Ingress, a game from Niantic Labs (Google)

[Rathji]

Thought about putting this in the Android App thread, but I realized that the discussion around it might mean it would seriously derail things there, plus with an iOS version on the horizon, it make more sense as its own.

Ingress is a geo-location game that a Google division Niantic Labs has developed.

Somewhat in a similar vein to Own This World, it deals with controlling certain in game portals linked to real world places, often works of art or landmarks. It had been in beta for over a year, and was recently released this past December.

From Wiki

The game makers' framing device for the game is as follows: Earth has been seeded with “Exotic Matter,” or XM, associated with the Shapers, a mysterious phenomenon or alien race which is neither described nor seen (and which thus functions as a MacGuffin). The in-universe motivation for the Enlightened faction is their belief that the Shapers are working toward a powerful enlightenment which will uplift all mankind. The Resistance believes that it is protecting humanity from Shaper ingression.

How it works is you need to locate a portal on your scanner (phone) and walk/drive within range of the portal. At that point you can hack the portal to gain items, attack it if it belongs to your enemy, claim it for yourself, or reinforce it if it belongs to your faction. If you own a portal, you can link it to another portal of the same faction and if you enclose an area on 3 sides, you create a field for your faction, somewhat indicating an area of control.

Occasionally, you get people who build massive fields that span between countries, or to create works of art.



See more examples



Right now it is only available on Android, but it is due out on iOS sometime in 2014.

You can play it driving from portal to portal, or even snag the occasional hack while you are riding passenger in a car/bus but the game really encourages getting out and walking to capture the portals. I have easily doubled the walking I do every day, getting out of the office at lunch hour to retake something that an enemy took in the morning.

There is a web portal, at http://www.ingress.com/intel so you can see what is up out of range of your scanner. For example, this is what downtown Calgary looks like right now:
(Spoiled since it is a bit wide)

Spoiler!

There is a pretty good social part of the game as well, for example, at lunch today some people met at CMP to clean out an enemy stronghold. As people gain levels, which max at 8 ( I am at 7 after less than 5 weeks), they tend to pass of their older weapons to other players, to stay underneath the item cap of 2000 items.

I am Rathji, and I am Enlightened.

Get the game, or more info:

http://www.ingress.com/

The Niantic Wiki, really good for the back story and older media releases.

http://niantic.schlarp.com/start

Not suprisingly, they have a strong presense on Google +

https://plus.google.com/+Ingress/posts

[Lego Man]

I've seen it around but never downloaded it... you've persuaded me.

I'll play it a bit this evening and see how it goes.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Looks cool, but may suffer from the same issue that OTW has - unless you're a UPS driver or a globe trotting ass kicker like Jolinar - it's pretty tough to be competitive as I just don't get around that much.

Limits your audience to a specific niche.

[Rathji]

I think it is much better than OTW as you don't really need to travel large distances to do much of what the game has to offer. The main thing that it does is encourage getting out and walking around. If you look at downtown Calgary, or 17th Ave SW, Inglewood, there are hundreds of portals. Most people pick a handful around their office/home to compete for.

[Bomky]

I have been a long time player as well and can vouch for the pro's of this game. The game encourages team play and because the real world is the map of the game world it gets you off the couch and meet new people.

One thing I like about the game too is it is actively developed meaning new changes are always coming which keeps the game interesting.

Another advantage is because 'portals' are based on real world points of interest, its a great game to play when travelling because you literally discover neat places you may not know about otherwise.

Lastly, if you decide to play, join the resistance Currently the enlighten is kicking our butt, its much more fun being part of the underdog.

[Rathji]

Except that globally, the resistance is winning by a large margin

[Kipper is King]

I'm trying it, but I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm a rather unenlightened Enlightened!

[SilverGS]

I see you playing Rathji . I just joined a couple weeks ago. See you around the enlightened circles.

[Rathji]

I thought I recognized that name, but I couldn't place it. Nice to see your work area is close to mine.

[starseed]

Glad to know you guys aren't smurfs! I'm helping the enlightened in Toronto. It is a lot of fun when portals are on every street corner

[SilverGS]

Ingress out for iOS.

Become Enlightened

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/ingress/id576505181

[Rathji]

I came here to post that the game had been released for iOS but Silver beat me to it.

Pretty good competition in Calgary right now, both teams are strong and they have added a few temporary tweaks to the game to make it really easy for a new player to start up and not be 'locked out' by dominant groups.

If you do sign up, and end up picking Enlightened, you can contact me in game or PM me here and I can help you join the Hangouts and even assist with some gear over time as well.

If you join Resistance...

Spoiler!

[Kerplunk]

So I am giving this a try, but don't see myself playing too much. Between not having a lot of locations in my local areas with portals on them, the feeling of hopelessness when trying to do anything with high level opposition in the area, and the game itself not liking my phones data network (doesn't load local data, or uses previous locations as the current....yay!), it's just not a fun experience.

[Rathji]

If you have GPS issues, try toggling Airplane mode or rebooting your phone.

As for your other concerns:

- You can submit new portals in your area. This takes a month or 3 though.
- At lower levels, you should just hack portals, get the keys needed to link and field. You wont be able to attack effectively until level 4 or so. At level 6, you can take down most portals. If you are fielding, you should be able to get level 4 in a few hours of play time.
- Talk with existing players in COMM or join your faction hangout. These players will very likely be able to help you with your gear, strategy and come take out those high level portals so you can make headway.

[Regulator75]

Bump, finally made the jump to Ingress.

Enlightened for the win.