MFA Candidate, Teddy Diefenbach, at USC School of Cinematic Arts is looking to collaborate with Parsons Illustration students on The Moonlighters, a videogame being developed as part of an Interactive Media Masters thesis at the University of Southern California. They would like to find an Art Director, Artist, and Animator to work with to create the visuals for the game. Please see Teddy’s note below and respond to him if interested!

|| About 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.

|| Art of The Moonlighters ||

The world of The Moonlighters puts mystical twist on the glamour of 1950s Hollywood, taking influence from the pop culture of the period, illusionists from the first half of the century, and with touches of Asian fantasy and lore. While we have much of the world and story developed, the visual style of the game is still a blank slate. We are looking to partner with artists who are passionate about developing the look of the world and the characters who give it life.

|| Who We Need ||

We want to give you, as an equal collaborator, the creative freedom to use your talent and instincts to bring the visuals to life. We are prepared to provide as much creative direction as you need to partner with the designers, writer, and musician, and then stay out of your way to do what you do best! As we are still a student team, this is an unpaid project, but any team members would be invited to join the studio professionally should we find a publisher in the Spring.

We are looking for 2-3 artists to join our small and passionate team, and need the following talents:

* 2D Environment and Prop Art

* 2D or 3D Character Art

* 2D or 3D Character Animation

* Particles and Other Visual Effects

* User Interface Design

If you are interested, please email an introduction and portfolio link to Teddy, the Lead Game Designer, at teddy.diefenbach@gmail.com

Please feel free to include any questions you have about the project. From there, we can setup a phone call or in-person meeting to discuss further!

FURTHER INFORMATION:

|| About the Lead Game Designer ||

Teddy Diefenbach is a 3rd-year Masters student in the Interactive Media Division. He 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 he was a lead on Quicksilver, a USC Advanced Game Project. In a mixture of hard work and dumb luck, his 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 his work at www.TeddyDiefenbach.com

|| About the USC Interactive Media Division (IMD) ||

The IMD was founded in 2002, and has been named the best games program in the country by the Princeton Review for the 2 years since the category was created. Every MFA student in the IMD creates a thesis during his or her final year, working with a team to build a game or other interactive media work. IMD Masters theses have gone on to be selected for the Independent Games Festival, and have gone on to be published on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Some notable of these are fl0w, The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, and The Unfinished Swan.