Early last February, Tim Schafer and his studio Double Fine Productions turned to Kickstarter as a means of raising $400,000 to fund a new point-and-click graphic adventure game. Just eight hours later, fans had pledged over a million dollars, and as the funding period closed a month later, the developer ended up with an impressive total of $3,336,371 from 87,142 backers.

For the unfamiliar, Kickstarter is an online crowd-funding portal in which people can pledge money toward projects that they would like to support or see produced. If the project is not fully funded, backers are not charged, whereas if the project is overfunded, all money is spent improving the project beyond its original scope. Depending on the project, pledges may or may not guarantee access to the final product, but for the Double Fine Adventure, all backers who pledged $15 or more would receive a copy of the finished game.

Although other companies had used Kickstarter to fund indie titles prior to Double Fine’s perfect storm, those companies’ goals were modest compared to the fairly large sum that Tim Schafer and company asked for. It was the first time that an established developer had courted its fans in such a direct manner, and its success was not unnoticed.

The Double Fine Adventure was hailed as a sign that there was plenty of demand for niche genres like adventure games, and that the demand really could be measured in dollars. More optimistic types viewed Kickstarter as a method for developers to fund more esoteric games without having to deal with risk-averse publishers.

It wasn’t just random Internet forum members who had caught Kickstarter fever. Other developers tentatively voiced plans to create their own crowd-funded projects. Chris Avellone, known for old-school computer role-playing games (CRPGs) such as “Planescape: Torment,” asked fans what they would like to see in a potential project. Even the creators behind the campy full-motion-video-laden “Tex Murphy” series plan to launch a Kickstarter for a new game in the decades-old franchise.

Since last month, Kickstarter has seen more and more projects pop up from larger developers. “Wasteland 2,” a sequel to the 1988 RPG that inspired “Fallout,” aimed for a goal of $900,000, and currently sits at over $1.5 million. Other efforts include “The Banner Saga” by ex-Bioware staff, which has raised more than $250,000 from its $100,000 goal.

What happens if you ask for large sums of money but your company isn’t addressing an underserved niche? What if it doesn’t have industry star power? Things are slightly less rosy. For example, a project called “Hardcore Tactical Shooter” from the designer of “Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter” and “Halo: Reach” is currently at $67,000 of the needed $200,000 with only a week left. There are other projects that seem headed toward a similarly grim fate.

As time goes on, I fear that ambitious projects without a recognizable name are unlikely to reach their funding goal. Much like how indie bundles reached a saturation point, too many Kickstarter initiatives may very well put off potential backers rather than entice them. Moreover, backers are pledging money toward projects that don’t yet exist and won’t exist for some time. I put in $30 for the Double Fine Adventure on the strength of Tim Schafer’s history, but I find it tough to chip in $15 to “Wasteland 2” when it won’t be released until late next year, and I have no idea if I will like the game or not.

Despite these reservations, I have positive feelings about the Kickstarter business model. It has shown that it can be a viable choice for developers committed to making a game in a niche genre. At the very least, it has blessed the world with another Tim Schafer point-and-click, and that has to count for something.