Astro Bot is still regarded as one of the best and most adorable platformers of today, and the fans are always excited for more of Astro Bot. In a recent panel, the developers of Astro Bot revealed how the game came to be, and have also shown some cut content that could’ve been in the game.
This year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) event was held between March 17 and March 21, and like each year, it hosted thousands of developers. But this time, Nicolas Doucet, the studio director of Team Asobi, held a panel simply titled “The Making of ‘ASTRO BOT’”. Our friends from IGN were there, and they shared what Mr. Doucet said.
‘The Making of Astro Bot’ Reveals Some Interesting Details and Even Some Cut Content
According to Doucet, creating Astro Bot was quite a process! It went through many phases, and numerous ideas were considered. The pitch alone went through 23 revisions before it was presented to top management. Reportedly, the initial pitch was in the form of a comic strip.
As for the development, Doucet revealed that the process involved a lot of brainstorming. Team Asobi decided that the best approach was to split the devs into smaller teams. Each team consisted of 5-6 devs specializing in different disciplines. Then, the teams drew and wrote their ideas on sticky notes, creating an amazing brainstorming board.
Now, as you may have expected, the total number of ideas was extremely high. In fact, the devs ended up making only around 10% of the ideas into prototypes. Interestingly enough, various departments, not only the game design, participated in the creation of prototypes. Doucet shared an example of audio designers creating a theater inside Astro Bot in order to prototype the haptic controller vibrations, which would correspond to various sound effects.
What Happens With the Astro Bot Prototypes?
Doucet also revealed that several devs had the job of prototyping things unrelated to platforming. These devs are the ones responsible for the Sponge mechanic! Others found it very fun and included it in the game. However, obviously, not all the prototypes made the cut, either. In the picture below, you can see the Balloon and the Sponge, but also some other prototypes that never became mechanics.
Doucet also talked about the process behind level selection. He explained that the levels were designed around certain mechanics, while simultaneously being distinctively different than other levels. Doucet shared one of the levels that was cut due to being too similar to another one. The devs decided to cut the Bird Flights level because it felt too similar to the Go-Go Archipelago level.
For the finale of his presentation, Doucet revealed a change that was made in the final scene of Astro Bot. If you haven’t finished the game, beware, there’s a spoiler ahead! In the original version, the players had to reassemble the completely dismembered Astro. Obviously, this didn’t sit well with some people. So the devs adjusted the level and made it more palatable.
Seeing all the work that happened behind the scenes, all the content that was worked on and cut, truly makes one understand how Astro Bot won the GOTY, and continues to be one of the most praised games out there. So, if you still haven’t tried it, take advantage of the PlayStation Spring Sale, start your journey, and enjoy.
