Yeah it seems to work well for video games. I think Star Citizen is currently on $198,000,000....with no end in sight.
I just need to raise enough to live on for the next two years.
Yes I could go through my employer but that would have some likely consequences including and not limited to the following:
1) They would insist on taking over creative control which would slow down development significantly
2) I would become embroiled in a mountain of red tape
3) They would take ownership of the intellectual property
4) My cut would go from 100% to something much smaller
I definitely don't want to sell out to investors. If that became the only option I'd just continue working on it in my spare time. Which currently is 3-4hrs every night, then up at 5am weekends to work on it.
The other option is Steam Early Access. I need to look more into that. It could work quite well for my game as it's built in a way that allows areas, locations and content to be added at a later date.