From the moment he emerged from our transformed DualShock 4 wireless controller in the VR Playroom, it was clear that Astro Bot would capture the hearts of people across the galaxy. Eight years later, this amazing character is truly ready to step into the spotlight through PS5 Adventure Titled – Astro BotSo we sat down with Team Asobi studio director Nicolas Doucet to dig deeper into the origins and evolution of this iconic PlayStation mascot.
Playroom
Robot giving birth
The original idea for Astro Bot came from Team Asobi’s desire to experiment with connecting a DualShock 4 controller to a PS4 camera, creating a demo tentatively titled Little AR (Augmented Reality) Men. The main characters were initially small robots that you could interact with on the living room floor.
“That was really the starting point,” Doucet said. “At that point, we didn’t have any artwork, so we prototyped from rough shapes. The characters were just robots made of cylinders 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 make them look sci-fi in such a short time, we gave them a Sony robotic style. But it was also important that they were adorable, so we gave them cute big eyes and made them waddle like toddlers, so they were like child robots.”
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VR Playroom
From AR Bots to Astro Bot
While AR Bots were being customized as part of The Playroom’s evolution into The Playroom VR, Astro Bot himself emerged when a more central character was needed to control the VR platform game prototype, which later became the Robots Rescue mini-game.
“We called him Captain Astro,” Doucet explains. “We added the PlayStation blue suit and other parts to make him stand out from his surroundings, gave him the ability to levitate, and modified his hands to grasp objects.
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Astro Robot Rescue Mission
“He also had to feel tangible for VR. We looked at him as if he were a real-life robotic product – a character that you could take apart and understand how his joints fit together.”
It wasn’t until 2018’s solo PS VR platformer Astro Bot Rescue Mission that Astro really made a name for himself – with the help of animation and art talent from other development teams, including Gravity Rush and The Last Guardian.
A cache of small details
Making sure Astro was ready for his full solo adventure in Astro Bot Rescue Mission meant tweaking his design, both visually and gameplay-wise. Already blessed with classic platform design considerations – a low center of gravity and a compact frame – Astro benefits from a number of small details, some of which are even more special in Astro Bot:
Eye
Astro’s blue LED eyes are key to his facial expressions, changing shape to convey a variety of emotions – but they also form the basis for the VIP Bots in the game. More on that later…
Jetpack
“In the original design, whenever Astro was hovering, two little wings would protrude from his back to help him glide,” Doucet said. “You don’t really notice them, but we wanted to create a reason behind that functionality.”
Chrome plated dome
Astro Bot’s star shines in more ways than one, with the metal plate on his head subtly representing the dazzling power that the PS5 brings. From jungles to oceans, all the environments in the game are now fully reflected on the back of Astro’s silver head plate throughout his journey.
Robot voice
We might think Astro’s high-pitched, cute voice was a natural choice, but we put so much thought into what he could say that he’s actually multilingual. “Astro doesn’t actually speak, but his sounds are a mix of English and Japanese, as well as common words and onomatopoeia, masked in robot sounds,” says Doucet. “He’s played by kids all over the world, so we also had to think about tones, sounds and syllables that would fit in as many languages as possible.”
Expanding the world of Astro
It’s things like Astro’s reflective headplate that represents his growth over the years that are now unlocked for PS5. Having 4K resolution means more detail and higher fidelity across the board on a compatible 4K TV or monitor, making Astro and his companions stand out, even extending to the game’s flora and fauna.
“There’s a lot of wildlife – about 70 new animals in this game,” Doucet said. “From frogs and little insects, to polar bears and elephants, and they all follow the design language of the bots with LED eyes. Even power-ups like Barkster the bulldog booster have the same characteristics. So the idea of blue LEDs for friends and red LEDs for enemies became a brand that we built.”
‘Steeling’ Some Favorite PlayStation Characters
And then there are the VIP and Cameo Bots – in-game versions of popular PlayStation-related characters – that players were excited to see revealed. The franchise is no stranger to cameos, but Astro Bot takes things a step further, with a surprising amount of thought put into integrating its robotic characters into Kratos, Aloy, Nathan Drake, and many others.
“They had to have an interesting sci-fi design, but they also had to have things like fabric or furry shoes, so sometimes we felt like we could go against the original intention of the character,” Doucet explains. “So we replaced a lot of the more organic materials, like hair, with materials like vinyl.
“But with all of these characters, the eyes are the most important. Sometimes LED eyes don’t work for certain characters because the original design relies too much on a certain size or color of the pupil. So for VIP anime characters like Crash Bandicoot or Ape Escape, the Bots will wear masks to help solve that problem!”
Are you excited for Astro’s first PS5 adventure? You don’t have to wait long – space, speed, and surprises are yours to enjoy. Astronomy bot is gearing up for a September 6 release date.
