I have been tinkering around with this for a few days. Not sure I understand the gameplay properly but certainly the atmosphere is well done; it reminds me a little of the strategy game Alpha Centauri back in the day.
So has anyone been playing it for a while? How interesting is the gameplay? Any good resources on how to play the game?
In general I think location gaming will take off in all sorts of interesting directions in the next few years adding layers of fantasy and intrigue to our surroundings. These games should be fairly easy to support using location-based ads and perhaps promotional tie-ins with movies, books and the like.
I’ve been playing for a couple of months now. I like it a lot. The default recommendation for beginning gameplay is the ingress field guide which has a lot of explanations of what the various things do.
One complaint that I do hear is that since the game is level capped at level 8, that people get bored and drift away. I like it for the fact that it gets me out and about and discover things I might not have noticed before (for example, there’s a historical marker on my route to work that I’ve driven by for 4 years but never saw. There’s a portal there and I now know it as the location where the one of the oldest human skeletons was discovered).
The game is very much beta, and I think they’re been caught off guard with the response so far. But, you’re right it’s very immersive and the back story is engaging. I was at the Austin event a couple weeks ago where the brought in Misty Hannah. It was a good time interacting with all the other players and having them keep up the act by bringing out a real person was a nice touch. I don’t know if they can continue to do things like that but it was really cool.
Ingress relies on you going somewhere to unlock stuff for your team. its pretty fun, but you habe to go to all the places to ‘pick up’ items. HINT water bottles will be posting Ingress codes soon. Oh, and all public libraries are places where you can get stuff.
I have been hacking portals and collecting weapons for the last few days and getting the hang of the gameplay. Then today I saw an unclaimed portal and captured it. It was rather thrilling and I think I understand the visceral appeal of the game: claiming a piece of the real world as your own and putting a mark on it and then defending it all as part of a larger fictional narrative. In the long run I am guessing the fun is in teaming with other players to attack and defend against the other side. Watched a few videos as well and it will be interesting to see how they build up the story and whether they monetize by creating media properties.
Just request an invite on the official page. You should get one within a couple of weeks.
Anyway I have been playing on and off for more than a month and have reached Level 4. Still enjoying the game. I often take long walks to play the game so it acts as a little nudge to get some exercise.
I joined the Resitance which has dominated my area since I started playing but the sneaky Enlightened (aka frogs :D) have staged a mighty counter-attack and taken over a bunch of portals including several of mine. I am pondering how best to strike back.
I play the game solo though I have met a few players while playing. May have to team up with someone now that the frogs have gotten their act together.
I have been playing for a couple months now…about halfway through level 3. It is alot of fun and its great in that it does not require any real time commitment. It is very easy to hit portals with a 2 minute side trip on the way to or from work. There are large clusters of portals at several areas in town, notably CSUF, the fulton mall, and courthouse park. I have easily walked three miles doing a lap through the mall and courthouse park. So it can be good exercise.
The thing that frustrates me is that it is often hard for me to do much more than damage a portal. Capturing is often out of my range as a higher level player has reinforced the portal in question and my weapons would take hundreds of shots to destroy them. There are a couple semi coordinated groups that get together here and do group attacks on hard to capture portals.
A few weeks back they introduced a bunch of new portal modsand I managed to snag a few recently. They add a new layer of strategy to the game and allow a degree of portal specialization.
For example a multi-hack increases the number of times you can hack a portal and a heat sink reduces the time between hacks. Naturally combining the two in a single portal makes it an excellent “portal farm” for stocking up on items.
One of the interesting things about Ingress is how the gameplay interacts with your real world habits. One interesting suggestion I read the other day was to create a portal farm near a cafe so that you can sit comfortably for a while for repeated hacks.
You also have take into account the other side’s attack patterns. Since your precious mods are lost if the portal is taken over, the ideal portal farm should be an area with relatively little opposition activity but which is convenient for you.
I am still having a great time with this game, I am level 6 now (8 is max) the ongoing rivalries and group play the fresno resistance team is coordinating are making this alot of fun.
Fresno City college is turning into an interesting phenomenon, it has like 20 portals split fairly evenly, all high level, all well guarded by players who work on campus, and nobody is messing with it much, they just farm equipment from it.
I am on level 6 too and play it a bit on most days. It’s a great way to kill 10-15 minutes if you are near some portals. I also enjoy watching some of the Ingress reports on Youtube especially the video clips of Ingress players around the world.
Incidentally Ingress will be pre-installed on the new Motorola smartphones on Verizon. They actually mentioned it during the Verizon event. Perhaps that means the game will be going off beta soon.
I’ve been playing since January and the game has really taken off since then. We went from having about ten portals in all of downtown Olympia to having upwards of a hundred, with more popping up every week. When I have days off from work, I like to hop in my car sometime around dawn and spend a few hours cruising the area seeing what I can accomplish before the streets get too crowded.
They are going to introduce a system of badges and player statistics which is just about what I wanted most. Now if they can add some interesting missions, it will take the game to the next level.
Reached level 7. Now the long march to level 8… Anyone got there yet?
I am a bit surprised I am still enjoying the game. Originally I thought I would play it for a few weeks just to see what the fuss was about but it has kept me interested.
Part of it is that one of my favorite activities is to take long walks while listening to podcasts and this fits well with that. There are plenty of portals within walking distance of both my home and workplace and I can play a bit during my commute also.
The game has improved quite a lot since I started. In particular I am having far fewer problems with GPS in the game. I like the new stats page and there are a lot more portals in my area now.
I played to Level 8, went to Burning Man, then when I came back…I just couldn’t bring myself to care anymore. I live and work in a pretty active area with portals, even L8 ones, going back and forth all the time. Fields go up and down all the time. Nothing anyone did in the game seemed to really matter. This cartoon sums the game up best for me.
It was interesting for a time and got me to explore some new places, but I’m looking forward to the next evolution in location-based games that offers a more meaty experience.
Thought I’d bring this thread back since I think the game is worth sharing!
I started playing a few weeks ago and after a short super-addiction phase, I’m finding the game enjoyable for a few reasons. It’s a nice way to kill a little time if I am waiting for something or have nothing else to do, and it gives me an excuse to travel off of the main road if I have time. You run across some neat things…I found the first golf course in Kansas City while I was on my way to Costco, for example.
I have been travelling to smaller towns for work, and some of then have clusters of portals that are waiting there, unclaimed. In my ‘lunch hour’ I have taken control of entire towns, which is quite satisfying.
Yes, there’s lot of back-and-forth where control will switch sides on a regular basis, but I’m already seeing trends of watching the blue or green controlled areas creep or solidify their hold.
Another minor downside is when I’m driving around, if I see a fountain or a sculpture I’ll think “there has to be a portal there!”.
