Michael Gaworecki's Portfolio

What's in the future for Green PCs?

"Desktop computers, or PCs, are larger and consume much more energy than their smaller, more portable cousin, the laptop. But don't toss out your dream of an eco-friendly desktop workstation just yet!"

NEVs on the Urban Street Scene

"Neighborhood electric vehicles—more commonly called NEVs and sometimes referred to as Low-Speed Vehicles (or LSVs)—are an economical and environmentally responsible alternative to driving a gas-guzzling combustion engine-equipped car on short trips around town or daily commutes to work."

Taking Steps Towards Greener Fitness

"In addition to diet, consistent exercise is another major part of a healthy lifestyle. By making a few smart decisions, you can adjust your fitness routine to have an impact on how green you’re living. Here’s a handful of suggestions..."

Green Gyms

"If gardening as a form of physical activity appeals to you or if you’re just looking for a way to connect more with the earth on a personal level, consider joining a Green Gym — or, if you live in the U.S., be the first person on your block to start one!"

Greener Pool Cleaners

"If you’re building or remodeling a pool at your home, or if you just want the facts so you can speak with the people in charge of your gym or community pool, here is the dirt on the latest in people- and earth-friendly aquatic fitness technologies."

Freelance Game Reviews and News

2008-02-12T12:01:00.000-08:00

I wrote the following review for Gamehelper.com:

Sam & Max: Season 2

"The game’s bizarre, absurdist humor is well-written, and ultimately that’s what really sells this game."

I also covered the San Francisco Game Developer's Conference 2008 for Gamehelper as a freelance blogger. Here are direct links to my posts:

Force feedback game controllers

John Debney on game score composing

The Future of MMOs: A GDC panel discussion

The future through a futurist's eyes

The ZCam and (shadow)boxing

The iPhone and the future of mobile gaming

Freelance Blog from Macworld 2008

2008-01-14T17:16:00.001-08:00

Direct links to my posts:

Green Tech at the Expo

More Mac Games at the Expo, part 3

One last Best of the Booths

More Mac Games at the Expo, part 2

The Washington Post and the news on the net

More Mac Games at the Expo, part 1

Thursday's Best of the Booths rundown

David Pogue at the O'Reilly Media booth

A few digital photography tips

How to keep your Mac running smooth

My second day on the show floor

The Mac-powered digital studio

Mac Games at the Expo

Hoo boy: The first day on the show floor

The MacBook Air's environmental progress report

Keynote announcements

First-night parties and late-night campers

Hopes and predictions

The day has finally arrived

From Concept to Reality: Rebuilding Rome

2007-10-16T16:54:00.000-07:00

The following is an excerpt from an article that originally appeared in the Feb/Mar 2007 issue of Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine:

The old proverb is most certainly true: Rome was not built in a day. It took more than a millennia to evolve from a fledgling city-state to the seat of a vast empire and finally become the regal Italian capital that exists today. Perpetual's design team may have spent a fraction of that time in designing their digital replica of the fabled city for Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, but it was still quite the monumental task. In fact, it was such a multifaceted and demanding job that, after building the city once, the design team completely scrapped it and started over.

"What we tried to do when we built Rome was make it one of the most interesting cities we've seen in an MMO, period," says John Mundy, lead level designer for Gods & Heroes. While the in-game Rome is modeled after the real-life city, the final product carefully balanced historical accuracy with the specific needs of the player. The Rome that appears in the game is an exceptionally large, intricate, and -- above all -- fun city.

Used with permission by Beckett

25th Century Trek

2007-10-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

The following article originally appeared in the Jul/Aug 2007 issue of Star Trek Magazine:

Perpetual Entertainment's Michael T. Gaworecki explains the thinking behind the new designs created for Star Trek Online...

Star Trek Online™ (STO) is an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online game) being developed by San Francisco-based Perpetual Entertainment. It is currently scheduled for release in late 2008.

Set 20 years after Star Trek Nemesis, STO takes a fresh and creative approach to everything Trek. The conceptualization process for the game's artwork is focused on two things: creating designs that will fit seamlessly into the Star Trek canon, and, perhaps even more importantly, creating a game that is fun and exciting enough to bear the name of Star Trek.

The STO team takes more license with some aspects of Star Trek than with others, but they only ever change something that they feel they can enhance or elaborate upon. The worlds of the Star Trek universe, they feel, are ripe for such elaboration.

Before lead concept artist Ryan Dening could create a painting of Starfleet Academy and Headquarters, STO art director Greg Faillace and concept artist Robert Brown designed a distinct visual style that has a heavily-armored feel to it, which ties it in with the Starfleet ship designs the team had already created. They stayed true to what they feel Starfleet architecture should look like, but they also made sure it was a place that would be fun to walk around and explore.

Dening's painting of Starfleet's HQ captures these design objectives perfectly: it is suitably grand in scale, while also representing a dynamic portrayal of 25th century Starfleet architecture.

Image © 2007 Perpetual Entertainment Inc., All Rights Reserved

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising marketing site text

2007-10-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising brings the bold and dramatic world of ancient mythology alive online. As Rome grows into a dynamic Republic, enemies arise from neighboring lands such as Greece and Gaul to challenge her dominance, while tribes like the Samnites and the Faliscans put up fierce resistance to assimilation into the Republic. However, none of them compare to the threat of the ancient Telchine gods, who were once banished from the world by the mighty Olympians. Thirsting for vengeance, the Telchines have returned to stake a claim on the newfound wealth of the rising Roman civilization.

Embark on a heroic journey to save Rome and the Olympians. Command the very powers of the Gods. Lead your own custom squad of warriors. Only a true Hero, properly aligned with the gods, can save Rome. Are you up to the task?

Choose Your Hero: Begin your adventure by choosing one of six character classes: Gladiator, Mystic, Nomad, Priest, Scout, or Soldier.
Extreme Customization: Customize your character’s appearance and abilities, and create squads from over 100 available minions.
Wield God Powers: Offer your loyalty to one of 12 Olympians and they will grant you powers greater than any mortal has ever known.

From Concept to Reality: Voltae

2007-10-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

This article originally appeared in the June 2007 Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising e-newsletter:

Tribes of Voltae are scattered throughout the Roman Republic in Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, but these ferocious creatures are more than capable of discouraging humans from poking around their tribal fires. Thus, no one has gotten close enough to the Voltae to add to the knowledge gleaned from faded paintings and half-remembered tales of lore. Only one thing is certain: Despite their brutish aspects -- their vicious jaws and razor-sharp claws, their inhuman agility and speed -- the Voltae also have the wits and cunning of a man, which makes them especially dangerous, indeed.

The Voltae do not appear frequently in classical mythology. Not much is known about them aside from an ancient Volscian tale of a monster that is half wolf and half man, and depictions in Etruscan art of a demonic entity with a wolf's head. While the "wolfman" archetype is a common fantasy element, it is somewhat unexpected in a mythological setting, which gave the art team for Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising (G&H) a chance to really flex their creative muscles and build the Voltae up into a truly unique and intriguing character.

The original concept for the G&H Volta called only for a melee warrior, although it did come in a couple different variants, each wearing some very basic clothing and armor. "The first concept was savage and rugged looking, an upright wolf with Greek equipment," says Mike Hines, art director for G&H. Right from the beginning, the Voltae had some of the best animations in the game, like the one where they throw their heads back and howl at the heavens with their massive, powerful arms outspread as if ready to crush anyone foolish enough to get too close.

This concept hit on the key objectives of creating a big, mean wolfman with a look that did not draw too heavily on the standard fantasy archetype, but it was ultimately decided that this Volta wasn't big and mean enough, and that the character itself had a lot of unexplored potential. Hines explains that the G&H team wanted to make the Volta so detailed and intricate that the creature seemed as if it could have really existed. "With the redesign," Hines says, "we gave them more of their own culture, to make them feel really distinctive."

One of the first things the G&H team did to create the sense of a vibrant Voltae culture was to create a full complement of variants. A mystic, a shaman, and a ranged fighter were added to the melee warrior to give the sense that this was a living, breathing tribe and not just some random monster wandering the Republic's territories. New set decks were created featuring tents, banners, and other items designed to resonate with the themes of ancient mythology and history already present in the game. This enhanced the authentic feel of the Voltae culture even more, and created the perfect environment for the Voltae, who were themselves redesigned quite a bit.

Many influences went into the new visual style that was created for the Voltae. Sources ranging from ancient cultures of the Italian peninsula like the Samnites and the Scythians to the Skeksis in Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal contributed to the more ornamental, ceremonial garb of the Voltae. They were given much more colorful clothing to cover their furry bodies, and things like bones and teeth were added to their accoutrement, especially to the mystic and shaman classes, to really give them a tribal flair. They were also made much bigger and more imposing physically. Says Hines, "It's amazing how big you have to make things in the game compared to the character before they really feel threatening." New models and textures of much higher quality were made, and the new and improved Volta was ready to do battle.

Hines could not be more excited about the way the Voltae have come out, as is evident when he talks about his favorite animation: "The melee Volta has an animation where he knocks the player down and does a backstab on them while they're on the ground, then pulls the sword back out and does this crazy howling scream. The motion is really dramatic because he rears up really big. It's really vicious looking and at the same time it just feels really cool."

© 2007 Perpetual Entertainment Inc., All Rights Reserved

Guest Editorship for WireTapMag.org, a daughter publication of Alternet.org

2007-10-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

I served as a guest editor for WireTapMag.org. I solicited, selected, edited, and published a series of articles on the music that had inspired youth and student activists from across the progressive movement.

Read "Music + Activism: An Editorial," in which I explain the focus of the project.

Clips from WireTapMag.org, a daughter publication of Alternet.org

2007-10-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

"From the Campus to the Commons"

The national, student-based Free Culture movement is built around protecting the "digital commons," or the potentially vast world of art and culture that belongs to everyone and can be owned by no one. Never heard of it? That's exactly what they're trying to change.

"Listening to the Right Voice"

In the name of protecting free speech, right wing college publications are on the rise -- with help from national foundations.

"A Sustainable Movement"

Many college campuses are leading the way toward a more sustainable society -- by rethinking their own infrastructures.