It seems to me that this is something that a year or two ago would be just classed as a work of passion, you've been writing a game on and off for a while with

It seems to me that this is something that a year or two ago would be just classed as a work of passion, you've been writing a game on and off for a while with a friend and you have a very rudimentary engine with no polish. As a student you should be making lots of things like this instead of asking everyone to chip in so that it can have Art assets. Why not take more time in polishing, or find an arts student who can help you out with art once you've got a prototype you can show them that it works neatly. As a student ( only a handful of years ago ) I made lots of projects like this, but Kickstarter wasn't around then and to get art for it I just had to prove to people that I could finish the project and not waste their time. But Kickerstarter is here now, so I guess you'll see if people will be enthused with the idea. If you don't hit your goal, you should consider thinking of ways to stylise it. Programmer art can be beautiful.