This is the first of two or maybe three parts on the subject on Ingress,
which was released into invitation-only beta-testing by Google in November of 2012.
Ingress is a
world-spanning location-based game set in a world somewhere between the real one
and a fictional one that is almost exactly like the real one except with space-alien
mind control conspiracies.
This episode is purely about "playing the game". The follow-up episode will be
more about the underlying technology and things you (and Google) might be able to do
with it besides the core gameplay.
There may be a third part if there is enough interest.
A final note - the app version that I mention in the show was upgraded
literally about 5 minutes after I finished editing and started to prepare this
show for upload. (And, yes, I'm using "literally" correctly - I mean I finished
exporting the file from audacity, went to check Google+, and within 300 seconds
someone was mentioning that a new version was out). It does seem to resolve
some of the problems I mentioned, just as I speculated that it might. I'll
follow up on this and any subsequent updates in the followup episode.
Comments and suggestions and demands for more episodes are welcome, nay,
encouraged either on this episode's comments at hackerpublicradio.org
or on my own blog at https://hpr.dogphilosophy.net . Thanks for listening!
This was a great listen. I got my Ingress invite from Epicanis, and have been playing for a few weeks now. I have a slightly different take on the game, and I'd love to do some sort of community colab on the topic of mapping games/activities.
Comment #2 posted on 2013-04-30 00:59:35 by Epicanis
Thanks, Pokey!
Hopefully you weren't the only one!
I like the idea of doing some collaboration on mapping-related pastimes - the field is broad enough it's probably worth several episodes!
Comment #3 posted on 2013-05-01 19:49:46 by lobath
Great Episode
Great intro, script, vocals and audio quality. A quality episode.
L7 Enlightened, Green Bay, WI
Been playing for a few months now as well, and I've been lucky to have a pretty active area with well grouped portals, so level hasn't been an issue. I've enjoyed the experience so far, thanks for bringing it to HPR.
I usually tether my Nexus 7 to my phone since the phone processor and screen are really too old to run the game well. I must look a bit silly driving & walking around town staring at my screen. Most of my time has been spent over winter so I've put quite a few extra miles on my car, but I did get out for a few walks as well. Looking forward to getting out farther afield this summer.
Comment #4 posted on 2013-05-07 03:50:56 by Epicanis
Thanks, lobath!
Now there's an interesting coincidence - another Level 7 Enlightened with a Nexus 7.
(I just got one as a birthday present from the Minister of Domestic Affairs here at the Asylum for the Sufficiently Nerdy). Tethering it to play Ingress is a huge improvement over the Samsung Mesmerize that I was cursing in this episode.
(Not too long after the episode was recorded, I was able to get the phone warranty-replaced - the replacement Mesmerize so far doesn't seem to have the irritating radio problem and runs pretty well since I rooted it and purged it of the bloatware, but it's still not nearly as nice as the tablet.)
I'm working on putting together episode 2 on this topic - anything you're particularly interested in hearing about?
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