A most interesting piece of news this morning comes from Double Fine. Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert got together and decided to throw up a Kickstarter campaign to fund a point-and-click adventure. It launched 8 hours ago with a target of $400,000 and as of writing 9,249 backers have already contributed $424,393.

What’s also interesting is the spread of backers. Around half have donated the basic $15 pledge, which gets you a copy of the game plus video documentaries. A further 35% have gone for the $30 pledge, which gets you to the video in HD plus a soundtrack. 10% have pledged $100. 3% have pledged $250. 31 people have put up $1000 each, 5 people have put in $5000 a-piece and one intrepid soul has put $10,000 into the project.

In a way, this activity is a more organised version of the pledges that propelled Minecraft to success. It also shows how the dynamics of tribal marketing are becoming ever-more important in game making. Whether for small projects like Puzzle Clubhouse or more significant undertakings like Double Fine’s, fans will spend to support, and spend big. Perhaps in the future all new franchises will launch in this way first.