USC
University of Southern California
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MFA Student - 3rd Year

Teddy Diefenbach (tdiefenbach)

http://www.teddydiefenbach.com


I earned my B.A. in Music & Computer Science from Columbia University, and have designed games for Microsoft Studios, Disney Online Studios, and Gameloft. Last year I was a lead on Quicksilver, a USC Advanced Game Project. In a mixture of hard work and dumb luck, my game Din was featured alongside games such as Minecraft and World of Goo in IndieGames.com's "250 Indie Games You Must Play". You can check out my work at www.TeddyDiefenbach.com I am now working on my thesis, The Moonlighters Set in an alternate-history 1950s Hollywood, The Moonlighters is a game about assembling the perfect team to pull off the perfect heist. It puts the player in control of a group of entertainers who get caught up in a mysterious world of crime and magic. In gameplay inspired by a fusion of turn-based strategy games (like Final Fantasy Tactics and Valkyria Chronicles) and heist films (like Oceans 11 and Inception) the player customizes a team, plans, and then pulls off heists as the group learn to work together. It explores ensemble casts in game fiction, and what I've termed Narrative Listening, in which the game reacts at key moments to the player's past actions in a meaningful but easily discernible way.








  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   2 days, 15 hours ago · View

    Poor Backchannel. It’s standing right here while we disregard it.

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   2 weeks, 2 days ago · View

    Michael, your Pecha Kucha last year was awesome, especially because you’re still alive.

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   3 weeks, 2 days ago · View

    Just create a card deck full of cards that reflect your various interests, nouns you like, whatever. Then use that deck for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE for all creative endeavors.

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   3 weeks, 2 days ago · View

    I feel like this card system is how Michael Bay picks his new projects… and actually that might be sort of fantastic.

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   3 weeks, 2 days ago · View

    Good recommendation, Sarah. Room of mirrors, it is!

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   3 weeks, 2 days ago · View

    How about a room that’s 100% whiteboard paint, all walls, floor, and ceiling? That would be pretty useful actually. Oh! And tables painted with whiteboard paint.

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   3 weeks, 2 days ago · View

    Graffiti room in the new Interactive building?

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   3 weeks, 2 days ago · View

    META Note: Jeff created this IMD website, so he controls all opinions here, or something.
    We can probably tag him as @jwatson if we have any questions there aren’t time for.

    Also, if he says something you disagree with, just say #bugreport ;)

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   3 weeks, 2 days ago · View

    Oh, sorry.
    IMD Seminar 1/18/2012 – Jeff Watson!

    GO! GO!

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   3 weeks, 2 days ago · View

    Next steps: SKA Reality

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month ago · View

    @swiscombe but transmedia isn’t about forcing people to go to different places to get the complete story. Each piece needs to still be rewarding and self-contained, if you ask me at least. It’s about offering them the option of going different places to explore deeper/wider.

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month ago · View

    artistic: The creators want to produce transmedia to explore their characters/world more
    business: People will be searching for content anyway. They may not be ASKING for more content of their favorite show, but if they’re on a video site just browsing and find a show they already like, you’re hooking that attention

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month ago · View

    Yea, it’s interesting, I think oftentimes the motivations are more artistic and business for the creators than it is to feed an audience hunger.

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month ago · View

    And don’t forget to wear your helmet.

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month ago · View

    Yes, you’re right. The Sound of Music: The Book is my favorite book.

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   1 month ago · View

    Star Wars, Star Trek, and The Sound of Music are my favorite films.

  • Teddy Diefenbach wrote a new blog post: Editing Time in Games   2 months, 1 week ago · View

    In his GDC 2011 talk “Dynamics: The State of the Art”, Clint Hocking ( http://www.clicknothing.com) argues that games mean through their dynamics, much in the way that film, he postulated, means through editing. This was an analogy of course, but it got me thinking about how games edit time. Though many games choose to keep time [...]

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   2 months, 3 weeks ago · View

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   2 months, 3 weeks ago · View

    Exclamation point!

  • Teddy Diefenbach posted an update in the group 511 Seminar:   3 months, 3 weeks ago · View

    I don’t know exactly. I think there’s something about being right behind someone that feels limiting to many people. Even if you’re going the same speed, they don’t like having to pay attention to your speed in front of them. They prefer the open road.

    Or maybe we’re just all competitive.

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