Unveiling the Creation of Astro Bot

Recently, at the Summer Games Fest, we had the opportunity to inquire about the most impressive games our friends in the gaming media had seen or played. Since we don't get to play as many games as we'd like at GamesIndustry.biz, it's invaluable to gather insights from journalists. In nearly every conversation, one game consistently came up: Astro Bot. Fortunately, we had the chance to play it. As the sequel to Astro's Playroom, a game included with every PS5 that showcases the console's DualSense controller capabilities, Astro Bot is a 3D platformer. The quality of Astro's Playroom prompted Sony to invest in the developer, Team Asobi, which is now creating a full-fledged sequel set to launch in September. When we first spoke with Team Asobi in 2022, they shared their studio's operational approach. A core team works on Astro Bot, while a smaller group prototypes new ideas outside of the game. "They're not limited to platforming," explains studio and creative director Nicolas Doucet. "This was intentional, so they don't feel restricted. Otherwise, your mind imposes various limitations." In 2022, Asobi had around 60 employees, with Doucet anticipating growth to 100. However, they've only added a handful more in the two years since. "We've kept it relatively small," he says. "Even though this game is obviously larger, it ultimately comes down to people knowing the game well. It's a good size." During our previous interview, we discussed Asobi's game development process. They generate a wealth of ideas, assign people to them, and then gather everyone after two weeks to showcase, play, and review the work. "We do this until the very end," Doucet tells us. "Now that we're in the final phase of the game, we replay it every day, so it's less necessary. But it's really needed as we find our way. It allows everyone to keep track of our progress and showcase their work, which can be a powerful motivator." These meetings involve all 60 employees and last about two and a half hours. An artist might showcase several 3D models or storyboarding pages, while an animator presents multiple animations. "For a programmer, it might be a prototype," Doucet continues. "It wouldn't be directly in the game yet, but rather in a small room they built. For example, in the Summer Game Fest demo, there's a part where a bulldog is on your back and smashes through things. In two weeks, a programmer might have the first prototype of that, perhaps with a rocket instead of a bulldog. The goal is to make the gameplay feel good, and you can go around this white room and smash things." After these meetings, the team shares their opinions, and decisions are made about what to do next. "Usually, it's quite clear when something is working well," Doucet says. "You can gauge it from the team's reaction. I watch people closely, especially when it comes to humor, as we all have different sensitivities. If the whole group is enjoying something, that's a good indicator. "For things that don't go well, at the end of the review, everyone gets to say one thing they enjoyed and one thing that should be improved. This usually highlights trends and helps us take action for the next two weeks." I wondered what happens when someone spends weeks or months building something that ultimately doesn't impress the team and gets cut from the game. "There are features in the game, even entire levels, that take a significant amount of time, several weeks, and we decide: 'You know what, it feels like a duplicate of another level. Finishing it would be a big investment, and the return on that investment for the player is almost zero, so let's not do it,'" Doucet admits. "Of course, when having those conversations, we need to be polite and respectful. But fundamentally, everyone understands that it's all about the player's benefit. When you have your level canceled, you might go home feeling disappointed, but the next day, you'll be working on something that interests you. As long as we can keep that going, I think it's fine. Putting ego aside is probably the best way to have a sane and positive mindset. "Also, there's always the prospect that you're cutting something that could be reused in DLC or a sequel. There's always that hope." Asobi is meticulous about archiving ideas that don't make it into the game. "Our ability to archive is crucial," Doucet says. "In the first year of a project, we do a lot of testing. In the second year, we build the game with the tests we did. And in the third year, we polish everything. By the time we finish, the exploration phase is long gone, and there's a risk we'll forget a lot of things. "Also, some of these ideas are running on old versions of the game, which we can no longer run. Being able to go back and have this archive of good ideas is really important. Otherwise, you end up re-inventing the wheel or forgetting an amazing idea that didn't fit for some reason. "It could be confidence at the time or just more interest elsewhere. And if your expectations drop a bit, you might allow something you previously rejected back into your thinking, and that's where genius ideas come from." This development process has led to the demo we played in LA, which was packed with ideas and had gameplay that feels as good as the best platformers. Despite inevitable comparisons to Nintendo's platform games, Astro Bot is distinctly a PlayStation title. On the surface, the game is filled with PlayStation iconography and characters, which was also present in Astro's Playroom. Doucet admitted there were some reservations about doing the same thing again. "We thought: if we lean too much into PlayStation, are we not allowing Astro to be its own thing? Will we know if he can stand on his own feet? So, we first prototyped all these ideas in the Astro world only. But then we realized: if you're a fan of PlayStation and Astro's Playroom, which had all these things in it, and then the next game didn't… I'd be disappointed, honestly." So, the team decided to do it again, but this time they went further, with over 150 characters, including Astro versions of Kratos, Drake, and Aloy, to find and collect. "It's a bit of a geek dream," Doucet says. "They're not just characters; they have meaning and are close to our hearts. When you grow up with a game, it's not just a game; it was part of your life, which means there's an emotional attachment. Hopefully, everyone will find their favorite ones." The characters aren't named, but their designs and descriptions should be enough to figure out who they are. The game pokes fun at the characters, and Doucet says the other PlayStation studios were very receptive to this presentation of their IP. "There's a place where you can collect these characters, a museum, and you can punch them to get a funny reaction," Doucet says. "And those reactions really go deep into the things they did in their games. We're always trying to be respectful but also funny with those IPs. "The other studios have really embraced it. There hasn't been anything difficult. A lot of these IPs have dramatic stories with deep characters, and we're making them funny. Kratos gets angry, but it's kind of cute angry. And there's been a real acceptance of that. I thought it would be complicated, but it was really smooth sailing." The other element that makes Astro Bot distinctly a PlayStation game is how it utilizes the features of the DualSense controller. Doucet says they've gone further this time, highlighting the sponge concept as an example. "That idea came from isolated demos outside of Astro," he explains. "We were looking at the kind of expression we can do with the adaptive trigger, and we came up with a sponge made of water. When you squeeze the water out, it becomes light. You can program the trigger to have more or less resistance. We did this prototype, which was just a sponge on the screen you could squeeze, and it felt really good, so that informed a part of Astro. "There's also another feature in the game called 'feel the wall.' You can see a gold wall, and Astro can run his hands against it, and you can feel the change of texture in the DualSense as he goes from smooth to rough and then smooth again. Then you go back to the rough part, push it, and it's a secret passage. It's something kind of magical. You've seen it before with things like Indiana Jones. It could be done with normal vibration, but it would be a bit mundane, and with the DualSense, you can really feel the smooth and rough." However, there are some parts of the controller the team has scaled back on compared to Astro's Playroom. "With Astro's Playroom being a tech demo, we wanted to use every feature of the controller," Doucet says. "So, you'd have platforming, then a minigame, then back to platforming. It was separated. But this time, it's all blended together. All the new powers support the fundamental jumping around. That means we're doing less with the touchpad, because using the touchpad means your fingers are coming off the jump button, and it becomes a clunky way to play. But with the adaptive triggers and haptics, we really went to town." Indeed, it was this that excited many of the journalists we spoke to in Los Angeles. In an era where most games are built to be played across various devices, it's exciting to find something purposefully created for one platform. Doucet concludes: "Very often, we have this conversation. There are so many things bound to the essence of PlayStation with this game that it's difficult to imagine it elsewhere. It's really built for PlayStation."