Inside RDBK Studios: The Vision, Funding, and Future of Renown

Few indie titles arriving in 2025 carry as much anticipation as Renown, the open-world PVP medieval survival game from RDBK Studios. As an official HolyHosting partner, the studio sat down for a long-form conversation about how a small team turned years of effort and over AU$600,000 in crowdfunding into a game that finally exists.

What follows is that conversation, lightly trimmed.

The Crowdfunding Story

Raising AU$600,000+ across multiple campaigns is no small feat. What did that experience actually feel like from the inside?

"It's been incredible and exhausting in equal measure. Building Renown has been the best stretch of my life so far, and also the most stressful. The concept was strong from day one, but nobody on the team predicted how many people would back us with their hope and their money. The road has been much longer than expected. When that many people are cheering you on, it makes the work feel lighter and pushes you to work harder at the same time. Everyone who believed in this project deserves something they actually enjoy playing, and we are going to keep grinding until we get there."

What part of the campaign worked, in retrospect?

"Honestly, the concept itself did a lot of the heavy lifting. This is a game a lot of people had been waiting on. Charlie, the other co-founder, and I both kept hoping someone else would build it. After years of nothing, we figured we might as well do it ourselves. That kind of genuine passion shows.

The other piece was outside help. Early on, a few content creators put out incredible videos showcasing the game. Without those, the game never reaches the audience it has now."

Any advice for other indie developers trying to crowdfund?

"Ask for help. You will be surprised how many people give freely of their time, whether that is business advice, dev knowledge, or marketing. Over the years we have had countless calls with people willing to sit and walk through our problems with us.

For content creators specifically, reach out to the ones who would genuinely love your game. One enthusiastic creator can move the needle in ways paid ads cannot. Just be respectful, be honest, and actually watch their work before pitching. There is nothing worse than a developer asking for a favor who clearly has not spent five minutes looking at what the creator does. Respect comes through."

Renown: Design, Combat, and First Impressions

What should players brace for during their first hours in the game?

"A challenge. Renown has a high skill ceiling, especially in combat. New players should put in some time in the safe zone dueling before risking anything they care about. Once you feel ready, head east on the map. That side is friendlier. The west is where the higher-tier loot lives, and so do the more experienced players."

What is the moment at launch you most want players to experience?

"Player interaction without instant death. In most survival games, you can be picked off from 200 meters by someone you never saw. In Renown, you might be standing 20 feet from another player having an actual conversation, and as long as you are smart and keep a little distance, you can walk away. That single design choice changes everything about how social moments play out. It gives people room to build stories instead of just trading bullets."

Is there a surprise you expect players to encounter?

"Renown is not trying to reinvent any single system. It is a blend of our favorite games, and we hope it feels familiar in the right ways. A lot of early players have compared the feeling to Legacy Rust, which is the biggest compliment we could ask for. As a die-hard PVP survival player myself, I know the dread of trying yet another survival release that does not deliver. The pleasant surprise we want is the realization that this one actually scratches the itch."

What games shaped Renown the most?

"Rust Legacy and Chivalry 1, unapologetically. Those two are still the best gaming experiences I have ever had. Every new survival game that drifted away from what made Rust special left me a bit disappointed. The goal here is to build the first true Rust-like, holding onto the design choices that made the original addictive, then pair it with a combat system that has not been mixed into the survival format before."

Which existing player bases overlap the most with your target audience?

"Anyone who hears 'PVP' and 'survival' in the same sentence and has to try it. That is our crowd. Fans of Chivalry or Mordhau will also feel right at home with the melee system. Those are the core groups. Once modding support lands, the audience opens up dramatically. The plan is for Renown to be something players can reshape and play their own way."

What Is Coming Next

Which upcoming features have the team most excited?

"Listing them all would take all day, so the highlights. Horses need to come back first. Nobody enjoys a running simulator, so that is high on the list.

The Renown system itself is another priority. It is the game's namesake and the system tied directly to the identity of the project. Every action a player takes will be tracked, from kills to trees chopped, all funneled into leaderboards and cosmetic unlocks. Survival games rarely give players a way to measure themselves against others. This one will. There is even space for a 'winner of the wipe' framing, awarding points for bases raided or raids defended, which adds a layer of competition to each cycle.

Modding support is also high on the list because modding keeps games alive. Everything in the public roadmap is for the period right after Early Access. Looking further out, there are bigger ideas. An Age of Sail update would be a dream."

What has been the hardest part of building Renown?

"Everything outside the game itself. Dev problems are part of the fun. Solving them is rewarding. The harder thing is the life around it. Relationships strain. Friendships drift. Four or five years of long hours leaves very little time for anything else. Looking forward to giving family and friends more attention again is probably the thing I am personally most excited for, alongside the launch."

Where is Renown headed long term?

"The goal during development has always been to build a foundation strong enough to grow on for years. Emergent gameplay drives a lot of our thinking. The plan is to watch how players actually use the systems, see what they gravitate toward, and let that guide the roadmap. There is a long backlog of content and features waiting to ship, but the order will be shaped by what the community ends up loving most."

Anything to add for potential players?

"Indie studios say this all the time, and it still needs saying. The ambitions for Renown are big, and the Early Access launch is the first step, not the destination. At the core, this is a team of four people building their dream game. There will be jank. There will be bugs. The hope is that players can see past the rough patches, enjoy what is there, and recognize the vision behind it."

Final Word

Renown's path from a two-person idea to a community-funded indie release is the kind of story the survival genre does not get often enough. Backers, content creators, and a small team with a clear vision turned a long shot into a launch. Whether the game ends up alongside the classics that inspired it will come down to what happens after Early Access, but the foundation is in place.

For anyone looking to host a private Renown server with friends once support arrives, HolyHosting will have it ready.