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

Astro Bot fans are well-acquainted with the story behind the creation of the sponge power-up, but did you know that developer Team Asobi also experimented with even more unconventional powers, such as a coffee grinder and a roulette wheel? This fascinating tidbit was revealed at GDC 2025, where Team Asobi's studio director, Nicolas Doucet, delivered a detailed talk titled, "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'". During his presentation, Doucet delved into the intricate process of developing the PlayStation mascot platformer, showcasing numerous early prototype images and cut content that provided a behind-the-scenes look at the game's evolution.

Doucet kicked off his talk by discussing the initial pitch for Astro Bot, crafted in May 2021, shortly after Team Asobi started 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 ultimately proved successful.

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 groups of 5-6 people, blending individuals from various disciplines. Each member contributed ideas through writing or drawing on sticky notes, resulting in a vibrant brainstorming board.

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

Not all ideas progressed to prototyping, Doucet noted. Only about 10% of the brainstormed concepts were developed into prototypes. He emphasized the importance of prototyping across all departments, even citing an example where audio designers created a theater within Astro Bot to experiment with haptic controller vibrations corresponding to different sound effects, such as the opening and closing of doors.

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

Prototyping was so integral to Astro Bot's development that a few programmers were dedicated solely to creating prototypes unrelated to platforming. This approach led to the creation of the sponge mechanic, which was prototyped with the adaptive trigger and proved to be fun enough to include in the final game.

Another slide from the talk, displaying various prototype activities developed for Astro Bot.

Doucet shared an image showcasing a range of prototypes, including those that made it into the game, like the balloon and sponge, as well as those that didn't, such as a tennis game, a wind-up toy, a roulette wheel, a coffee grinder, and others.

He also discussed how levels were chosen and designed around specific mechanics, aiming to ensure unique gameplay in each level. Doucet explained that even if the same power-up was used in multiple levels, its implementation had to be distinct enough to maintain variety. He provided examples of cut levels, including one themed around bird flights, which was removed due to similarities with the level Go-Go Archipelago and another level in Astro's Playroom.

"In the end, it was decided that the overlap was not healthy enough to create variety, and we just cut this level entirely," Doucet stated. "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 completed Astro Bot. Proceed at your own risk.**

In the final scene, players reassemble a broken Astro Bot with the help of other bots. Initially, the player was to be given a completely dismembered Astro Bot, but this concept upset some testers, leading to the adoption of a more intact version seen in the released game.

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

Doucet's talk offered numerous insights into the development of Astro Bot, a game that we previously reviewed with a score of 9/10, 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."