro Bot: Unreleased Bird Flight Level and Headless Character Revealed"

Fans of Astro Bot are familiar with the iconic sponge power-up, but did you know that Team Asobi, the game's developers, also experimented with 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 compelling talk titled, "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'". In his presentation, Doucet delved into the development process, showcasing a variety of early prototypes and revealing content that didn't make the final cut.

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 23 revisions before being presented to senior management. It was cleverly pitched as an adorable comic strip that highlighted the game's core concepts and activities, a format that evidently struck a chord with its audience.

The creative process, as explained by Doucet, involved extensive brainstorming sessions. Team Asobi formed small, diverse groups of 5-6 members from various disciplines. Each participant contributed ideas via sticky notes, resulting in a visually striking brainstorming board:

However, not all ideas progressed to prototyping. Doucet noted that only about 10% of their brainstormed concepts were actually prototyped. The importance of prototyping was emphasized, with team members from all departments encouraged to bring their ideas to life. An intriguing example was the audio team's creation of a theater within Astro Bot to experiment with haptic feedback corresponding to various sound effects, such as different door movements.

Doucet highlighted the role of dedicated programmers who focused on prototyping non-platforming elements. This approach led to the development of the sponge mechanic, which utilized the adaptive trigger for a squeezing action, ultimately becoming a beloved feature in the game.

The talk also covered how levels were chosen and designed around specific mechanics. The objective was to ensure each level offered unique gameplay experiences, avoiding repetition. While it was acceptable to reuse power-ups across different levels, Doucet stressed that the implementation had to vary enough to maintain the level's distinctiveness. An example was a discarded level themed around bird flights, which was cut due to its similarity to other levels using the monkey power-up.

In the final segment of his talk, Doucet discussed the game's concluding scene. **Spoiler Alert for those who haven't completed Astro Bot**: In the game's end, players reconstruct a broken Astro Bot with the help of other bots. Initially, the scene was more graphic, with Astro Bot presented as a dismembered torso without limbs or a head. However, this approach was deemed too distressing for some players, leading to the more palatable version seen in the released game.

Doucet's talk was filled with intriguing details about the development of Astro Bot, a game that IGN rated 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."