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

• How Cardio Ex shaped Jeff’s music-driven sound design

• Thoughts on AI tools in audio, from noise cleanup to creative limits

• Favorite soundtracks: Hyper Light Drifter and Guild Wars 1

• Current go-to games: Pillars of Eternity and Lord of the Rings Online

• Reflections on Mortal Kombat, Midway Games, and player nostalgia

• Advice for anyone going indie: “Be ready for it — it’s a business.”

🎥 Making-Of Documentary

Making a Musical Indie Game from Scratch (30 min): https://youtu.be/3USobO6qRHE?si=aEhUEI0dwQbMqki2

🎮 Play / Follow

• Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson (Steam): https://store.steampowered.com/app/2429050/Fretless__The_Wrath_of_Riffson/

• Ritual Studios (Bluesky): https://bsky.app/profile/ritualstudios.bsky.social

• Ritual Studios (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/ritualgamestudios/?hl=en

• Fretless Original Soundtrack (Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/album/1VXVxtFzJOUYJypudcF9DN?

• Jeff Linville @Dovetail (Linktr.ee): https://linktr.ee/dovetailmusic

• Rob Scallon (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/RobScallon

• Playdigious (Bluesky): https://bsky.app/profile/playdigious.bsky.social

Bio

Jeff Linville is Co-Founder of Ritual Studios, a Chicago-based indie studio that published their acclaimed debut, Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson, in July 2025. With 8+ years in game audio and production, Jeff has worked on Fretless, Cardio Ex, and more.

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