Doucet and team started rapidly prototyping gameplay concepts. The first was a small shooting range with pistols, shotguns and a variety of other weapons, which was meant to test how the adaptive triggers handled them. They also learned how the revamped haptics could make walking over a variety of surfaces feel distinct even on a handheld device, so you could tell the difference between sand, water and ice without looking at the screen. 

One demo effectively simulated the feeling of controlling a character in a motorcycle, so much so that you could feel the engine revving up and the exhaust kicking back in the controller. That test even surprised Sony’s engineers. After Team Asobi shared some of their gameplay findings, the engineers ended up tweaking some aspects of the DualSense controller's design. 

“It made them think about weight position in the controller, and does it work so you feel it well,” Doucet said.”  “Do you get that kind of trinity, of what you see, what you feel, and what you feel? Does it feel right? It helps us kind of get better.” 

While you wouldn’t know it from playing Astro’s Playroom, it’s Team Asobi’s first non-VR title. And while Sony hasn’t said anything about a new PlayStation VR for the PS5, I couldn’t help but wonder if Doucet had some ideas in mind for using the DualSense controller in virtual reality. 

“I would love if, two or three years from now, when we look back, we can say for sure that first implementation was really cool, really magical, but today we can do even better,” Doucet said. “I think that would also prove that this technology has got legs to evolve throughout the life cycle [of the PS5]. It's not one of those things that you do once and that’s it. I think we’re going to continue exploring and finding new things, and refining it in ways that maybe today we just haven’t thought of yet.”