Teddy Dief
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Teddy Dief or Teddy Diefenbach (born in 1987) is an American videogame designer and writer. He was a creative director of Square Enix and was also part of the team that developed Heart Machine’s award-winning Hyper Light Drifter game. He was a co-founder of Glitch City and participates in charity initiatives such as Chocobowl.
Biography
Dief was born in 1987 in Illinois. He graduated from Columbia University, where he studied music, computer science, and Japanese. He later took filmmaking at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.
Dief worked for Disney as a designer and for the University of South Carolina School of Cinematic Arts as a game narrative researcher. One of the first game he developed on his own was Kyoto Wild for PC. He then started working for Heart Machine, where he was part of the team that created the RPG Hyper Light Drifter, Fitz Packerton, and other interactive works.
Dief left Heart Machine in May 2016 and started work as the creative director of Square Enix Montreal. The company is known for developing mobile games such as the Hitman and Lara Croft Go series. During this period, he was reportedly working on a game project with Fez programmer Renaud Bédard for two years. On January 29, 2018, Dief announced his resignation after Square Enix shelved the project, citing the company’s shift in business strategy. Dief stated that this development marked his return to “full-time indie development”.
Dief was the creative director of the game We Are OFK, a videogame about a virtual band released in 2022. There is no identified type for the game but it is described as an interactive series about the origin story of a real-world band called OFK. According to Dief, it is an actual music project and consists of five episodes.
Aside from his design work for several games, Dief also worked as a writer, voice actor, and musician. In We are OFK, he was the voice behind the character Luca Le Fae.
Philanthropy
Dief is involved in several gaming initiatives. He was a co-creator of Glitch City, a Los Angeles-based game makers and independent artists collective. He established it with Alex Preston, Beau Blyth, and Samurai Gunn. In 2015, he co-founded Chocobowl, a 48-hour live stream that involves game developers playing against Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs). Chocobowl has since been used as a platform to raise money for organizations such AbleGamers and The Bail Project.
Game Credits
- We are OFK (2022)
- Hyper Light Drifter (2016)
- Kyoto Wild (2014)
- Jumpkick Justice (2011)
- Shove Pro (2012)
Refences
