Another Way to "Sell" Indie Games?

I have been a fan of Spiderware Software games since I was young, but I never knew it!  I remember playing Blades of Exile at a friend's house, and I really liked it.  I did not own it myself, and I never managed to find a way to get it.  Later, in college, I became connected to fan games, and I was always looking for free games made by adventure game fans.  I stumbled upon the Spiderware Software website while I was surfing the net trying to find more fan-made games.  I found Blades of Exile under "older games."  It was a major lightbulb moment.  I still get goosebumps seeing the screenshots, reminding me of the good old days.

Since then, I have been learning more and more about indie game developers.  Two in particular have become my favorite bloggers (in any category).  One is Jeff Vogel of Spiderware Software (a.k.a. the Bottom Feeded).  The other is Jay Barnson of Frayed Knights fame (a.k.a the Rampant Coyote).  Their blogs are great, in part because they frequently talk about indie game development in a way that helps me learn more on the subject.  I also like their taste when it comes to games in general, especially since they talk about retro computer games and stories about retro games.

I see myself as an indie game maker, too.  It's just that I have never really released or sold any game that I developed.  I have made Tetris clones and other games with about 5 minutes of gameplay each.  However, I am on the move to change that.

Right now I have a secret project going: a small to medium-sized adventure game that I hope to release in the next year (we will see how long it really takes!).  My original plan was to release the game for free.  I did not expect it to be a high-quality game in terms of graphics, and I was sure it would be rough in other ways.  Therefore, I was opposed to asking someone to pay in order to play it.  (Also, I would be happy enough to just have a game released.  The "fame" that I would gain in the indie adventure/RPG game-maker and game-player crowd would be enough food to keep my ego satisfied for years to come!  For that purpose, I don't have to sell it.) 

However, I recently read some articles about indie game making by my two favorite bloggers (from now on I will call them the Big2), and I began to wonder if I should think about charging for my game.  I changed my mind, and started considering a price.  I thought to myself, "Self, perhaps I should sell my game for a few dollars, just to see how much interest I can generate.  I know that there are at least a few thousand gamers in the adventure/RPG gaming community willing to pay for indie games."  I found out that titles made by the Big2 usually go for $20-25.  I settled on the idea that it would reasonable for someone to drop a couple bucks for my debut game (after all, $2 is not what it used to be!).  And later, for one of my better games, I could charge in the $10-20 range and probably be successful.  But in the back of my mind, I still felt that there must be an even better solution.

Then came my newest idea for "selling" my games.  I would release it for free, have a webpage with ads, and ask for donations.  If the game was free, I was hoping that I would at least get most of the traffic for those who would download and play my game.  Overall, a free game would reduce the incentive for others to distribute it for free using torrents or other means.  I would also appeal to each downloader to donate at least $1 for my time and effort to make this game, and to encourage me to make more.

Then came the latest indie game headline.  (Of course, I heard about it from the Big2.)  Double Fine raisies millions for an adventure game using KickStarter!  When I heard about this from the Rampant Coyote, I was intrigued.  Then I found this article by the Bottom Feeder while searching around the net in response to this discovery.  Soon after I came up with the best idea yet.  Why not use KickStarter to "pre-sell" my game, but not as a per-copy type of thing.  Simply, ask for N total dollars for the creation of the game, which would then be released for free once the game was complete.  I could start a new fundraising campaign between each release, and I could think of the money raised as some combination of the sales for the last game and the funds needed to make the next one.

Now I have a more definite plan!  I will make this adventure game, release it for free, then plan another game and start a KickStarter campaign.  Another great feature of this plan, is that the strategy will also remove any distinction between people getting the game legitimately vs. people stealing the game.  Everyone gets the game for free, and those who like my games can "vote" for me making another one with a small donation.  My financial support will come from people's generous donations, and I can give the game away to the world for free!  What do you think?  Could it work?  (And no, I am sure that I am not the first person to think of this, but perhaps I can be one of the first to see if this model works.)