New game series?

Hey all!

After the trailer dropped, I realized that I would likely have to come to terms with the Her Interactive game series ending (or being so different that it isn't recognizable). There really are no other games on the market quite like SEA and earlier. I am also in the unfortunate group of fans with a Mac, so none of the games prior to MID will run on my current OS.

I am a decently talented developer and have experience on the business side of software development as well. I've been considering starting my own company and developing a mystery series, specifically tailored to fans of the old Nancy Drew games. Could y'all let me know which of these options is most appealing to you (if any)?

1. I could develop a Nancy Drew mystery game in a very similar style to the pre-MID games. Point and click, hours of gameplay, same general structure. It could include characters from past games, plotlines from the books, and fun callbacks (like koko kringles and krolmeister, etc.). Due to copyright law, I could not accept money for this kind of game. It would kinda be the game equivalent of fan-fiction. It would take time to learn the art side of things and to self-fund the voicework, music, art, etc. and some of it might be bare bones. This game would be free and I would like for it to be open-source as well. That way, if someone wanted to remaster the game with better music, renderings, etc., it would be totally do-able.

2. I could develop a mystery game with original characters and storylines. The same point-and-click structure and basic elements of the Nancy Drew games would be present, but none of the intellectual property involving Nancy Drew itself. Despite lacking nostalgic callbacks, this might be a good option, with the possibility of darker and more adult settings and mysteries. Because the copyright laws are not a consideration, I could accept money for this type of game. I would keep prices very low initially just to recoup personal losses, but eventually, I would like to work my way up to hiring staff and establishing a real development company.

3. Same as option 2, but instead of a fee for the games, I would publish a plot summary, character list, and a playable preview ahead of a Kickstarter. I would put any Kickstarter money into a trust and exclusively use it to aid in game development. Each game would be free, but the quality might depend on funding at the time.

4. Combo of options 2 and 3, with Kickstarters for early games as well as a fee for the game itself, allowing for the establishment of a more robust company. The combo of early Kickstarter funding and revenue from the games themselves will allow the quality to be good from the beginning and to stay consistent for however long I am able to produce them.

These are just thoughts for the time being. Let me know if you have any suggestions that I did not list as well! Any of these options would take a good amount of time to produce anything playable, but we were willing to wait 4-5 years for MID lol. It would be so cool to develop a game with real-time input from this community!