2009's National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is running next month. It is basically a competition where the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in November. (For reference, 50,000 words is approximately the length of the brilliant Brave New World and the awful Catcher in the Rye).

To be a 'winner' of the competition, all you have to do is reach the 50,000 word target (About 1,666 words per day). Also the definition of what counts as a novel is very loose, for example fan fiction is also accepted.

I basically haven't written any original fiction since High School, and the only novels I can remember reading this year would be the first Dexter book and the novelisation of the Judge Dredd film (Don't ask) so I'm not exactly the most qualified person to enter the competition.

However Kirsty intends to write a story for the competition, and so I have decided to support her by a little wager - We have to pay the other person $1 for every 1,000 words they have written during the competition, up to a maximum of $50.

My number one priority for next month, other then my full time job will still be my mysterious Drupal project, so the odds aren't exactly in my favour. However I'll give it my best shot, I plan to do a story based on a game idea I have. Stay tuned!

Recently I talked to a couple of fellow programmers who mentioned that they were having difficulty getting traction on their game projects going for one reason - They're not artists.

I'm not either, but I have a few simple shortcuts that you may find helpful.

1. What you lack in artistic ability, make up for in programming ability.

In other words, instead of creating meshes in a 3D modeller, write an algorithm to create it.

For instance, in an experimental space shooter I was working on, I wanted to create a long twisted cylinder object (Approximately the shape of a gun barrel). While almost any 3D artist could make this in a few minutes, I found it much easier to write out the shape in code - and by generating it in the code I could deform it any way I wished at will.

Also, all of the wall, door and window meshes in Derelict are generated in real time by the engine.

2. Consistency is more important then quality.

As an indie game designer, you're not expected to produce earth-shatteringly fantastic graphics or audio. Simply having media that fits together and with the game is sufficient.

I think there is no better example then the widely loved games by Cactus. Everything in them is highly bizarre - the storylines, the gameplay, the art, and the audio - yet it all works because everything gels together.

If you're wanting to attempt pixel art, pick a small number of colours that you like (Low saturation is better) and make sure all of the art in the game uses only those colours.

3. Investigate purchasing model packs for 3D games.

There is a lot of free 3D art out there on the Internet, but attempting to collect enough to make a game can be a chore. The models that you find will have varying quality (some of it too high Polygon for games) formats and scales.

By contrast, model pack such as the DarkMatter ones offer sets of characters, vehicles and objects that are consistent in format, quality and scale.

4. Assemble a toolkit

Find tools that work for you. A good place to start looking is the BlitzBasic website, it offers links to tools for almost everything you could wish to create.

I use a lot of tools for creating my games, such as the Retro Sound Effects Generator for creating Atari 2600 type sound effects, Exgen for creating particle effects, Tattoo for painting directly on to 3D surfaces, Milkshape for creating and editing basic 3D meshes, Cartography shop for creating basic levels and furniture, and Audacity for basic audio engineering.

5. Look around for tutorials

Okay, so that was probably pretty obvious. But there are great tutorials out there for doing almost anything, like Derek Yu's tutorial on pixel art.  And even if you don't have the time or patience to actually do them, just having a read through them is very worthwhile.

Also, as I have mentioned repeatedly on my blog, Cactus's GDC presentation has some must-see advice on creating abstract art for games.

6. Practice and experiment

Just give it a go! What's the worst that could happen?

Prior to making Heart of Ice, I had no prior experience with creating animated human characters with pixelart, and certainly not within the tight time limit of the Game Jam. I struggled a bit at first, but then after playing around for a bit I found approximating human shapes with circles to start with, and then filling out the details worked well for me.

7. Ask for help on forums

Another one that seems obvious, but there are web communities for almost every artistic endeavour, so don't be afraid to join these communities and ask.

Example, Commander Stab (My partner in crime on the aborted Traffic Department 2192 project) managed to get some high quality speech samples for the game from a Voice acting forum. It's a shame that it fell through in the end. Also, very late in the development of Derelict, I got some fantastic furniture models from someone I met through the BlitzBasic forums (and, some music was volunteered for the project after I had posted about the game on the System Shock 2 forums).

8. Trade talent

For every Programmer who can't draw, there is an Artist who can't code. See if you can negotiate a deal to swap code for art assets.

Unfortunately I don't really have an example to share yet, but I am maintaining contact with someone who I may swap code for art with soon.

9. Get commissions

Sometimes, the best thing to do is just pay someone to make stuff for you. Most of the sound effects and some of the music in Derelict I bought, which saved me a lot of time and effort in the long run. Also, I tend to have mixed success with getting volunteer work, but paid work has consistently been high quality and on time. If you're after anime style art, there seem to be a lot of people on Deviantart who offer to do commissions for ridiculously low prices.

Commissions can be a two way thing as well - a coding project I did early in the year more or less covered the cost of buying sound and music for Derelict.

Special thanks to everyone who has commented on this post.

I'm not ashamed to admit it - Rise of the Triad is one of my favourite ever first person shooters. Why? Because it features:

• Unrivalled body count
• Horrific over-the-top violence (Body parts literally flying across the screen)
• Machine guns and pistols with limited ammo
• Creative weapons (Baseball bat that shoots explosive Baseballs)
• Interesting powerups (Magic mushrooms, and the one that turns you into a dog)
• Photorealistic sprites (The enemies in the game are made from actual photographs)
• Unique bosses (Robot with Texas licence plate)
• Cool Score bonuses (Such as the Republican bonus for taking all rocket launchers and destroying all vegetation, and the Democrat bonus for avoiding handguns and eating all of the Magic Mushrooms)
• Multiple playable characters with different traits
• Enemies that beg for their life
• Moving platforms and springs
• Deadly spinning blades, poisonous gas and crushing walls
• A cool sketch if you manage to find a fatal bug
   

Unfortunately, it didn't sell very well, because it had one fatal flaw - all of the walls are at Right angles. Apparently this was a big no-no for any game released after Doom. It's a pity because otherwise I found it to be a very worthy rival to Doom, and thought of it as being the second best Shareware FPS right until Duke Nukem 3D came out.

So, imagine my glee when the Escapist reported when Rise of the Triad is getting a reboot. I don't think there's any further information yet, but no doubt I'll be posting it here when I hear something.