Destiny 2's Strand Subclass Sound Effects Were Made With Plastic Wrap

thegamer.com:

Lightfall is coming in less than a week. Destiny 2's new expansion will bring a brand-new darkness subclass to its Guardians that's based on the metaphysical interconnectedness of all things. It's called Strand, and it'll give Hunters a new way to throw sharp objects at people, Warlocks a new way to blow people up with their minds, and Titans a new way to punch things.

Of course, it's not enough to merely create a new subclass and make it green. Bungie has entire departments dedicated to ensuring every new ability added in Lightfall will both look and sound unique. Strand will be green, which is a relatively unused color in Destiny 2 (sorry, Drifter), but Bungie also had to make sure that Strand didn't sound anything like Destiny's other subclasses.

Related: One Of These Destiny 2: Lightfall Strand Subclasses Is Not Like The Others

Bungie has a history of getting its sound effects from weird and wacky sources, but Strand provided the Destiny 2 developer with an entirely new challenge.

"A big part of Strand, looking at the concept art, that we tried to clue into was the idea of cosmic webs," said senior sound designer Paxson Helgesen in today's developer insights trailer for Lightfall. "What do cosmic webs sound like?"

The answer, according to fellow senior sound designer Juan Pablo Uribe, came from the central conceit of Strand. Ropes, strings, pulling, tension--anything that evoked these feelings or objects gave the sound team at Bungie somewhere to start. This led to a lot of leather gloves and running fingers along plastic wrap "in really weird, performative ways," said Helgesen.

"We actually start taking these sounds and combining them together and creating new things that starting to sound a little bit more