Today we’re joined by Hothtrooper44, who made popular mods such as Immersive Weapons and Immersive Armors for Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition, as well as Wasteland Sniper and Armored General for Fallout 4, to name a few.
Hey Hoth! Thanks for taking the time to speak to us today. For those who don’t know you, could you tell us a little about yourself?
Thanks for having me! I’m best known for the Skyrim mods I have created under the handle Hothtrooper44 such as Immersive Armors and Immersive Weapons. My mods have over 35 million downloads on Nexus Mods, so I hope I’ve brought a bit of joy to many players. At home I’m a husband, a father of 3, and an avid gamer. Professionally I’m an indie game developer releasing my first game, an action RPG called Far Horizon.
How did you first get into gaming?
I started with a Nintendo and a Game Boy, but my passion for gaming truly ignited with my first PC games: Warcraft II and Heroes of Might and Magic II.
Could you tell us a bit about your favourite games and is there anything you’re playing at the moment?
I love immersive RPGs like Dragon Age: Origins, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Kenshi, and The Elder Scrolls series. I’m also a fan of complex 4X games such as Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, and the Total War: Warhammer series. Recently, I’ve been diving into Valheim to explore their new Ashlands update and enjoying Diablo 4 since the Loot Reborn update made it even more engaging.
You’ve made some pretty notable mods, what drew you to modding in the first place?
I’ve always loved games and needed a creative outlet. Modding and game development perfectly combine those passions. I started modding in a few small games, but the Nexus community’s support truly propelled me to create the volume I have over the years. My early Skyrim mods were just for fun and personal use, but the positive reactions from the community motivated me to create more. This feedback loop of creating and receiving appreciation fueled my dedication, leading to the development of several large mods.
To continue on from that, what inspired you to make the mods you did?
I focused on armor because it significantly impacts the game experience. Characters are visually defined by their armor, and I felt the base game lacked variety. I aimed to expand the available options while maintaining the game’s original feel. I started creating mods for weapons, music, and more for similar reasons.
You mentioned you’ve recently released your own game, can you tell us more about it?
My game is called Far Horizon, available on Steam and the Epic Games Store. It’s an action RPG where you play as a stranded space explorer, battling a hostile robot legion and alien creatures while searching for a way home. The game features extensive character customization through perks, attributes, research, and a plethora of armor, weapons, and other loot. There’s also a strong focus on collection and crafting. I’m really proud of it and hope players enjoy it as much as I do.
⇒ Steam
⇒ Epic Games Store
What was the driving force behind making Far Horizon? What was your inspiration for it?
My brother and I wanted to create a game that we both would enjoy playing. The mix of gameplay systems in Far Horizon were inspired by several different games:
FTL: Faster Than Light: Planet-hopping and ship progression
Halo: Fluid shooter combat
No Man’s Sky: Planet exploration and procedural generation
Diablo: Tons of loot with randomized stats
Modded Minecraft: Crafting systems
Other games and movies influenced us too, including Subnautica, Fortnite: Save the World, The Outer Worlds, Star Wars, and many more.
How would you say you made the leap from modding games to creating your own?
I spent several years working at a video game publishing company and creating mods, which helped me develop the skills and knowledge necessary for game development. My brother and I have always dreamed of making games together. He’s an outstanding coder, and I’m more of the creative type, so we make a great team. As we refined our respective skill sets, we reached a point where we could finally bring our vision to life. Creating Far Horizon has turned our dream into reality.
Was there anything you found particularly challenging when creating Far Horizon?
Yes, there were significant challenges, particularly with the game engine. Far Horizon was developed on Amazon's Lumberyard, which was later abandoned and partially transitioned into the Open 3D Engine (O3DE). When this transition was announced, we were already years into development.
The engine lacked essential features such as navigation, terrain, wind, hitboxes, store integrations, and more. It also had many incomplete systems and numerous bugs, with no remaining support or staff to help. We had to create or integrate systems to address these issues and learn how to fix the engine's bugs ourselves. This challenge added nearly two years of extra work to the project.
Do you plan on supporting mods for Far Horizon? If not, would you ever consider making a game with modding support?
Modding is such an amazing tool to bring life and longevity to a game like Far Horizon. While we didn’t launch Far Horizon with modding support, it’s something we’re interested in adding. As a two-person team, we’ve had to make tough choices, and the game’s success will influence future feature additions. We’re hopeful modding will be a part of that.
Do you plan on making any more games in the future?
Absolutely. Making games is my greatest passion. For the foreseeable future, I will be continuing to develop and improve Far Horizon, so I'm not sure what the next game will be right now.
Lastly, do you have any advice for aspiring modders who dream of following in your footsteps?
If you want to make your own game, here is my advice:
- Start small.
- Make something you love and connect with.
- Find the fun first. Build your game around it.
- Estimate how long it will take. Double it. Double that.
- Creating a game isn’t enough; people need to hear about it!
- Most importantly, have fun!
Thanks again to Hothtrooper44 for coming to us about his new game, Far Horizon, and for agreeing to be part of this modder-to-developer interview. It's always so inspiring to see people take their skills and passion for modding and evolve into professional game development, it looks like an incredible game!
We'd love to hear from anyone else who started in modding and moved to game development too, so please reach out to me.
60 comments
I do have a request for your new game, will this game be coming to MacOS as well? I have both a windows gaming pc and and iMac and MacBook Pro, and it seems like it would run really well on the Metal API. Ive played both No mans Sky and Subnautica on my both of my Macs and they play flawlessly. While I do understand that Mac hasn't really forefront of gaming and most people don't use them for gaming, I have noticed a lot of developers are porting their games over to Mac and I am all for it. I absolutely love my Macs and the apple ecosystem and would love to see more games come to MacOS.
What is unfortunate are the people out there that use AI for money making, whilst claiming it is their own design from hand. AI tools for EARLY developers like Hoth here are the difference between being able to deliver initial content or NOT, if they don't have the funds necessary. These aren't big dev studios that can afford to pay real voice actors!
AI is a TOOL. This is important for people to remember going forward, it is not a 100% creative solution, but a more and more versatile tool going forward, especially in game development.
Thanks for sharing your great mods!
I am still using his "immersive weapons" mod. It's good.