[timwiseman]

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.)

[technotony]

Offering financial returns would be against kickstarter terms of service (and possibly illegal depending how it was structured).

[timwiseman]

I apologize if it wasn't clear: He could offer a percentage of profits to his employees/contract coders that work on making this in addition to their salaries/contract pay.

He could not offer financial returns to the kickstarter backers. That would definitely violate the terms of service (though I don't see a way it would be otherwise illegal, assuming no fraud or deliberate money laundering was involved.)