You have a point, but remember that he had substantial work on the game finished before he turned to kickstarter, so he wasn't trying to make a whole game on $28K.

Also, unless somehow agreed otherwise the creators still keep copyright in things funded through kickstarter, so he could promise perecentage of future returns along with immediate payment (it's not clear from the article that he did, but he certainly could have.)

That's what jumped out at me, too. Considering, the fact that 28k isn't even an acceptable yearly salary for one employee, trying to fund a small team on that minuscule amount seems.. odd.

It's not entirely surprising that the engineers left to go back to jobs that pay a livable wage.