It's apparently an idea of Ron Gilbert's he's had, and a game that "needed to be made", even before he made Maniac Mansion.
He's posted a pic of a mobster and a scientist so far on his blog.
It's going to be a point & click adventure game from two of the Supreme Giants of the genre.

That's about it.

Big games cost big money. Even something as "simple" as an Xbox LIVE Arcade title can cost upwards of two or three million dollars. For disc-based games, it can be over ten times that amount. To finance the production, promotion, and distribution of these massive undertakings, companies like Double Fine have to rely on external sources like publishers, investment firms, or loans. And while they fulfill an important role in the process, their involvement also comes with significant strings attached that can pull the game in the wrong directions or even cancel its production altogether. Thankfully, viable alternatives have emerged and gained momentum in recent years.

Crowd-sourced fundraising sites like Kickstarter have been an incredible boon to the independent development community. They democratize the process by allowing consumers to support the games they want to see developed and give the developers the freedom to experiment, take risks, and design without anyone else compromising their vision. It's the kind of creative luxury that most major, established studios simply can't afford. At least, not until now.

Keeping the scale of the project this small accomplishes two things. First and foremost, Double Fine gets to make the game they want to make, promote it in whatever manner they deem appropriate, and release the finished product on their own terms. Secondly, since they’re only accountable to themselves, there’s an unprecedented opportunity to show the public what game development of this caliber looks like from the inside. Not the sanitized commercials-posing-as-interviews that marketing teams only value for their ability to boost sales, but an honest, in-depth insight into a modern art form that will both entertain and educate gamers and non-gamers alike.

2 Player Productions will be documenting the creative process and releasing monthly video updates exclusively to the Kickstarter backers. This documentary series will strive to make the viewer as much a part of the process as possible by showing a game grow from start to finish, with all the passion, humor, and heartbreak that happens along the way. Double Fine is committed to total transparency with this project, ensuring it is one of the most honest depictions of game development ever conceived.

There will be a private online community set up for the backers to discuss the project with the devs and submit their thoughts and feelings about the game's content and direction, sometimes even voting on decisions when the dev team can't decide. Backers will also have access to help test the game once a beta is available. Once the game is finished, backers will receive the completed version in the available format of their choice.

For fans of adventure games, this is a chance to prove that there is still a large demand out there for a unique medium that inspired so many of us.

I don't really have a legit opinion on Schafer or Double Fine so I'll just stay out of that conversation.

As far as kickstarter goes though, I think it's a great thing for anyone to use, legit company or not. I actually participated in Five Iron Frenzy's recent Kickstarter program. Fan based funding allows for risks to be taken or in other cases allows fans to kinda have a hand in development by following things and voicing their opinion.

And I'm all for cutting out middle men whenever possible.

Will I participate in this? Probably not since I'm not huge on point and click adventures. Do I think it's a good thing though? Hell yes. Also, congrats to them already being 175k over their goal!

I just wonder if Kickstarter money gets taxed. As far as I can see it, it's someone just simply giving someone else money. If I gave you five bucks because I wanted to, that doesn't get taxed. But because of the amount of money it is, I wouldn't be surprised if the gov'ment tried to get their hands on it.

Reasons this is good:
Not many people understand the constraints of the publisher on the company. I had a bunch of seminars given from the guy who coded the AI in Tomb Raider and he said that they constantly went back to investors and publishers that wanted more for less and ridiculous things that nobody could even do back in the 90's. Was exactly the same talk given by the guys that made Abe as well. It hasn't changed one bit since back then. Nowadays, publishers will ask the developer to tack on multiplayer and a bunch of other sh*t just because they see it as "a smart investment".
Cutting out the Publisher is literally the greatest thing and allows freedom of expression without constraint.

I pledged $15, but I'm only cautiously optimistic. Freedom is good, but this could end up being a disaster.

@TimOfLegend "$955k! Guys, I'll make you a deal. If we hit $980k I'll add RTS elements to the game! And if we hit $1M, I'll take them back out!"