Ingress is an augmented reality (AR) mobile game currently developed and published by Niantic Spatial for Android and iOS devices. The game was released as a closed beta on November 15, 2012, for Android devices and then for iOS devices on July 14, 2014. The game is free-to-play, uses a freemium business model, and supports in-app purchases for additional in-game items. The mobile app has been downloaded more than 20 million times worldwide as of November 2018. Ingress uses the mobile device GPS to locate and interact with "portals" near the player's real-world location. The portals are physical points of interest where "human creativity and ingenuity is expressed," often manifesting as public art such as statues and monuments, unique architecture, outdoor murals, historic buildings, local community hubs, and other displays of human achievement. The game uses the portals as elements of a science fiction backstory along with a continuous open narrative provided through various forms of media.
Synopsis An unknown, transdimensional force called Exotic Matter (XM) was discovered by a team of scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland with the Large Hadron Collider when researching the Higgs boson. Within the game, human reactions to this discovery fall into two factions known as the Enlightened (green) and the Resistance (blue). The Enlightened faction harnesses the powers of XM to transcend humanity and believes its mission is to aid mankind's enlightenment by using this energy. The Resistance faction sees XM as a potential threat to humanity and believes their mission is to defend the human race by resisting the effects of those seeking to control others with XM. There is also machina (red), which does not align with either faction.
Gameplay The gameplay of Ingress has been described as combining elements of geocaching with capture the flag.
Play environment
A player using their mobile device (scanner) is presented with a map representing the surrounding area. The map has a black background and is completely unmarked, except for buildings and roads outlined in grey but not labeled, and bodies of water. These geographical features are supplied by OpenStreetMap. Portals, Exotic Matter, links, and control fields are visible on the map. Distances from the player to in-game locations are displayed in metric units. Players must be physically near objects on the map to interact with them. The scanner represents the player with an action range of 40 meters (130 ft). A player can hack nearby portals to acquire items. Players are rewarded with Action Points (AP) for actions within the game. Accumulating AP beyond certain thresholds grants higher access levels. The access levels are numbered 1 through 16, with 16 being the highest. Once a player reaches Access Level 16, they unlock the ability to recurse, which allows them to start anew with the option to switch factions. In addition to earning AP, certain actions within the game can earn a player a medal. Medals are usually multi-tiered and become a requirement for level advancement beyond level 8. Most medals are statistic-based: for instance, capturing portals, total MUs captured, fields and links created, various offensive actions, and successfully discovering new portals. Some medals are time-limited, requiring particular achievements in a set time frame. Some are exclusive and can only be obtained by attending special events. In September 2014, Niantic introduced missions to the game. A mission is a user-created set of places to visit (waypoints) and interact in specified ways. Some missions list all the waypoints from the start, while others only reveal them once as the user progresses from one to the next. Completing missions rewards the player with a mission medal displayed on their agent profile.
Portals Portals span across the globe and are made visible by the scanner. They are surrounded by a cluster of XM and color corresponding to the faction/entity controlling the portal: green (the Enlightened), blue (the Resistance), red (machina), or white (unclaimed). Players claim portals for their faction by deploying at least one resonator on them. They can also add mods (modifications) to protect the portals or increase their power in various ways. If a portal is claimed by the enemy or the Machina, the player must first either neutralize it by destroying the portal's resonators with weapons called XMP (Exotic Matter Pulse) Bursters and Ultra Strikes or flip the portal using either a Jarvis Virus or an ADA Refactor. Players acquire game items (resonators, XMP bursters, etc.) by maneuvering to within 40 metres (130 ft) of a portal, typically by walking, biking, or driving, and hacking it by selecting this option on their scanners. Players can also earn additional items and AP for glyph hacking a portal, where they are briefly shown several patterns called glyphs and must retrace them in the order they appeared within a time limit. If the portal is a Machina portal, players can, instead of hacking the portal, neutralize it, causing it to drop its resonators and mods onto the ground, which can then be picked up. Portals are typically associated with buildings and landmarks of historic or architectural significance — such as sculptures, murals, and other public art, libraries, post offices, memorials, places of worship, transport hubs, parks, and other recreational or tourism spaces, or with business locations. Players may submit requests for the creation of new portals if they meet the level requirements. It was thought upon at the game's launch that this would allow Google to generate data for its location-based services. As of July 2016, 15 million portals had been submitted by the Ingress community, and five million of those had been included in the game. At the time of Ingress Prime's release in November 2018, Niantic stated that "agents in more than 200+ countries have participated in more than 2,000 real-world events and visited more than 1.2 billion Portals".
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