Showing posts with label Niantic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Niantic. Show all posts

Friday, August 23, 2013

Ingress: The Creators Of The Game Are Unimaginative About Its Use Cases

In short, I am saying the people who created the game and are still updating it every few weeks do not know. Only the players who are pushing the game's limits can know. They need to be listened to. A mindless capturing and recapturing of portals gets boring fast. How many L8 farms can you attend?

The poor portal approval mechanism is getting in the way. And the game should allow each agent so many new invites per month like clockwork. You get new portals approved to change the very map on which you are battling. And you have the levers with which to actively recruit and build a team. You do these two things and the game stays challenging. Otherwise, yawn.


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Friday, July 26, 2013

Ingress: Taser Green Agents

Niantic Light Parade
Niantic Light Parade (Photo credit: drsmith7383)
Rumor has it Niantic is working on a new ammo item, so far unnamed. If an enemy agent is within your scanner's range, and you fire that ammo item, it will act like a mild taser on that agent. There will be a slight tickling sensation, no bodily harm intended.

It is thought to be of special use during interfaction events. Niantic is worried too many interfaction events are being organized, and it is taking away from the intensity of the game. Once you get to know and become friends with enemy agents, it is hard to then go back to thinking of them as enemies in the game. In many cities the game has supposedly slowed down due to such impacts.
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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Ingress: Swatting Houseflies On The COMM


The COMM is the least well thought through element of the Ingress gaming app. It is just raw.

My top request right now with Niantic is to enable a Block User feature for the COMM. Minus that the COMM has a tendency to degenerate to the lowest common denominator kind of talk.

Also just having an All COMM and a secure COMM for faction chat is not enough. There is room for one more section, one called private COMM: there you only see people you allow.

There are only two global teams possible in the game and that is the way it should be. But every city in the world has at least one local team on each side. And the idea of making it possible to form many, many local teams is not an aside. Making that possible is central to bringing about complexities in the game.

The game has to be kept simple in its basics like it is now. But most of the new complexities and challenges will come from enabling easy creation of new teams. Just like you graduate from building portals to building entire farms the ultimate act in the game is when you build your own team. You don't have to, and most people will not, but that is the ultimate act in the game.

I have a global team in mind. I am going to build the top Resistance team in New York City. And in doing that I am going to build a blueprint with which to build a global team.

The number one thing that has been hindering my team building efforts is a sheer lack of portals in the city. I need my 1,000 portal submissions to go through before serious team building can start. There are people who have been astounded by how prolific I have been at submitting portals, and their reaction is to the 60 or so portals of mine that have gone live. Well, to them I say, wait until I start recruiting people. My portal submissions will pale in comparison to the team building I will do.

In the mean time I get to go on faction chat around 5 PM and swat houseflies. There are about five members of timtomhuze who like nothing better than to pull the conversation on faction chat to the lowest possible denominator. Like I said, I am new to Ingress, but I am not new to political warfare.
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Monday, July 08, 2013

Ingress: How To Build A Home Territory


The ultimate achievement in the game is when you build your own team. I am not there yet. But right before that comes the home territory. My definition of a home territory is an area where the majority of portals are your submissions. Your home territory can be as small and as big as you want it to be. And there can be much overlap. The same 10 portals might be in the home territories of three different agents: very possible.

The number one advice I would give to any agent on both sides anywhere in the world at this stage in my game is start making portal submissions right away. Each agent deserves to have at least 20 portals that they can walk over to any time they want. Niantic does not care if you are a Level 1 agent or Level 8, if you meet the criteria your portal submissions will go through. My first portal that went live was one I submitted when I was a Level 1 agent.

You build a home territory by making strategic portal submissions. Assume it takes two months for your portal submissions to go through. If you made your submissions as a Level 1 agent it would be great if they showed up on the map by the time you hit Level 8.

Another mark of a home territory is that you manage to own much of it for your team. The top blue agent in NYC right now got there by simply making sure his home territory always stayed blue. Here's looking at you Kimon of Columbia/Grant's Tomb.

Next is the local team. It is my hunch that the game gives you local agents if the other side is seen dominating the territory. When new agents in the area sign up the side that is seen weaker is given as the first choice. Just guessing. My area was a green SRC territory. Then I took over and blue became dominant. Then the game gave the other side chicory, and I have been trying to reclaim dominance ever since. During that period the game has given me two to three local blue agents who are all leveling up right now. By the time they hit Level 8 blue should be dominant again.

A home territory is nice to have. You can attempt some complex fielding. You get your exercise. It really makes you see your neighborhood. I thought I knew my neighborhood well, but this game has really opened up the place for me.

Reaching out to local agents who are trying to level up is part of building the home territory. Soon enough in the game you realize the most scarce ammo is not Level 8 bursters, but time. A team with two active Level 8 agents will dominate one with only one Level 8 agent. 24 hours times two is 48 hours. Most active agents seldom lack for ammo. But do you have the time to show up? That ends up being the differentiating factor.

Comment by Michael Giusto:
The game has not changed how YOU CHOOSE what side to be on since it was first released, they do not offer suggestions to players to pick a particular side, so this hunch of yours that they alter the selection screen based on which team needs players is mis-informed and just plain wrong. You should delete that section from your blog post it is completely incorrect.
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Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Ingress: New Scanner: Version 1.30.2 Update



Being able to see how many keys you have to a portal before you link to it is great. I have over 30 portals that I like to have at least one key of. But I also want to link and field - the most fun part of the game.

I think this scanner favors agents who walk to agents who drive around in cars. That is also a plus. The car advantage might have been diminished. If Ingress could turn America into a walking nation, that would be trillions in health care savings. That alone would make the game worth it. I was not overweight when I started playing, but I have lost weight playing. That is a good thing. My waistline is slimmer. Walking is the best aspect of the game. I was already a walking maniac before the game. Now I am even more so.

What they have not worked on is the COMM. Unless they fundamentally rework the COMM the app is not tremendously helping the social aspects of the game. The COMM is currently the weak link in the chain.

My only bigger gripe than the COMM is that Niantic is not approving portals fast enough. Unless New York City has 10 times more portals it can not accommodate its current batch of players, let alone the expected five times increase in player numbers. I would like to attempt complex fielding, but that is currently not possible. Please approve my 1,000 portal submissions already.
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Thursday, June 06, 2013

Ingress: Portal Submissions Are The Bomb



If you are like me, you started the game by chasing portals. You walked long blocks. You took the train to portals an hour away. You jumped into a car with someone to go hack portals hours away. That is called chasing portals. And that is fine. You got to go where the portals are.

But you should also make the portals come to you. And you do that by submitting portals. And it is never too early to start. I think you should start making portal submissions as early as Level 1. Do not wait.

Sculptures and churches are a good bet. Close clusters are better than one portal per block. Start building your home territory right away. You want at least 20 portals that you can walk over to any time.

I remember the excitement when my first portal went live. I had submitted it when I was a mere Level 1. I would not have made that particular submission if I knew better. But it went through. I was in a slow phase of the game when, boom, 20 of my portals went live on a single day. And I was back in the game like crazy. Then started a new phase of the game for me: the phase of submitting portals. Why spend most of your time fighting over portals that already are? Why not submit more?

I don't know about you but I get a kick out of creating fields. And you have to be able to own a cluster of portals for at least a few hours for you to be able to create anything meaningful. And so I have not only submitted portals with me and my team in mind, but also for enemy agents nearby who I think are a major nuisance to my field creation attempts! Here's 10 for you, now go buzz off!

In about two months I expect to have all the portals I need in my local area. And my definition of local area is kind of large. It involves at least four different neighborhoods in NYC. I think I am pretty much done submitting portals. Once my local portals go live I will be ready for some team building.

Right now it is my reading of the Ingress intel map and the COMM that the green team in the city has momentum. They pushed the blue team from owning 66% of the city to 50%. I happen to think they will go all the way to owning 66% of the city. They have wind in their sails.

It is a mathematical proposition. 66% is the point where arrogance sets in. But if they play it right they might even be able to take it up to 70%. I have seen new green L8 agent names pop up left and right. But then the pendulum will swing again. Just like portals flip, that's a given, the teams have pendulum swings. As your territory expands, your team members get less and less hungry. The enthusiasm level goes down. Infighting might start. And, boom, next thing you know the other team is steamrolling all over you.

Just when most of my local portals go live is when I expect the pendulum to swing again. And hopefully Niantic will have done at least one more round of allowing each agent a few invites, and there are more agents in the field. I look forward to team building.

Starting to play the game was fun. Hitting L8 was fun. Being able to do L8 farms was fun. Making portal submissions was fun. I think team building will be the most fun.
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