Starting an Indie Studio, Getting a Publisher, and Shipping the RPG Indie Hit Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson with Jeff Linville, Ritual Studios

In this episode, Jeff Linville — co-founder of Ritual Studios — returns to Game Dev Advice to talk about the journey behind his band-inspired RPG Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson. From starting a studio with college friends to launching worldwide with French publisher Playdigious, Jeff shares the hard-won lessons of taking the leap into full-time indie development.

We go into what it really takes to form a studio, ship a first game, and survive the chaos between passion and business reality.

Topics We Cover

• Founding Ritual Studios after meeting at Columbia College Chicago

• How Fretless mixes music, RPG, and deck-building mechanics

• The moment they quit their jobs to “really do it” and chase a publishing deal

• Lessons learned about funding, taxes, lawyers, and running a real company

• Building a standout pitch deck and landing a deal with Playdigious in France

• Managing bugs, Steam feedback, and localization into seven languages

• Outsourcing art and engineering — and why it’s harder than it sounds

• Choosing FMOD over Wwise for advanced Unity audio integration

• Why getting your game playable early is key