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Kill Screen has posted a new interview with Diablo III sound design supervisor Joseph Lawrence. The developer revealed the process of creating sound effects for the action RPG sequel, including how the sound of the first two games influenced Diablo III.

I played as Witch Doctor, so I think a lot of my favorite sounds are those really gushy explosions. How did you get those?

Well when we started this game, we all knew that we were going to need an absolutely metric ton of gushy, gooey, squishy sounds. 'Cause that kind of stuff is everywhere in the game. Over the years we’ve done numerous sessions for those—we’ve put our hands in giant vats of yogurt, glue. One particularly disgusting session that just looked horrible by the time we got done was this pile of stuff I’d been manipulating with my hands—it started off as bits of spaghetti, then I mixed in some yogurt [and] chocolate sauce; I think there were some packing peanuts. All these different liquids have a different viscosity and way they sound sticky. We used all manner of vegetables; by the time it was done there was this big pile of disgusting brown goo. There was even a New York steak at the bottom of it that I was slapping against to make splat sounds.

I can’t tell you how many trips to the grocery store I had to turn in to the accounting department when I’d bought 10 watermelons and crab legs. It’s like, “Mmm, what’s for dinner? Doesn’t really look very good!” [Laughs] The grocery store is just a playground for a sound designer. There are so many things there that make an interesting noise, and there’s no end to the combination of things you can squish together and smash.

Kill Screen: The Sounds Of Violence

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