Google’s augmented reality game, Ingress, started small in November 2012 with a closed beta and went into open beta October 2013. And, since December 2013, Ingress has been fully available to the public. Much of 2013 and now part of 2014, has seen the game grow in complexity and popularity.

With its initial announcement, Ingress looked like an alternate reality game writ large with mobile devices. It has since grown into a massive community across multiple countries. The Ingress Google+ has over 1.6 million followers and has received almost 149 million views.

The game has differentiated itself from other augmented reality games in that it entails a highly social massively multiplayer elements. The usual AR game is one that simply uses the environment (seen through the camera) as part of the game or perhaps provides a sort of scavenger hunt (often via QR codes plastered on advertisements or objects.) Ingress uses player-submitted locations via GPS to set locales, which in game are called portals, providing the social element.

Like most multiplayer games, Ingress players are split into two opposing factions: the Resistance and the Enlightenment. The app itself has a communication capability that allows factions to chat with one another. Many activities in Ingress can be done solo, but more complex actions require teams–some of which can span entire cities or countries.

This fact is the engine of the social engagement of Ingress and has led to groups forming to link portals across entire regions, or even seas.

In the last Ingress newsletter one such team, Ingress Resistance New Mexico, created a “field” by linking portals atop the two highest points in New Mexico and one in Texas. Due to the remoteness of the portals anchoring the field–and that enemy agents must attack them by visiting them physically–the field has remained untouched for some time.

Heights isn’t the only thing Ingress teams have sought to conquer. A sea became host to a field as well when Ingress players in Italy, France, and Tunisia covered Corsica and a chunk of the Mediterranean sea with a field of green. The field only lasted 5 hours before enemy players tore it down, but the coordination needed over 30 people. The longest link of the field formed from France to Tunisia at 852 kilometers; the field itself covered 200,000 kilometers.

A screencap of Corsica being enveloped by the Enlightenment in Google’s Ingress, via MarcoCarrai

The process of linking portals requires players to physically transport “keys” from one portal to the other. Sometimes this means long treks by individuals to carry the mobile device with a “key” from one location to another.

The future of Ingress

Google appears to have plans to port Ingress to iOS devices sometime in 2014, opening up a whole new audience for the augmented reality game. Ingress product manager for Google, Brandon Badger, dropped the tip in October 2013, but no solid timeframe has yet been set.

Nitantic Labs, the developer of Ingress, has also announced a second game, ENDGAME: THE CALLING. Endgame appears that it will use a lot of the social and gameplay mechanics pioneered with Ingress.

It has also been hinted that Endgame and Ingress will have some sort of connection. Often with social video games this means crossovers in activities or a connection with backstory or narrative.

Image credit: Niantic Labs, Google, a still from “Ingress – It’s Time to Move”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss-Z-QjFUio#t=52