The adorable, space-faring tribute to PlayStation's legacy is making a crash landing in San Francisco. Studio Director Nicolas Doucet and several other key Team ASOBI developers are heading to GDC 2025 to give talks on the creation of the award-winning game, ASTRO BOT, and its otherworldly star.
ASTRO BOT centers around a small robot who travels the galaxy to fix its broken PS5 mothership. Featuring appearances from dozens of classic and modern PlayStation game characters, Team ASOBI's follow-up to ASTRO's Playroom has become one of the most popular releases of the year.
These sessions are only available for Core and All-Access passholders. Be sure to secure your pass before the early bird registration price ends!
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Nicolas Doucet, a 20+ year Sony Interactive Entertainment veteran who currently leads Team ASOBI, will take GDC attendees behind the scenes of "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT.'" This includes a look at the initial internal pitch, early prototypes, level creation, and how they worked to ensure the game would "appeal to both gamers and families alike."
In addition, principal gameplay programming Lead Masayuki Yamada will dive into the game's unique prototyping techniques, principal graphics programmer Tai Yamaguchi will showcase the game's key graphics deformation techniques, and senior game programmer Takumi Yoshida will cover the game's physics technology... including how haptic feedback was used to increase player immersion.
Here's everything you can expect from these talks:
The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'
Nicolas Doucet (Studio Director, Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass
Track: Design, Production & Team Leadership
This session will take you on a fun and visual journey through 10 principles that shaped team ASOBI's latest game, ASTRO BOT; from the initial concept pitch to how the team works on a day to day basis to create magical moments for all ages.
Advanced Physics in 'ASTRO BOT'
Takumi Yoshida (Senior Game Programmer, Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass
Track: Design, Programming
This talk will explain the physics technology used in ASTRO BOT. In addition to traditional rigid body simulation, ASTRO BOT uses many advanced physics technologies that utilize the processing power of the PS5. For example, abundance of shiny gems in treasure cave, water flowing along the terrain, and balloons that deform with the weight of the player. Players can interact with these elements and feel delicate haptics feedback. Team ASOBI developed these gimmicks with the aim of creating toy-like interactions that are fun, pleasant, and satisfying just by touching them.
This talk will provide implementation details for a large number of physics objects, fluids, soft bodies, cloth, and real-time destruction, as well as gameplay use cases and optimization techniques.
Rapid and Creative Gameplay Prototyping in 'ASTRO BOT'
Masayuki Yamada (Principal Gameplay Programming Lead, Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass
Track: Design, Programming
Team ASOBI released ASTRO BOT in September 2024, which became a highly acclaimed 3D platformer. In this session, the team's lead gameplay programmer introduces prototyping techniques used during the development of ASTRO BOT. The game features a wide variety of power-ups, gimmicks, enemies, and interactions, each enhanced by unique animations, effects, sounds, and haptics that elevate the interactive experiences. Given the large number of unique elements and the constraints of time and resources, a strong emphasis is placed on prototyping to manage these challenges effectively.
The speaker explains the specific methods and processes used to create these prototypes, and how collaboration with game designers and artists helped refine them into production-quality features, showcasing actual examples from the development process.
Flex and Fun: Graphics Magic in 'ASTRO BOT'
Tai Yamaguchi (Principal Graphics Programmer, Team ASOBI, Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass - Get your pass now!
Track: Programming, Visual Arts
This talk will introduce the key graphics deformation techniques used in ASTRO BOT.
In addition to traditional static model rendering, the team implemented fluid effects using signed distance fields, a deformable water surface system based on a tessellation technique, and a versatile model deformation system to create an interactive and playful environment that gameplay needs. These techniques enhanced gameplay immersion and contributed to an improved player experience.
Moreover, achieving a stable 60fps was critical, demanding a balance between efficient performance and real-time visual fidelity. In this talk, Tai shares the details that enabled this balance and insights gained from actual use cases.
Don't miss the opportunity to go behind the scenes at one of 2024's top family games. Get your pass today!
GDC returns this March 17-21, 2025, and our Early Rate is currently live (for a limited time)! For more information, be sure to visit our website and follow the #GDC2025 hashtag on social media.
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