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ver a quarter of a century ago, a 7-year-old Joe Granato anxiously awaited a letter from Nintendo. After meticulously hand sketching designs for a new game, complete with maps of fictionalized environments based on his childhood stomping grounds of Whitesboro, near Utica, Granato had sent the company his plans. He hoped that Nintendo would provide him with the materials he needed to translate his fantasy world into real video game.

When the postman at last delivered Nintendo's response, it wasn't the developer's kit he had hoped for, it was a form rejection letter. So, in 1987, Granato filed away his outline of "Mystic Searches," the game he would have made, and moved on.

Twenty-five years later, while searching through water damaged boxes of childhood relics in his shed, Granato rediscovered the project he thought had ended with that rejection letter.

Now a professional videographer, and an experienced documentarian, musician, writer and game designer, Granato realized when he recovered his designs that he could finish the project that he dreamed about so long ago.

Going retro, like vinyl recordings

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n Sept. 15, Granato started a Kickstarter campaign to fund "The New 8-Bit Heroes," a project that will include the production of "Mystic Searches" and a documentary on its development. The game will be a cross-platform experience with versions playable on both PC and actual NES hardware. The more modern PC version of the game will share information with the NES version, and players of both versions will unlock special content.

"For people who are really geeking out, they can play it on both platforms and have them affect each other," Granato said.

The game, which Granato hopes to release on the 30th anniversary of the NES, will take inspiration from the classic dungeon-crawl adventure gameplay of "The Legend of Zelda," the open worlds of "Final Fantasy," and the non-verbal storytelling techniques of recent titles such as the critically-acclaimed "Journey."

As a nostalgic child of the NES generation and as a proponent of the 8-bit aesthetic, which he compares to other retro arts like vinyl recording, Granato is committed to creating not just an 8-bit style game, but a true addition to the list of playable NES games.

Concept art of the hero and villain of "Mystic Searches"

"There's a certain sound to that analog tape, and there's a certain sound to vinyl that's just pleasing to some people. They just like that sound even though it's not as perfect or as polished. There's a certain realness to it," Granato said. "You can almost compare retro games to that. There are imperfections and there are limitations, and working within those limitations is what makes someone who's creating a game of that type an artist."

Since he came up with the concept for the game as a child in Central New York, Granato said the game will include references to the locales and regional lore of the area surrounding Utica, and he will be interested to see if players recognize the local elements.

"When I was creating the original design documents, I was seven. I didn't know any other world other than my personal surroundings," Granato said. "This is almost like a projected evolution of what those ideas were, so inevitably there's still some connection."

Granato said he plans to incorporate memorable locations from his childhood including the Sylvan Beach Amusement Park and Starr Hill, a location commonly referred to in local urban legends and tall tales, into his 8-bit world.

The challenge: How to make a new game on old tech

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he documentary Granato intends to film as part of "The New 8-Bit Heroes" will detail the production cycle of "Mystic Searches." Much of the documentary will focus on the challenges the creative team behind the game faces in producing artistic content within the technological limitations of the NES platform.

"Everyone in the documentary has their own sort of arc and a challenge they've got to overcome," Granato said. "We've got to be able to figure out how to convey this narrative using a very minimalist palette, and using mechanics of the game to tell the story. It's fun. It's a challenge for everybody, and that's why we thought it would make a really compelling documentary."

Throughout the game development and documentary filming process, the "Mystic Searches" creative team, which includes talent ranging from a fantasy novelist to a cartoonist to a film score producer alongside graphic designers, animators and programmers, will seek guidance from experts in retro game design.

Confirmed collaborators for the documentary include David D'Angelo, who was a programmer for 2014's 8-bit hit "Shovel Knight," and Mark Ericksen, who made promotional art for classic NES games like "Tetris," "Mega Man 2," and "Strider," and who will serve as an artistic mentor to the "Mystic Searches" team.

"We've got brilliant artists, but they have no concept of how to create art the way they would have created art in 1986 or 1987," Granato said. "Over the course of the documentary, it's going to show our art team going out and talking to Mark on the west coast. It's almost like he will be the Obi Wan to their Luke Skywalker."

'I was a Nintendo kid'

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ranato has always made his living through creative work. Since leaving Whitesboro for Baltimore to pursue a degree in film in 1998, he has ventured into music, videography and game design.

In the early 2000s, Granato became the guitarist for Eat Your Neighbors, a band he described as "neo-grunge," and from 2003-2004, he toured cities throughout the country, sometimes playing with well-known bands such as The Misfits and The Toadies.

Capitalizing on the success he found while touring, Granato returned to Baltimore and established a recording studio which eventually segued from audio to film production. Through that studio, he eventually began designing games for clients as well.

Having reignited his interest in game design, he then began a career teaching game development to high school students, which he continued to do for the next six years. He also ran several locations of Global Game Jam, a 48-hour game design competition.

Granato now works as a professional videographer for Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla.

Looking back on his formative years, Granato attributes his diversely creative life story and wide variety of artistic interests, from music to film to game design, to his active consumption of video games as a child. For Granato, designing "Mystic Searches" for the NES is both a creative challenge that will serve as a sort of "badge of honor" and a tribute to the games that inspired him so profoundly.

"I was a Nintendo kid. I grew up in that era, and the thing about those old Nintendo games, as a 6-year-old kid consuming this media, it wasn't a passive consumption for me, and a lot of my friends are the same way," Granato said. "It compelled us to be creative and to invent our own fantasy stories and our own games and things like that. That is the impetus that was set in there that carried through the rest of my life. I am a creative person. I make my living by being a creative person, and it started there."

During the project's first week on Kickstarter, backers pledged $23,038 of the $36,000 goal to produce "The New 8-Bit Heroes." The Kickstarter campaign will remain open until Oct. 17.