From the very first time we previewed an early build of ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission, it was clear that there was much care and craft behind the work. At its October 2018 launch, the finished game not only didn't disappoint, it saw critical praise, quickly becoming PSVR's top rated title and even one of PS4's top titles overall for 2018. The reception was a testament to the undeniable art and skill of the creators at Sony Interactive Entertainment's JAPAN Studio. But how did they succeed where so many others struggled? For the latest in our Insights & Artwork series, we spoke with Astro Bot's Creative Director and Producer, Nicolas Doucet, who gave us a glimpse into the game's design process and a look at some of the artwork which guided the way. Update (July 19th, 2019): Over at the official PlayStation Blog, Nicolas Doucet today shared some additional background on Astro Bot's development, which seemed fitting to include here to add to this deep-dive background on the game's creation. Doucet shared a look at a 'mecha spider' enemy prototype which was ultimately cut from the game but lived on through similar mechanics which manifested in the 'bamboo stack' enemy, which the team found "simpler, clearer, more versatile, and gratifying to shoot." [caption id="attachment_89447" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy SIE JAPAN Studio[/caption] He showed how level segments were built modularly, which allowed them to be rearranged and even repurposed where needed. A segment of the Canyon stage was pulled from that level and visually adapted to fit right into the Volcano level. [caption id="attachment_89446" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image courtesy SIE JAPAN Studio[/caption] Doucet also elaborated a bit on Astro Bot's cut multiplayer mode, which was clearly a tough decision but seems to have ultimately worked out in the game's favor. "It was probably the hardest cut we ever made, and it created some controversy within the team, especially because it felt like we were taking something of quality away," he said. "But at times, such decisions are necessary for the greater good and there is no more regret today as it allowed the game — and the team — to reach new heights." Continue reading below for our deep-dive with Doucet on Astro Bot's development. Editor's Note: The big, beautiful pictures and exclusive artwork in this article are best viewed on a desktop browser with a large screen, or in landscape orientation on your phone. All images courtesy SIE JAPAN Studio. Winding Roots Original Article (November 7th, 2018): While Astro Bot has only been out for a month now, the game's origin stretches at least back to 2013 when JAPAN Studio released THE PLAYROOM, a piece of PS4 bundleware which was designed to show of the console's then new camera peripheral. The Playroom included a series of mini-games where the studio's adorable 'bot' characters were heavily featured. When PS4's next major peripheral came along—PlayStation VR, which launched in 2016—JAPAN Studio was tasked with creating The Playroom VR. Just like the game before it, The Playroom VR was bundled as a showcase, and included a series of VR mini-games with the bots back in action. [caption id="attachment_83386" align="aligncenter" width="1021"] JAPAN Studio's 'bots' were a fixture in THE PLAYROOM VR (2016)[/caption] It was there in The Playroom VR where Astro Bot's foundation was solidified. One mini-game called 'Robot Rescue' had players guiding one of the bot characters around a fantastical world from a third-person perspective, but still embodied the player as a first-person character in the game world. Looking back today, the fundamentals of 'Robot Rescue' and Astro Bot are one in the same, but with the latter, JAPAN Studio had the time and resources to fully explore what the mini-game could become. "To be honest, ['Robot Rescue'] was the odd one out as all other games [in The Playroom VR] were built as quick-fire party play." Nicolas Doucet, Astro Bot's Creative Director and Producer, tells Road to VR. "As we released The Playroom VR, the gamers inside us loved 'Robot Rescue' because it is a game closer to classic gamers’ taste re-invented for VR, so we wanted to make a full game." As it turned out, the interest in 'Robot Rescue' wasn't just from within the studio. "The vast amount of [player] comments on the forums, videos, and petition gave us the boost we needed to go full steam. So shortly after releasing our DLC for The Playroom VR, we started working on Astro Bot Rescue Mission." [caption id="attachment_83348" align="aligncenter" width="1524"] Image courtesy SIE JAPAN Studio[/caption] 18 months later, and with a peak development team of 25, Astro Bot was born. Packed full of smart VR game design, a distinctly 'playable' feel, and enough meat to feel satisfied by the end, Astro Bot is the first game we've rated a 10 out of 10. A game like Astro Bot doesn't just happen; it's the product of talent, time, and direction. "One thing to establish first is that [JAPAN Studio's] ASOBI Team is articulated around four key pillars that define the emotions our games must convey. They are 'Magical', 'Innovative', 'Playful' and 'Inclusive'. These words are to be considered in their broad meaning and anything we create should be relatable to these four key pillars." Doucet says. Months of Experimentation With that framework in mind, the team set aside one-third of the game's development time for experimentation, before locking in key mechanics and interactions. "We prototyped lots and lots of mechanics for the first six months, as we always do. We then assembled the entire game from the various successful ideas," says Doucet. "These prototypes happen over a very short time and are mostly made by programmers working on their own. We then gather everything that is fun and that gives us our tool set for interactions. We only bring art in once the gameplay is robust so there is no temptation to rely on graphics before the fundamental gameplay is proven." Doucet and the team specifically set out to make sure Astro Bot was more than just a third-person platformer thrown into a VR headset. "[...] there was a strong desire for the game to not become a traditional platformer in panorama view. That would have no value for PS VR," he says. "[...] so a checklist of 'VR-ness' was created, such as verticality, lateral gameplay, volume play, perspective play by leaning your body, proximity play to create a bond, far-distance play to create dramatic moments, and also physical play via the player’s head, blowing mechanics, etc." [caption id="attachment_83374" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Astro looks at the player's avatar.[/caption] Central to the game's "VR-ness" is the way that it embodies the player as not just a camera but an actual character that's present inside the virtual world. That's reinforced especially with the PS4 controller which is motion tracked inside the game and becomes as critical to the gameplay input from buttons and sticks. This happens primarily through 'gadgets', virtual tools that attach to the in-game controller allowing the player to uniquely interact with both Astro and the environment. "It was important that these gadgets worked on several layers, at least three strong use cases to be precise," Doucet says. "This is why the water gadget for example can be used to grow vegetation, activate propellers, and also harden lava. All of these use cases have a direct correlation with platforming (they essentially create a path for Astro and support the various 'VR-ness' [we were seeking]." In fact, there were a few gadgets—like a magnet and a vacuum cleaner—that got cut because they didn't meet the bar of interactivity that the team had set. Continued on Page 2: Duality of Scales » Duality of Scales Another prominent element of making Astro Bot feel unique to VR was building levels that naturally fit both the player and the much smaller player-controlled character, Astro. "[...] every stage needed to work on two scales: a scale fit to welcome a small Astro jumping around from platform to platform, but also working on a human scale to retain the wow factor from first-wave PSVR titles where the VR player can be wowed by the simple magic of immersion in fantasy worlds," Doucet tells Road to VR. "This informed the choice of levels: underwater, on top of clouds, inside the belly of a whale. This duality of scales between Astro and the VR player can also be found in the enemy designs that split between small enemies chasing Astro and larger enemies more interested in fighting you, the VR player." [caption id="attachment_83377" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Astro Bot's art direction is fanciful but visually believable.[/caption] Astro Bot's visuals also needed to work at both the macro and micro scales, while remaining performant enough for the now five-year old PS4 to meet PSVR's high performance demands. "The [art] team was quickly introduced to new techniques that would give us the best visuals for VR performance, but as with every new technique it takes time as old habits tend to die hard. With VR, old habits can be a problem because the medium requires re-thinking quite a lot of the way we create games," says Doucet. "As a simple example, a 2D effect that would normally look great on a TV game looks flat in VR and needs to be given more volume, possibly adding cost and complexity in the making-process. [...] Defining a good set of [art] building blocks was crucial in making the game look great in VR on a standard PS4. These materials make the world very tangible and that was very important for us." Of course, it helps that JAPAN Studio has a proprietary engine which has for several years been honed to meet the needs of VR rendering. Astro Bot's creative demands pushed things yet further, with Doucet describing a "great synergy of both [art and programming]" during development. "As expected with VR, the frame rate needed to achieve a smooth experience requires some serious optimization [...] which were made as the team requested more and more wow features: interactive waves in the levels, reactive lava, cloud shader as well as a myriad of effects," he said. "We create almost all the tech we need by ourselves. Doing so gives us the flexibility we need but means we are constantly creating features for our little engine. For example, to make designing levels more efficient, we also created a tool allowing us to see the level being modified in real-time so you could play a level in VR while building blocks around you would be moved in real-time by a level designer. Such tools were hard to get right but offered us unprecedented savings in return." Continued on Page 3: Cutting Room Floor » Cutting Room Floor But that's not to say that the team managed to cram everything into the game that they'd hoped for. Doucet explained that a local multiplayer feature—a carryover from 'Robot Rescue'—had to be sacrificed in order to preserve the vision that the studio had for Astro Bot. "Some levels [in Astro Bot] initially allowed three extra players to join on the TV. It was fun to play together but we soon realized that in order to make the [non-VR] TV gameplay work, we were limiting the amplitude of the levels too much, thus hurting the 'VR-ness' we were after. Removing the multiplayer and focusing on a solo game allowed the game designers to be much more daring and efficient with the use of VR in their levels and the final game would have not been possible had we kept this multiplayer mode." Aside from some controller gadgets and enemies which also had to be cut due to not meeting the gameplay bar, some extra interactivity involving the game's delightful soundtrack unfortunately didn't make it in either. "We prototyped having Astro hum the level’s tune along every time he was idling. While I still think it is a fun idea, the mix of music [the soundtrack] coming from a general source and a more [spatial] humming from Astro did not work out to be a pleasant enough mix. [...] All in all, it felt like more hassle than it was worth with time ticking against us." Reception & Inspiration But ultimately those chopping block decisions helped guide Astro Bot to become the critically acclaimed game that it is today, one which many have compared to genre-defining titles like Super Mario 64 (1996). I asked Doucet what he thought about such comparisons, and where the team drew inspiration for Astro Bot. "It is of course a great honour to be compared to any landmark title. Platformers are solidly anchored in the video game history to a point that they are items of pop culture," he says. "We drew inspiration from various past and present titles indeed, but one requirement reinforced upon the team was that we should never simply copy and paste. Instead, we should analyse what made a particular game fun, deconstruct its gameplay and reconstruct it with our own style. Only then could our work be judged as truly innovative, one of our key pillars." [irp posts="82076" name="'ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission' Review – This VR Platformer Earns Our First 10 Out of 10"] More from this series: Stormland – Insomniac Games Asgard's Wrath – Sanzaru Games Blood & Truth – Sony’s London Studio Lone Echo – Ready At Dawn ARKTIKA.1 – 4A Games Robo Recall – Epic Games Continued on Page 4: Bonus Art » Bonus Art A few more pieces worth seeing that we didn't have room for: [caption id="attachment_83367" align="aligncenter" width="940"] "Lost Bots situations are there to add some comedy element. It’s like watching a living diorama!" – Doucet[/caption] [caption id="attachment_83334" align="aligncenter" width="1228"] "Gadgets are always considered with several use cases." – Doucet[/caption] [caption id="attachment_83337" align="aligncenter" width="940"] "Enemies are created with a real product design approach. We treat them as real toys to reinforce their tangible nature." – Doucet[/caption] [caption id="attachment_83338" align="aligncenter" width="1061"] "Everything in Astro Bot is an excuse for characterization. Even scoreboards as imagined as living robots." – Doucet[/caption]