24 December 2007: A Month of Cancer
No easy way to put this. I've been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, Level IVb; meaning it has already spread extensively to the liver. I've started a blog to keep people posted on my treatment, as well as my plans and other good things. Also, friends have created a 'erickwujcik.com' website, welcoming comments from friends and fellow role-players. Please check out the links:
My new blog with all the latest on my life and progress.
A website put up by my friends, wherein good wishes have been posted.
1 October 2007: Photographs of Fu Xing Lu! Oddly enough, I found a set of three photographs of our Fu Xing Lu Apartment in Shanghai. Very nice!
24 August 2007: Visiting Asia!
From August 24th to September 10th, I'll be off visiting in Asia. First to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in Shanghai, where I'll be giving a talk. Then, on August 30th, to Yokohama, Japan, to attend the Nippon2007 World Science Fiction Convention. Finally, from September 3rd to the 9th, I'll be in Hong Kong, for a family visit, and to do some teaching at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Here are some relevant links:
GDC Shanghai Main Page.
My profile for GDC Shanghai.
My talk at GDC Shanghai.
Nippon2007 World Science Fiction Convention.
20 August 2007: Hobby Games: The 100 Best!
You'll find my latest modest publication, an enthusiastic review of Steve Jackson's wonderful boardgame, OGRE, as well as a review of Amber Diceless Role-Playing in this recently released book on the best hobby games of the last fifty years. Cool to be in the company of 100+ terrific game designers!
30 April 2007: Visit to McKinney Elementary School, Detroit, Michigan!
While visiting Detroit for the Palladium Books Open House, I paid a visit to the 5th and 6th grade students as McKinney Elementary, the very first school I attended as a child. Click on the image for pictures and a lot more information.
31 January 2007: Moved to San Rafael, California! I've taken a new job, with Totally Games, and relocated from Shanghai, China, to California, back in the U.S.A. I've been busy getting up to speed in the new job (Senior Game Designer / Writer), as well as getting everything together for life back in car-crazy America. Here are some links to interviews with my new boss, Larry Holland:
www.gamingexcellence.com
"...we're having Erick focus on the future, and spearhead our R&D efforts with the creation of innovative ideas for new projects. It's a great opportunity for Erick to flex his design muscles and to utilize his depth and breadth in RPG and games in general to help us both build on our recent new directions as well as branch out into other areas."
gamasutra.com
"...we expect him to allow us to expand our game design consulting services, both domestically and abroad where the technical capabilities are strong but game design expertise is more wanting."
December 2006: I've got my new gig! I'm the new Senior Game Designer / Writer for Totally Games!
5-10 November 2006: Santa Monica & Los Angeles
Hello, L.A.!
I'm being brought in for a job interview from Shanghai to Santa Monica, California. Hopefully I'll also meet up with family, friends and fellow role-players. Travel Page.
22 September 2006: Visiting the U.S.A.
From September 23rd to October 7th I'll be visiting back in the U.S.A. First Chicago, then Detroit, with the possibility of a jaunt out to the West Coast, and then back to home to Shanghai.
05 August 2006: The Corp! Would you like to see the Ubisoft Shanghai offices where I work here in Shanghai? Our cinematics head, Jean-Michel Tari, made a short film for a contest here in Shanghai, and in our building/offices, and all with my co-workers as actors. Pretty entertaining, and it won! Click below to watch the film on-line:
The Corp on youtube.com
01 August 2006: Guardians of Order Closing Shop. Unfortunately, my creation, Amber Diceless Role-Playing, will not be published by Mark MacKinnon or Guardians of Order. Hopefully I'll have more news in the next couple of weeks. Feel free to keep up with the latest at the following website: Phage Press
13 April 2006: Upcoming Trip to Hong Kong! I'll be making a short trip to Hong Kong, and while I'm there I'll be giving a seminar at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Click below for details.
Schedule for Hong Kong Trip.
5 April 2006: New Photographs! I had the opportunity to visit one of the most scenic areas in all of China. See the link below to thirty-some pictures, taken with my camera's 'sepia' option.
Sepia Photographs of my trip to Guilin, etc.
20 February 2006: President's Day.
"The government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes."
- President Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933)
25 November 2005: Saturday Afternoon Walk in Shanghai. I'm calling this series 84 Views of Jian Guo Xi Lu since all the photographs were taken in a leisurely walk out for lunch. I'll do some editing and add commentary over the next few days. Enjoy!:
84 Views of Jian Guo Xi Lu.
5 September 2005: August in Shanghai. Finally got around to uploading some of the pictures from my summer walks in Shanghai:
August Walks in Shanghai.
29 May 2005: Will Wright's Spore. In the aftermath of the March 2005 Game Developers Conference, it has become clear that the most significant event, by a couple of orders of magnitude, was Will Wright's talk, 'The Future of Content.' Those who attended were divided among the lucky few who had been present, and the vast majority who had to bitterly reflect on missing it. Finally, finally, the embargo has been lifted, and it's possible for everyone to watch a video recording on-line. You'll have to register, but it's free and very worthwhile:
Will Wright's talk on gamasutra.com.
direct to the video page.
"As we were working on this game... You know a lot of the games I've worked on I've always hit obstacles, usually trying to convince other people that it�s a good idea, or be sellable or whatever?When I look back on this idea, the biggest obstacle I truly had was making my self believe that we could build the game. My biggest obstacle was my own imagination; was the biggest bottleneck. Once I truly believed that this game was build able it proved to be quite easy to con?to persuade?the rest of my staff and the executives and everything that we could do it. So I�d encourage all of you, if you've got some totally weird idea that is just so far outside the box that �there�s just no way that would work,?go back occasionally and revisit those ideas, because you just never know where they might lead to?quot;
-- Will Wright, March 2005
9 May 2005: New Shanghai Photographs. I took a few pictures in the early morning, along my usual route to work:
Shanghai Walk to Work.
5 May 2005: Blog Appearances. I came across a blog search tool, and discovered that the two role-playing events I ran in San Francisco, in the aftermath of the 2005 GDC, have shown up on-line. I'll indulge you with a complete quote from the first, and leave you to check out the second one at your leasure:
"...pretty much exactly the stage on which I played the game with Erick Wujcik a month ago, except smaller. Did I mention that? Hm. He came to the Bay Area for the Game Developer's Conference, and Saturday before my immensely successful party (I didn't mention that either, eh? Huh) ran a sort of modern weird-stuff-is-happening game set entirely in a old Victorian house/commune in Berkeley. Ending I found hilarious: we were all given what amounted to the power to rewrite reality on a whim. It is not right that we should have this vast power, we decided, we who were just normal granola-eating barely-psychics before. We determined to take the power given to us and divide it amongst all living things, so they could call on low-level psychic abilites like we had, in times of need. "It's like we're taking a pat of butter and spreading it out all over the toast," we said convincingly to those considering keeping the power for just us.
"Only it turned out it was an infinite pat of butter. Oh, I'm still giggling."
Madeline the Edifying's Blog.
"...the geekiest RPG I have ever played!"
Marleigh's GDC Post-Mortem Blog.
4 April 2005: SGDA Links: Having delivered the talk, I've posted some of the links on the following webpage::
SGDA Links.
SGDA Event Blog & Pictures.
29 March 2005: Speaking in Shanghai: I'll be giving a talk to a local, Shanghai, game developers group, this Sunday, April 3rd, 2005, along with a couple of game industry notables:
Shanghai Game Developers Association.
26 March 2005: E3 in Los Angeles: Check over on my travel page for my latest plans to hit the world's biggest electronic game show this May:
Conventions & Travel.
25 March 2005: Amberzine #12: The Last Amberzine, all 512 pages of it, has finally been delivered to the printer! Congratulations to Michael Kucharski, Pierre-Alexandre Sicart and all the contributors! More information, including the table of contents, and ordering information, will be available over on the Phage Press website.
21 March 2005: GDC Summary. No doubt, I had a terrific time in San Francisco, enjoying my very first GDC, meeting scores of old and new friends, with plenty of business, pleasure and good food, and ending with three opportunities to role-play. Still, years from now, the thing that was burned into my brain was attending the 'Future of Content' talk by industry legend Will Wright. In 60 minutes Will opened a door into future, dazzling one and all with the possibilities of some really cool far futuristic gameplay. Except that it wasn't ten, or even five years in the future. He showed us what he's been working on for the last few years, and what will be released on an unsuspecting world in a scant few months. Rather than type of my mad ravings, I recommend everyone click on the two links below:
1. Gamasutra piece.
2. Game Spy.
11 March 2005
SoccerRef at GDC, San Francisco! Here's a picture of the Student Showcase at GDC. In the picture, from left to right, are Wai Wai, Rik, yours truly, Joe Williams, and Bryan. I was their initial advisor, starting in October of 2002, and then Joe Williams took over my Hong Kong teaching gig, as well as the advisor role, when I left in October of 2003.
7 March 2005: Bound for San Francisco! I'll be off in San Francisco for the next week, attending the big 'Game Developers Conference.' While I'm there, you can get in touch at the Red Storm/Ubisoft Booth (#247). Also, there's a nice profile on "Soccer Ref" on gamasutra:
Student Showcase Finalists Preview.
24 January 2005: 2005 IGF Student Showcase Winners!! "Soccer Ref" has been selected as one of the ten finalists to be represented at the upcoming IGF Student Showcase, the world's most important contest for independent and student games. My three Hong Kong Polytechnic University students, Chi-Hang Fong (Rik, who is listed as Alan in the credits), Chung-Wai Li (Wai Wai), and Wai-Cung Lim (Bryan), previously won the top game award in the 'Open' Catagory of the Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Excellence Awards (see 3May04, below). Congratulations to Bryan, Rik, and Wai Wai!
1. The Seventh Annual Independent Games Festival. March 9-11, 2005, San Francisco, California, as part of the 2005 Game Developer's Conference.
2. Soccer Ref. The student's website, with information on the game.
5 December 2004: The Future of Gaming... 1993! I came across an old piece of mine, originally published over ten years ago, and thought it might be of interest to folks today. You can look at my section, on this site, by clicking on #1. Or check out the original, with all the contributors, by clicking on #2.
1. Future of Gaming: 1993.
2. Link to www.sjgames.com.
1 December 2004: On-Line Interview! Sorry, I've been so busy I forgot to post this! Interviews with myself and five of my co-workers here at Ubisoft Shanghai, discussing life in China:
1. Working in Shanghai: Interviews with six Ubisoft employees.
2. Direct link to Erick Wujcik interview.
28 November 2004: New photographs of Shanghai! Go check out my redesigned photography webpage::
Shanghai Photos.
31 October 2004: New review of Rifts China Two: Heroes of the Celestial Court! Rated even higher than China One, here's the link:
www.timewastersguide.com, October 4th, 2004 by Fellfrosch.
17 October 2004: Visit to a Taoist Temple. Saturday morning I paid a visit to the Taoist Temple, just down the street from where I've been staying in Pudong. Ever since I moved into the neighborhood I've admired the building from the outside, but this was the first chance I had to see things from inside the wall. There were at least two ceremonies taking place, and an enormous pile of offerings was outside one of the two main temple shrines, as well as quite a bit placed on the tables in the half dozen lesser shrines. As is the case with most Chinese ceremonies, pictures alone can't do the experience justice... aside from the visuals, there was also the continous chanting of the priests in their yellow silk gowns, accompanied by a variety of instruments, gongs and bells, and the continuous smells of burning incense along with burning foil paper offerings.
Street Calligraphy Photographs from Shanghai, October 2004.
11 October 2004: More Shanghai Pictures. The other night I was walking by the Jing An Temple and came across a group of street calligraphers -- using oversized brushes to inscribe Chinese Characters on the pavement. Some students, some teachers, an artist or two, and the incredible Mr. Lo, who dazzled me by doing two huge blocks of script in the few minutes I was watching. Turns out they assemble at the same spot every night, and that their creations never last more than a few hours. Check out the pictures...
Street Calligraphy Photographs from Shanghai, October 2004.
Three more Shanghai Photographs, October 2004.
20 September 2004: New Shanghai Pictures. Five snapshots from my new life in Shanghai..
Five Photographs from Shanghai, September 2004.
A write-up of a Sunday morning walk in Shanghai, September 2004.
5 September 2004: Shanghai! I'm finally back in China, and looking forward to finding a new place to live in the next few days.
5 August 2004: Video Clips Restored: Fielding one of life's little curve balls, I ended up as a Media Interviewer a couple of times back in Hong Kong:
Eric Todd Interview: Touching People's Lives.
Sheree Tsao Interview: Targeting Female Gamers.
1 August 2004: On-Line Interview Posted: My favorite on-line role-playing game magazine, Place to Go, People to Be, has posted an interview with yours truly, conducted by Ace RPG reviewer Steve Darlington. Check it out:
Talking Roleplaying and Computing Careers with Erick Wujcik.
30 July 2004: Rifts China 2: Heroes of the Celestial Court is at the printer! My latest book, which involved some of the biggest game design challenges I've ever faced, especially the construction of the Rifts-era (300+ years in the future) Martial Art Powers. Check out the cover and the blurb:
Rifts China 1 at Palladium Books.
3 July 2004: Paul Moth Returns to the CBC! Friends will know that one of my favorite things of all time is the CBC Radio Comedy, "The Great Eastern," sadly removed from the airwaves a few years ago. The exciting news is that the BCN's one and only Paul Moth, is back. Check out the 'Links' page for more details:
47rpg.com Links.
On-Line Archive of "The Great Eastern."
2 July 2004: Final Sale for Amber Diceless! The transfer of all Amber Diceless assets from Phage Press to Guardians of Order is picking up steam. July 12th is the last day for t-shirt sales, and all on-line sales of Amber Diceless & Shadow Knight, as well as Amberzine will end July 31st (or, possibly, earlier!). Show now, or forever hold your peace.:
Phage Press Website.
27 June 2004: New Review on rpg.net! Olivier Legrand has been kind enough to review both my Amber Diceless and Shadow Knight over on www.rpg.net. Be sure to check out the responses and comments at the bottom of each of the review webpages:
Amber Diceless Review.
Shadow Knight Review.
8 June 2004: I'm taking off to Asia! Yup, starting Monday, June 14th, I'm off on a whirlwind tour that'll take me to Narita, Japan, then Hong Kong, and then Shanghai until June 22nd. For more details, check out my 'Travel' page: Travel.
29 May 2004: Asian On-Line Game Market Climbs. Check out the latest reports on the Asian game situation over on my Game News Page.
22 May 2004: Rave Reviews of Rifts China 1: The Yama Kings! A couple of excellent reviews of my latest book have recently been posted on the web, with comments like "compulsively readable" and "Ancient demons committing industrial espionage is one of the reasons we love Rifts, and China One doesn't disappoint." Check 'em out:
www.gamingreport.com, May 12th, 2004 review by Butch Curry.
www.timewastersguide.com, February 19th, 2004 by Fellfrosch.
22 May 2004: A Hong Kong Experience. Back in the autumn of 2002 I was just exploring Hong Kong, and this is one of the write-ups I sent home... Midnight Walk in Hong Kong.
21 May 2004: Big Boyz Page Added. Interested in the sales numbers being racked up in the electronic game biz? Check out my latest webpage... Big Boyz of the Game Biz.
3 May 2004: diceless.com goes live. It's just a couple of links for now, but I plan on expanding the new diceless.com to include several features on diceless role-playing. A bit of history: Back in 1991 I created Phage Press, and published the very first diceless role-playing game. Back then it was quite radical, doing away with dice, but it has spawned a nice little sub-industry. Diceless Role-Playing Website.
30 April 2004: HKDEA Award. I'm delighted to report that three of my students, Mr Chi-Hang Fong (Alan), Mr Chung-Wai Li (Wai Wai), and Mr.Wai-Cung Lim (Bryan), have won the best game award in the 'Open' Catagory of the Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Excellence Awards, for their Soccer Ref game. These were three of my best students at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and I'm so happy that they choose me as their graduate advisor, back in October of 2002. Congratulations Alan, Wai Wai and Bryan! Winner of 'Best Computer/TV Entertainment Software.'
28 April 2004: Travel Page Added. Here are my plans for California in May, Ohio in June, Finland in July and Indiana in August. Check it out: Conventions & Travel.
22 April 2004: Seminars Page Added. I've finally posted a list of my seminars and lectures, divided into lists for Game Industry Topics, Academic Topics, and Role-Playing Topics. Here's the link: Seminars & Lectures.
25 March 2004: Signed Letter of Intent. After nearly 15 years of self-publishing my creation, Amber Diceless Role-Playing, I'm making a deal with Mark MacKinnon (owner of Guardians of Order Incorporated) to transfer all publishing operations. For more information, and some interesting links, check out the Phage Press website.
6 January 2004: On-Line Gaming breaks the $1 Billion mark. ...and my latest freelance writing gig. Here the link to my latest news: Click Here.
15 October 2003: Appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor of Game Design. In recognition of my service as Visiting Lecturer in Game Design 2002/03, Hong Kong Polytechnic University has seen fit to award me the honorary title of Adjunct Assistnt Professor for the next three years. 'Adjunct' means I won't be on-site, but I do continue to interact with my peers back at the Multimedia Innovation Centre. Check out my Staff Bio.
24 August 2003: Hey! I just got published for the first time on the World Wide Web!It's a fun little piece on dice and diceless systems in paper role-playing games, put up by the guys at Forge: Click to see my article..
11 August 2003: CNN! Ciao! Baby! There's video of me all over the place! Here's the link: Click for my 4.39 minutes of fame.15 June 2003: Bit by bit I'm going to put up a bunch of photographs from Hong Kong: Start Here.
Photograph: Alleyway in Kowloon ©2003 Erick Wujcik