Introduction to Ingress
Google’s John Hanke has all the time dreamed of making a multi-player game using the assets he developed with Google Earth. Years ago, on the initial Google Earth press conference, he spoke about Second Life and gaming. Now, he and his team at Google’s mobile incubator Niantic Project have made it occur with Ingress, an augmented reality multi-player game.
What is Ingress?
Ingress is an Android-only game (for now) that uses Google’s mapping and native data assets to attach the web and offline worlds in an alternate reality. The game is in closed beta, nevertheless it already has 1000’s of players in quite a few countries. Players select certainly one of two sides, Enlightenment or Resistance, and visit public places to capture "portals" (often public sculpture or art). By claiming these places on their smartphones, players can link portals together and control physical territory.
How the Game Works
Three portals linked together establish a "control field," which is indicated on a web based map. Control fields and portals can "decay" and should be maintained; they will be captured by the opposite side. By establishing control fields over more territory, each faction moves closer to "securing or liberating your entire world." To achieve this, factions of players across the globe must cooperate.
Google’s Objective
I asked Hanke if Google was serious about Ingress as a game or if it was a test of something else. Hanke said Google was genuinely serious and desired to make the sport as engaging as possible. The larger objective is two-fold: to get people exploring their cities and eventually other cities, and to encourage people to collaborate and cooperate in playing the sport locally and all over the world.
Augmented Reality and Geo-Capabilities
Ingress uses all of the geo-capabilities of the phone and overlays the alternate reality onto real places. It’s not the primary game to make use of augmented reality within the "real world," nevertheless it’s probably probably the most refined and bold one so far. Hanke said that eventually, Google may make APIs available in order that other developers could construct augmented reality games on top of Google Maps and other data.
Monetization and Future Plans
I asked about promoting and monetization, and Hanke said there have been already sponsors like Jamba Juice and Zipcar. However, the ways wherein they is perhaps promoted inside the game have not fully been worked out. Hanke also mentioned that Google Glass can be incorporated into the sport sooner or later, although the sport is starting with smartphones.
Conclusion
Ingress is probably the most interesting things Google has done in a protracted time. It brings together a spread of tools and capabilities that Google has been developing for years, including Maps, augmented reality, visual search, and the Android OS, together with Google’s global user base. While I’m not a gamer, I feel Ingress is incredibly interesting and can prove compelling to many. It offers a glimpse into the not-too-distant way forward for gaming and mobile computing.
