/vr/ - Retro Games

"Then I mostly search for photos on the Internet," he explains. "Like for example when I have a texture of a concrete wall, I search on Google for 'concrete wall' and I import that photo into Photoshop and do all kinds of tricks with the layer style. I mostly blend some parts of the original texture with the detail of the photo. And that's a really nice way to keep the look of the original texture."

Sometimes the whole process will take just 15 minutes, but it really depends on the texture. "There was one texture from Parisian Backstreets where there were all kind of buildings in the distance on one texture map," Smolders explains. "So there's like, I don't know, maybe 50 textures on one texture map. I really don't want to know how much time I spent on that."

Smolders' motivation comes from a place of love - "it's the best game of the classics, with a great story and absolutely amazing atmosphere" - but also of frustration. As much as he loves AoD, and modding in general (he also mods the Elder Scrolls games), some things he sees nag at him. He wishes they were different. "I think if they just did that it would make the game so much better," he admits. "So I try to improve those things."