From the moment he jumped out of our reimagined DualShock DualShock 4 wireless controllers in Playroom VR, it was clear that Astro Bot would charm hearts across the galaxy. Eight years later, this incredible character is truly ready to step into the spotlight with his the title adventure on PS5 – Astro Bot. So we sat down with Team Asobi studio director Nicolas Doucet to get the inside scoop on the origins and evolution of this iconic PlayStation mascot in the making.
Playroom
Robots giving birth to babies
The first concept for Astro Bot came from the Asobi team’s desire to experiment with combining the DualShock 4 controller with the PS4 camera, creating a demo provisionally titled Little AR (Augmented Reality) Men. The main characters were initially compact robots that could be interacted with on the living room floor.
“That was really the starting point,” Doucet says. “At the time, we didn’t have any graphics, so we made prototypes out of primitive shapes. The characters were just cylinder robots with little eyes. We ended up calling them AR Bots.
“We worked with artists to bring these characters to life, but we only had five months to get the demo into The Playroom. So to give them a sci-fi look in that short amount of time, we gave them a Sony Robotics style. But it was also important that they were cute, so we gave them big, sweet eyes and made them move like little babies, so they became robotic babies in a way.”
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VR Playroom
From AR Bots to Astro Bot
With the customization of AR Bots as part of the evolution of The Playroom into The Playroom VR, Astro Bot himself needed a more central character to control in the VR platforming prototype that became the Robots Rescue minigame.
“Internally, we called him Captain Astro,” Doucet explains. “We added a PlayStation blue paint job and more parts to make him stand out from the environment, gave him the ability to float, and modified his hands so he could grab objects.
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Astro Bot Rescue Mission
“It also had to feel tangible to VR. We looked at it as if it were a real robotic product—a character you could take apart and understand how its joints fit together.”
It wasn’t until 2018’s solo PS VR platformer Astro Bot Rescue Mission that Astro officially adopted his name – and with it, he was helped by animators and artists from other development teams, including Gravity Rush and The Last Guardian.
A collection of trinkets
To make sure Astro was ready for his full solo escapade in Astro Bot Rescue Mission, his design had to be tweaked, both visually and in terms of gameplay. Already equipped with classic platformer design cues—a low center of gravity and a compact frame—Astro made operate of a few compact touches, some of which became even more distinctive in Astro Bot:
Eyes
Astro’s blue LED eyes are central to his facial expressions, changing shape to convey different emotions – but they’re also the basis for the game’s VIP Bots. More on that later…
Jetpack
“In the original design, when Astro was in the air, he had two little wings that came out of his back so he could glide,” Doucet says. “You don’t really notice them, but we wanted to create a rationale for that function.”
Chrome dome
Astro Bot’s star shines in more ways than one, with the plate on his head subtly showing off the dazzling power that PS5 delivers. From jungles to oceans, all of the game’s environments are now fully reflected on the back of Astro’s silver head armor as he travels.
Robot voice
You might think Astro’s sweet, high-pitched voice was a natural fit, but we put a lot of thought into what he could say, to the point that he’s secretly a bit of a polyglot. “Astro doesn’t really speak, but his sounds are a mix of English and Japanese, and universal words and onomatopoeia, disguised as robotic sounds,” Doucet says. “Kids all over the world play him, so we also had to think about the sound, the tones, the syllables that would work in as many languages as possible.”
Expanding the Astro World
It’s things like Astro’s reflective head plate, which symbolizes his growth over the years, now unlocked on PS5. Being in 4K meant more detail and higher fidelity across the board with a compatible 4K TV or display, making Astro and his companions stand out, and that even extends to the game’s flora and fauna.
“There’s a lot of wildlife—about 70 new animals in the game,” Doucet says. “Everything from frogs and small insects to polar bears and elephants, and they all follow the design language of the LED-eyed bots. Even power-ups like Barkster the bulldog booster share those traits. So the idea of blue LEDs for friends and red LEDs for enemies became something of a trademark that we built on.”
The “stealing” of some beloved PlayStation characters
And then there are the VIPs and Cameo Bots – in-game versions of popular PlayStation-related characters – which had players excited when they were revealed. The series is no stranger to cameos, but Astro Bot goes even further, with a staggering amount of attention paid to integrating its robotic homages to Kratos, Aloy, Nathan Drake, and more.
“They had to have a cool sci-fi design, but also have things like fabrics and furry boots, so sometimes we felt like we could go against the original intent of the character,” Doucet explains. “So we replaced more organic materials like hair with materials like vinyl.
“But for all of these characters, the eyes are the most important thing. Sometimes LED eyes just didn’t work for certain characters because the original design relied so much on pupils being a certain size or color, for example. So for the more cartoonish VIPs like Crash Bandicoot or Ape Escape, Bots wears a mask to help overcome that problem!”
Are you excited about Astro’s first PS5 adventure? You don’t have to wait long – space, speeders, and surprises await you when Astrobot is gearing up for a September 6 release.
