+1 from me.
I do think you should hold out until you make however much money you want however. As for the "deal" you want to make about reaching a certain goal than releasing the code/assets, I have no idea becuase I am no expert on "legal" matters which that sounds like.
All in all I think the best thing to happen to the game right now would be the ability to mod it. Add our own textures/ships/weapons/gameplay/etc.