Ingress was the flagship game of Niantic, a once-Google-owned company that has since spread its wings and branched out into games like PokemonGo. But Ingress was the first geolocation mobile game of its kind. In fact, all of the original Pokestops were built on Ingress portals.
Like PokemonGo, when you download the Ingress Scanner app, it asks you to choose a side: Resistance or Enlightened. The story of Ingress is centered around Exotic Matter (XM), which filters into our universe from portals scattered around the globe. For those who are Sensitive to XM, exposure to it can foster bursts of creativity and innovation, as well as enhanced physical and/or mental capabilities. The Enlightened believe that it is only by harnessing XM that humanity will reach its true potential. But there is a Resistance movement who believe the so-called Shapers who control the XM are using it to Shape our minds to their own ends, and that they have been doing so throughout the whole of human history.
Since the game first kicked off in 2012, it told its story through an Alternate Reality Game, with all of the usual trappings: Character social media accounts, puzzles, real-world dead drops, you name it. The actors who played the major Ingress NPC’s would even show up in-person, in-character to Anomalies and other Ingress events to interact with the players. And as a member of the Ingress creative team, I had a hand in all of this. I did some traditional screenwriting for an Ingress web series. I wrote and designed all of the ARG elements. And I prepped the actors for playing their characters in our videos and in-person appearances.
One element that Ingress added to its storytelling repertoire around the time I came on board was tabletop roleplaying. So I was also called upon to write, design, and run RPG modules for fans at live Ingress events around the world.