In each of the modules of the archetype (as in the whole Maven Alfresco SDK) properties are configurable at many levels:
Build Environment (e.g. local, test, staging, prod) can be easily switched by setting the <env> property in your POM or adding -Denv=yourEnv on the command line.
Archetype behavior can mostly be controlled directly in the POM, via common properties provided by the parent POM. See SDK properties reference for details.
To customize the behavior of your project, check out full set of the properties and plugin configurations defined in the single entry point parent POM.
One quick way to do that is to use the maven-help-plugin:effective-pom to analyze your POM at runtime.