Technology-based non-video games

Ingress 

(The Rookie aka Noob Experience)

What is Ingress? Is it a type of food? A brand? A hacker group? Well my fellow readers, Ingress is actually an augmented reality massively multiplayer online role playing GPS-dependent game (try saying that five times fast) created by Niantic Labs. Now if you aren't familiar with Ingress, here is a link to their website and the wikipedia article because to know what Ingress is, you have to play it. Of course if you don't want to download the game just yet, then you can read what it is all about. In my game studies class, we were to download and play the game in one class session. Here I will be discussing about my experiences playing Ingress by myself and with my peers.

The mechanics of the game is simultaneous action, massively multiplayer, GPS/real world movement, and build/destroy. You first create an agent name, then you choose a team: Enlightened (green) or the Resistance (blue). The Enlightened believe that their actions will uplift humanity, while the Resistance believe in preserving what freedom humanity has left. To play the game, you must turn on your GPS (Location) setting on your android phone or Iphone (Windows phone users will have to play another game), and then open the Ingress application. Once opened and logged in, you will see a map representing the surrounding area. On this map, you will be able to see nearby portals and other nearby players (on either team). Now comes the tricky part, you have to move your body (yes that is right, you have to physically move your body, so put on those pants and experience the outside world) to nearby portals (landmarks in real life) to capture them to help your team's cause.

The dynamics of the game include building and linking portals to strengthen your faction. Another dynamic is that users can link their portals and other spots to form images to amuse other players for creativity. The aesthetics of the game is joy when hacking other portals and frustration when your portals are under attack. To see your faction grow and develop on the map can be visually appealing to many as well as discovering new uncontrolled portals to hack.

Hacking into Blue Base

Blue Base Captured

                                                           
                      >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
                       










My experience playing Ingress was odd at first. First I created an agent name: ManBearPigSchit. Then I chose the Enlightened faction because I was forced to choose them based on my student ID for my game studies class. I liked the fact that the game tries to portray that you aren't playing a game, but that "the world around you is not what it seems." It was nice that it shows actual pictures of the landmarks/portals nearby and you can see other activity around you by both teams. Thankfully I don't have to worry about reaching my mobile data cap, but instead have to worry about my phone's battery life. 

My experience playing with my peers was mediocre. Some couldn't play because they reached their mobile data cap and others couldn't download it onto their phone. We walked around the school campus and found a lot of portals by both the Enlightened and Resistance side. I managed to capture one blue portal, which was actually owned by one of the students in the group I was walking with. You can say he was upset about it and didn't realize it was me that took his portal until I told him. The new mechanics I saw in this game was the ability to interact with real life objects and use them as resources in the game. Although I was not able to level up, the game does seem to progress or at least offer opportunities for those starting to at least get the feel of the game by building. It was nice to go to certain landmarks and see a checklist of places to hack that were customized by the community. This type of feature allows local players to appreciate that there are people suggesting specific things to do other than discovering new places on your own.

I can see why Ingress has become a phenomenon, but in my opinion, I would rather spend the time watching Netflix or exercising. Is augmented reality gaming the next big thing in video games? Time will only tell. As of right now, the Ingress community is growing and has found itself into merchandising as well.

Sennheiser On-Ear Momentum Ingress headphones

Thank you for reading my blog. You are welcome to leave any comments about what I've wrote or share your Ingress story. Have a fantastic day (or night)!

Night Heist Prototype

Night Heist

Main Menu for Night Heist

Night Heist is a game that I helped create using the Game Maker software. It is a platforming game, where you are a robber who needs to rob a mansion by collecting jewelry scattered all over the levels. There are obstacles that you need to avoid as a player such as penguin cops, dogs, and fireballs shot by the penguin cops. 

The game starts with the introduction to the story and then continues onto the tutorial level.

Tutorial Level

Here in the tutorial level, you are given instructions about the controls of the player and what to avoid in the game. In Night Heist, you have the basic controls of moving left and right with the arrow keys. Pressing the up arrow key allows the player to jump and holding the up arrow key allows the player to jump to the maximum height (which is useful later on). You can press and hold the control (CTRL) key with the left/right arrow keys to have the player sprint. The robber cannot hurt enemies as he is a pacifist, but there is an exception near the end of the game. You have to play the game to know what I mean.

Since my first prototype, I have added many improvements and features. 

Features I added:

• a functional high score table

High Score Table

• added four different endings based on the score of the player when they reach the end of the game

One of the four endings when beating the game

• Adding a pause button

Game Screen when paused

• Adding a Game Over Screen

Game Over Screen

Improvements I made were improving the animation of the player, the jumping of the character, transitioning to the next level more smoothly, and fixing the enemies' movements when moving on a platform.

Although the game has vastly improved since the first prototype I made about a few weeks ago, there are still a few issues with the game such as animation of the dog objects. The dogs, in particular, move in a sliding motion rather than a walking motion and only face the left direction despite moving right. I could fix some of the precise collision checks with the penguin cops since touching them loses a life. Everything else seems to be fine and may just need a little fine tuning to make it look like a real game that you could find in an app store.

Credits

Credits for the game

Click Here for a downloadable version of Night Heist.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Please click on the link above to download and play my game. You are welcome to leave any comments about this blog or about my game.