Google Launches Ingress, a Worldwide Mobile Alternate Reality Game

http://allthingsd.com/20121115/google-launches-ingress-a-worldwide-mobile-alternate-reality-game/

by sek • 14 years ago

287 140 14 years ago

Finster• 14 years ago

Seems like more of an Augmented Reality Game and not really a traditional ARG (Alternate Reality Game). The difference seems trivial but is quite significant.

troymc• 14 years ago

If an Augmented Reality Game is one which add no fictional elements, I'm not sure I agree. Can you elaborate?

jlees3• 14 years ago

It's both. The ARG trailhead is at http://www.nianticproject.com/

rmrfrmrf• 14 years ago

A nice play to refine their map accuracy with Waze-style gamification (plus advertising, of course).

aditya2• 14 years ago

Lots of interesting stuff going on in this space. Shadow cities is another one that's doing pretty well. The big question to me is, where's the Zynga of this world? Can you make casual location aware ARGs?

pavel_lishin2• 14 years ago

I tried playing Shadow Cities, and the interface was mostly confusing, so I stopped.

aditya2• 14 years ago

Hmm. Are you a gamer? I'm not, and I don't play Shadow Cities anymore for the same reason but it seems to be doing well with people who're more active gamers, which is why I was wondering if there's a way to make the games more casual for people that don't want to live in that universe all the time.

Foursquare is close, but it doesn't feel like a game at all.

mcantelon2• 14 years ago

Sure, why not. If people will senselessly check in via FourSquare I'm sure they'll play some kind of AR Farmville.

primitur• 14 years ago

Download Qualcomms' Vuforia SDK and get cracking:

  http://www.qualcomm.com/solutions/augmented-reality

  https://ar.qualcomm.at/

These sure are interesting times. Its becoming too easy to go from sci-fi to just plain sci ..

incision• 14 years ago

Very cool, I've been talking about something like this on and off for several years now with friends. I've been continually fascinated with the possibilities of AR since about the time of Eye of Judgement [1] and even more after fooling with Layar [2] on my OG Droid back in 2009.

The possibilities seem endless, not just games or gamification but public safety, education - all sorts of things.

I'm a bit disappointed to find that this project is invite only, but I'm certainly looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP4TjzUfOeU

2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b64_16K2e08

truebecomefalse• 14 years ago

Sadly it seems to require an invite at this time. :(

mixedbit2• 14 years ago

Next on a TODO list: an Alternate Reality Game of which players are not aware.

TsiCClawOfLight• 14 years ago

YES! let's build the matrix! who's in with me?

mixedbit2• 14 years ago

I would, but I'm busy selling stocks.

nickik• 14 years ago

Even better use people that play a Alternate Reality Game to execute real missions.

indiecore• 14 years ago

So I'll ask the obvious question. Resistance or Enlightenment?

liberatus• 14 years ago

Be careful which you choose.

You'll be shown specific ads on google based on it.

0003• 14 years ago

Google's tongue must be firmly in cheek when it asks us to choose a faction if the apps permissions are any indication...

gummydude• 14 years ago

Terrorist

jchrisa• 14 years ago

Looks like they are paving the way for a Google Glass world.

jobu• 14 years ago

It's scary how much this sounds like the world envisioned by Daniel Suarez in Daemon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(technothriller_series)

Google has diverless cars, Glasses that overlay information on top of reality, and now is making a sort of game out of it.

sown• 14 years ago

Also reminded me of Vinge's Rainbow's Edge.

jonnycowboy• 14 years ago

And of course the Metaverse in Snow Crash.

gojomo• 14 years ago

You mean 'Rainbows End'. (The lack of a possessive apostrophe is also intentional.)

tjbiddle• 14 years ago

Project Glass was announced only a few weeks after I finished Freedom (Second book of Daemon). I was excited then, and I'm excited now.

bostonpete• 14 years ago

While I enjoyed his books, I don't think these predictions were exactly prescient. He was essentially writing about things that were just beyond the capabilities of existing technology...

elq• 14 years ago

I'm certain that book is well known to the development team :D

dysoco2• 14 years ago

I read Daemon a week ago and it was meh... it was somewhat surrealist to me. But nice book anyways.

EthanHeilman• 14 years ago

Daemon is only half the book, read the other half called Freedom_TM.

pibefision• 14 years ago

I want an invite! Tks

Osmium2• 14 years ago

It seems to me that, with the ubiquity of smartphones and how powerful they're becoming, it's only a matter of time before there's a constantly-evolving digital facsimile of the real world. We've started to see how, for example, many geo-tagged photos can be reconstructed into a pointcloud (see Microsoft's Photosynth amongst others), and how everyone is now carrying a location-aware camera-computer in their pockets... Projects like streetview would become obsolete.

The possibility for alternate reality games will be immense, but I suspect that's just scratching the surface. We've only had this smartphone technology for what? 5 years or so? And so far all ours uses for this technology have been fairly superficial and mundane (by which I mean, if you'd gone back a decade and asked people "what would you make if you had a smartphone that could do x?" you'd probably get decent predictions of the present day). But in 10, 20 years I imagine it'll have evolved to something far beyond what we can currently imagine.

dansingerman• 14 years ago

Didn't you know? We are living in a simulated reality: http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html

(Probably)

Osmium2• 14 years ago

Then it'll be turtles all the way down :)

JoeAltmaier• 14 years ago

Simulation is overkill; the Matrix approach is cheaper - run the simulation within the brain.

RivieraKid4• 14 years ago

"We are in a simulation" is a meaningless statement. It's like saying that there are millinons of invisible unicorns on Earth.

eddieroger• 14 years ago

OK, I really tried to read that, but my lack of coffee and presence of being really tired made it hard to consume. Was the entire premise of it that one day a being will have computers powerful enough to simulate humanity, so of course they will, and we are the result of it? Some of those assumptions seem pretty damn big, but again, I could just be too tired to read it.

biot• 14 years ago

This is very reminiscent of EA's Majestic game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_(video_game)

It was like X-Files conspiracy theories meets The Game (the Michael Douglas movie). Sadly, it didn't last very long. I'm hoping this will do better.

ben1040• 14 years ago

I wonder if Majestic would have done better if it didn't launch a month and a half before 9/11. People were on edge then, and a game that ends up making mysterious phone calls to you probably wouldn't go over well.

I actually thought it was a pretty cool concept from at least what little I played of it.

royalsurfing• 14 years ago

Thank you very much for this! I have been looking for the name of that game for years!

marcoamorales• 14 years ago

I've been wanting to play some ARG since I read Little Brother, can't wait to try this out.

DrewHintz• 14 years ago

[Edit: Looks like I currently have no invites left. As I get more, I'll give them out and update this post.]

I think I have a few invites to give out. Let me know if you'd like one.

P.S. I'm Resistance using the name drew

PhearTheCeal• 14 years ago

I'd like one, email address is pheartheceal@gmail.com

xshoppyx• 14 years ago

Anyway you can send one after joining? xshoppyx@hotmail.com

fourply• 14 years ago

dplynch@gmail.com pls

ratzinho87• 14 years ago

One for me too, please. Sent you an email. Thanks.

viraptor• 14 years ago

My email is in the profile. Could I have one too? Thanks.

entropie• 14 years ago

mictro@gmail.com, thanks alot!

simdam• 14 years ago

Please simone[at]metwit.com

codesuela• 14 years ago

smokie<[at]>lavabit.com

qb• 14 years ago

qube23 gmail com

iamdownloader• 14 years ago

iamdownloader@gmail.com TIA

majorlazer• 14 years ago

I would love an invite. dntrkv(at)gmail(dot)com

ryanbrunner• 14 years ago

ryan at ryanbrunner dot com.

Thanks!

yebyen2• 14 years ago

kingdon<at>tuesdaystudios dot com

I would love to get one if you get more to give out! Thanks

yebyen2• 14 years ago

just received an activation code, so now don't waste your invitation on me if you're still reading this thread! :)

carwithcookies• 14 years ago

awesome if you get any more you could spare. I sent you an email.

alieander• 14 years ago

alieander@gmail.com

mikeevans2• 14 years ago

I'd love one if you get some more. My email is in my profile.

richbradshaw• 14 years ago

Doh! Wanted to comment here earlier but my Hacker News app on Android doesn't allow comments!

I'm rich.bradshaw on ye old gmail if anyone has any invites left!

imodgames• 14 years ago

Thank you kind sir. You are a gentleman and a scholar. jacobregenstein{at}gmail.com

ilanco• 14 years ago

ilanco <AT> gmail.com, if you've got an invite to spare. Thanks.

evgenit• 14 years ago

evgenith gmail com

jka• 14 years ago

jay at jp hyphen hosting dot net

Thanks anyone! :)

raghav3055• 14 years ago

request you to please send me an invite.. raghav305@gmail.com

Thanks,

sherjilozair2• 14 years ago

Hey,

Looking forward to the invitation code: sherjilozair@gmail.com

Thanks!

piotr_krzyzek2• 14 years ago

If anyone has any invites left, we'd all sure appreciate it :)

peterk @ chykalophiagroup.com

Wonder if this works alright in the suburbs ...

morenoh149• 14 years ago

morenoh149@gmail.com

metastew• 14 years ago

I`d like an invite too, cannonstar on gmail.

mcantelon2• 14 years ago

The toolkit will be interesting to see once it's developed.

saraid2162• 14 years ago

I had some ideas for a "discover your community" ARG two years ago that might be able to take advantage of this.

dirtyaura• 14 years ago

It resembles so much Shadow Cities (http://www.shadowcities.com/) that it almost feels like copying.

nixarn• 14 years ago

Yeah, I wonder if Grey Area is involved with this?

shawn-butler2• 14 years ago

Not the first to, shall we say, draw extensive inspiration from shadow cities: http://qonqr.com/

There is so little shame in the industry anymore, but it is admittedly a very difficult task to be creative in a gaming startup.

Competition is a good thing I guess. I'd hate to be competing with Google though. Their fanboi base is suffuse with a devotion that borders on unquestioning faith which plays well in the gaming segment where the hard part is initially attracting critical mass for the underlying game dynamic to be fun.

BryantD• 14 years ago

Side note -- I went to a great talk by the Grey Area (Shadow Cities) guys at GDC, and one of their big takeaways was that you need to enable competition between people who aren't geographically near one another. Otherwise you don't build a critical mass of players.

I can't tell from the available material if Ingress gameplay provides for satisfying solo play, but if it doesn't they're going to hit the same issues Grey Area did originally.

blocke• 14 years ago

I've been so waiting for something like this. While I'm expecting to be disappointed by this early effort the idea is exciting and something that was inevitable.

There was a great anime series that sadly doesn't have distribution in the US called Denno Coil[1] that is required viewing for anyone interested in augmented reality.

The series follows a group of kids in a city that grow up with Google Glasses type functionality with virtual pets and software as "magic". The kids lead a life based upon this augmented reality laid over the real reality. If you like anime this show is worth tracking down a torrent for.

It's also worth checking out the Halting State series from Charles Stross if you're up for some reading.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denn%C5%8D_Coil

marshray• 14 years ago

That was a seriously interesting show. Even if you're not 'into' anime, I recommend it.

EricBurnett• 14 years ago

Even from early beta versions it's been surprisingly addicting. The first time I tried it I went for a walk, and found myself still wandering the streets at 2am, only returning home when my battery was giving out :). If I'm at all average, you won't be too disappointed!

flannell• 14 years ago

+1 Loved this series. Had a real sense of 'William Gibson' about it.

Groxx• 14 years ago

Interesting. Decent rank on AniDB too: http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=4345

I'll definitely give it a shot. Thanks!

lucvh• 14 years ago

I had fantasised about this since I was about 10 years old and today it has been realised.

lmm2• 14 years ago

If you like that kind of thing I'll push Kaiba as a further-future look at a world where the ability to edit memories and change bodies makes personal identity much more nebulous. It's all emphasised with these amorphous visuals that are a great example of something that's only possible in the animated medium.

Raphael• 14 years ago

Sounds like Dollhouse, which was live actors.

mikeevans2• 14 years ago

Anyone have invites?

lancewiggs• 14 years ago

I like the underlying customer cause here - Let's get people off their chairs, on to the streets and meeting each other. Let's create interestingness in the mundane. Let's create a world which rewards interaction. A lovely antidote to the trend for us to all walk around with heads down, checking the latest irrelevancy on our smartphones.

jlees3• 14 years ago

It's also about spotting the beautiful in your surroundings; rather than just interestingness in the mundane, Ingress draws attention to art that you may not ever have looked at before despite walking past it every day. I've discovered a number of statues and sculptures while beta testing it that I genuinely had never noticed before.

criley• 14 years ago

I love the underlying engineering cause -- let's get everyone to keep a GPS/data link open while they walk around popular city attractions and roadways so we can build an amazing pedestrian pathfinding system.

ralfn• 14 years ago

Bingo. We have a winner.

vyrotek4• 14 years ago

Does anyone know if this is really 'multiplayer' or if your experience is in any way influence by the progress of others?

I've toyed with a similar ideas but the problem was that your GPS location doesn't guarantee you are really there. There are plenty of ways to spoof your location. So, my point is it will only be a matter of time until there are bots that walk around for you. If this is purely a 'single player' game then personally I think it's a neat idea but I don't see it being that entertaining.

jlees3• 14 years ago

Yes, it is multiplayer. You capture portals and others can come along and blow them up, taking them for the opposition. The promotional video certainly captures the feeling of 'someone is attacking this portal.. wait.. is it that guy over there staring at his phone?'

tripzilch3• 14 years ago

Couldn't you use physical QR code stickers for such proof of location? They can be fairly small and merely need to contain a random UID code (or an URL with the code as query parameter).

Of course that only works up until people start sharing those codes online, even though you can tweak game mechanics to discourage players wanting to do that, it's impossible to prevent.

vyrotek4• 14 years ago

it's impossible to prevent.

Precisely. Which is why I think this will have a tough time succeeding. Even casual gamers will eventually get frustrated. This is also the sort of thing that is difficult to repair once the damage is done.

skannamalai3• 14 years ago

This is somewhat alarming for my team as we've been working on very similar stuff for a while now (albeit for iOS). Oh well, full steam ahead, I suppose.

vyrotek4• 14 years ago

I'm curious, how are you dealing with cheaters via spoofed GPS locations?

skannamalai3• 14 years ago

sorry, was sick all weekend! So far we haven't worked out anti-cheating strategies, because we haven't really structured the initial challenges around rewards or achievements, but rather around personal interests. As we add more traditional rewards and scoring type stuff (it hurts my soul to type gameification with sincerity) we'll have to start addressing cheating, particularly if we release clients on other platforms or a direct API to our system.

forgotAgain• 14 years ago

The name is a surprise. The Ingres database is still kicking, it's an OSS project that's was a commercial product for 20 years before that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingres_(database)

potatolicious• 14 years ago

I doubt this is a reference to a piece of software. "Ingress" also means "to enter", the opposite of "egress".

herbig• 14 years ago

But "ingress" is also an English language word, with a definition unrelated to what you're talking about.

bnegreve• 14 years ago

Hum, since Google is an ad company I assume that bonus will magically appear in Starbucks and McDonalds.

syassami• 14 years ago

This is very cool and creative and will hopefully push the envelope for mobile alternate reality!

rocky1138• 14 years ago

Trailer seemed cool, but I'd like to see an actual gameplay video. Anyone have a link to real footage?

MattRix• 14 years ago

I think the stuff you're seeing the device screens in the trailer is the gameplay footage... You go somewhere, scan around for "energy", and "hack it" or whatever.

andre• 14 years ago

A blog post I wrote back in 2007 (on Noah's blog) comparing Google and Daemon: http://okdork.com/2007/06/18/is-google-the-daemon/

rescripting• 14 years ago

I find it odd there is no discussion about what Google's motivation/business case is for Ingress. Reddit user Sharper_pmp has a compelling theory that it's an attempt to collect pedestrian route data to compete with Nokia's newly announced turn-by-turn routes for pedestrians. He also brings up instances in the past where Google has created mutually beneficial ways to have people voluntarily build their data sets.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/138res/google_launc...

shaper_pmp• 14 years ago

Shaper_pmp, but thanks for the mention. ;-)

wfn• 14 years ago

There's some nice discussion about Google's possible motivations for doing this here: http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/138res/google_launc...

Granted, speculation, but rather convincing.

>TL;DR: Whatever the plot's about, the point of it is to quickly and cheaply build an unrivaled corpus of pedestrian-accessible routes, locations and journey-times for the next generation of foot-enabled Google Maps and Navigation apps

Edit seems that user 'rescripting' somewhere above has already made a reference to that discussion.

superphil0• 14 years ago

Could someone please give me an invite key? :)

cail• 14 years ago

This looks really interesting to me. Fascinating to see more augmented reality concepts being pushed out. I am interested to see if this will eventually be tied in with glass. Google really seems to be pushing towards ubiquitous computing lately.

Can't wait to try it out if I get an invite from them.

raghav3055• 14 years ago

can anyone please invite me .. raghav305@gmail.com Thanks,

raghav3055• 14 years ago

will this work in India?

contingencies• 14 years ago

I find it more than a little scary that, coming from a company with as much influence as Google, the subliminal message here is that pro-technology people are "enlightened", and anyone else is "resistance".

adrianhoward• 14 years ago

And to me 'enlightened' sounds like hippy-religious-rubbish so I'd probably immediately plumb for resistance.

With games like this you need to have both "sides" have an attractive "we're the goodies" pitch. I thought it was rather clever naming since I think I could argue myself into either camp quite easily.

dvulises• 14 years ago

This make me remember Sword art online (anime) a little bit.

sherjilozair2• 14 years ago

Is this game available in all locations? Does anyone have an idea if this is available outside US? India?

piotr_krzyzek2• 14 years ago

This is eerily similar to the show H+.

Not on the same scale of course, but that's the first thing that came to mind when I saw this post.

ajdecon• 14 years ago

If anyone has invites.... ;-) see profile for email address.

jongraehl• 14 years ago

I hope the game (if it catches on) is sensitive to traffic congestion, or decreases rewards for driving in traffic, and further, doesn't steer people toward areas of increased smog, car-on-pedestrian accidents, or crime (I'll bet the EULA disclaims that liability).

Getting shut-ins outside where they can be hit by cars may have net health benefits (and people can choose for themselves).

raghav3055• 14 years ago

Hi ... can someone please send me an invite ..

Thanks in advance!

raghav3055• 14 years ago

can anyone please invite me raghav305@gmail.com

thanks in advance!

Google Launches Ingress, a Worldwide Mobile Alternate Reality Game

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