Astro Bot Director Nicolas Doucet is adamant that the PlayStation 5 has “really brought something special” despite criticism of this generation's hardware being an incremental improvement over the previous one.
It's been five years since Sony released the PS5, but many of its exclusives have been crossovers or sequels to PS4 games. However, as Doucet explained, Astro Bot was a demonstration of the PS5's capabilities. Gaming business.
“When you compare the graphics between a PS4 game that's out of lifecycle and a PS5 game that's released early in its lifecycle, you can tell (to the untrained eye) it's hard to tell the difference,” Doucet admitted.
“But it's early [with PS5] we have prototypes of DualSense with haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. And we tried to understand what could be special about having this type of trigger so that you could simulate pulling something, or breaking something, or squashing something… We tested all of it.
“When you passed [that process]you can appreciate the changes,” he continued. “There are some jumps, but they are perhaps less obvious than when we went to HD graphics. This is something you can just look at the screen for a few seconds and understand. The controller needs to be picked up and felt.
“But I really think the PS5, between the DualSense and the SSD, really brought something special to the table. With an SSD… I'm thinking about things like Souls games where you die a lot. And when you die, you have to wait a long time before getting a second try. With an SSD this becomes very, very fast. So in terms of just enjoying the game, it really increases.”
Moreover, the Asobi team is focusing on exclusive games for PS5, even though Sony is releasing its first games on PC.
“We're really focused on PS5,” Doucet said. “We want to take full advantage of DualSense and SSD. There is always a way to cross bridges if we ever need them. But the real focus is on the PlayStation console.”
Doucet also prefers developing for consoles as it avoids incompatibility issues with different PC setups.
“It's specific hardware that's absolutely customized,” Doucet said of the PS5. “You know that what you see in your office where the game is being created is definitely what people will see in their home playing the game. This allows us to focus because you don't waste time on compatibility or rearrangements. That's why I've always liked consoles.”
Additionally, Doucet also discussed the length of Astro Bot and the benefits of designing a shorter, more focused experience.
Even though there is a “minimum scope” for a project to be considered a full game, the team didn't want to spread itself too thin.
“We use a food analogy,” Doucet explained. “When you're really hungry, if I suggest going to a buffet, you can eat whatever you want and it will sound appealing. But when you eat that food, maybe by the end you've eaten too much and almost regret it, and you don't necessarily appreciate what's left and maybe you have fond memories of it.
“And if we go where there is enough of it, you will retain a good memory and perhaps want more. The way we think about it is to not overwhelm the player so that in the end they feel full.”
Doucet's comments echoed his sentiments from GDC earlier this yearwhere he stated that “it's okay to make a small game.” “A lot of the choices we made with Astro Bot could be considered AA… like team size, game size, no voice, it's not open world, but it doesn't really matter,” he said. “We can still do something that makes people truly happy.”
What games do you think prove the PS5's success? Let us know in the comments.
