When she first agreed to lead the research team of the Niantic Project, Dr. Devra Bogdanovich knew she was headed into the unknown. What she never could have imagined is where her dangerous, and potentially world-changing, exploration of Exotic Matter would lead her. After the chaos of the evening known as Epiphany Night explodes into murder and betrayal, the NIA seeks other ways to continue the ongoing research while Devra finds herself on the run and ensnared in a game of cat and mouse with the most powerful thinking machine ever created, a detection algorithm known as ADA. As ADA follows her digital trail, Devra is also pursued by both a relentless assassin and a rogue NIA agent. Now determined to restart her quest for understanding this transdimensional building block known as Exotic Matter, Devra recruits a team of her own to stop Niantic and uncover the ultimate truth of XM. Is it the key to unlocking an enlightened future? Or is it a tool for the ultimate enslavement of mankind?
What is the Niantic Project? In November 2012, a series of leaks began to emerge, revealing a conspiracy that would reshape the destiny of mankind. Exotic Matter Portals, Ordered Data, a mind-altering signal that some say can change the way we think, and Ingress, a government tool camouflaged as a mobile phone game. P.A. Chapeau’s Investigation began with revelations about ‘The Niantic Project,’ a secret government think tank run by a defunct intelligence agency, and continued on, ultimately revealing a hidden movement to co-opt the highest positions of leadership in governments and cultural power-centers worldwide. From the initial discovery of the Niantic Project in The Sphere of Weirdness to the unearthing of a global conspiracy in Operation Cassandra, each document from P.A. Chapeau’s daily investigation is presented here, in Volume 1 of The Niantic Project Files.
At the start of his latest adventure, Hank Johnson finds himself on a journey back to the 13MAGNUS Nest in Afghanistan. Jahan, the new leader of Anti-Magnus, has taken Hank and Azmati captive with plans to use them to summon the N’Zeer, an ancient force attempting to guide the development of mankind. Meanwhile, Devra Bogdanovich and Hubert Farlowe follow closely behind, with Ezekiel Calvin covertly keeping watch over the course of events. What transpires in the 13MAGNUS Nest has far-reaching consequences for all 13 of the original Niantic Investigators. With their fate still unknown, Volume 4 of The Niantic Project Files presents the correspondences and investigation materials that will help to solve that mystery.
A year into the investigation, P.A. Chapeau must come to terms with his role in two tragedies: The death of Carrie Campbell, a brave, visionary woman who sacrificed herself to save human civilization from self-destruction, and the takeover of a human mind by an AI that he helped create. Chapeau walks away, leaving the duty of uncovering the truth about Exotic Matter to the mysterious Verity Seke, and there’s much to investigate: An ancient society that has been protecting the secrets of XM-induced immortality, the resurrection of an Enlightened leader, and a desperate movement to save humanity from embarking on a path to its own destruction. From the efforts to resurrect Roland Jarvis in 13MAGNUS to Hank Johnson’s Recursion, each document from Verity Seke’s daily investigation is presented here, in Volume 2 of The Niantic Project Files.
Determined to shield humanity from the harmful effects of Exotic Matter (XM), Devra Bogdanovich unleashes a Portal Virus designed to shut down the XM flow in Portals worldwide. The interruption of XM flow drives Roland Jarvis, who is deeply dependent on it, to the brink of death. ADA is also negatively affected. Agents around the globe respond with efforts to eliminate the virus and protect the Portals. Unbeknownst to them, efforts to resuscitate the Portals using a set of ancient objects known as the ‘Helios Artifacts’ send out a surge of XM to the far corners of the Universe, awakening a long dormant force. Hank Johnson re-emerges from the ‘nest’ in Afghanistan where his body has been entombed to warn of an ancient entity that has acted as a rival to the Shapers throughout history. His search for answers leads him to India and an encounter that will forever alter his future.
Capable of seeing the present at different points in time, the visionary artist, Tycho, was among the first to see glimpses into the world of Ingress, predicting the death of Roland Jarvis and the event now known as Epiphany Night months before they took place. A ghost artist capable of mimicking the styles of others, Tycho's Ingress Comics 1-3 capture the events of Epiphany Night, Dr. Bogdanovich's escape and 855's cold blooded pursuit, the murder of Roland Jarvis and Hank Johnson's journey into the Congo and in riveting detail.
From alternate to alternative reality : games as cultural probes / Patrick Jagoda, Melissa Gilliam, Peter McDonald, and Ashlyn Sparrow -- The game did not take place : this is not a game and blurring the lines of fiction / Alan Hook -- Alternate reality games for learning : a frame by frame analysis / Anthony Pellicone, Elizabeth Bonsignore, Kathryn Kaczmarek, Kari Kraus, June Ahn, & Derek Hansen -- Promotional alternate reality games and the TINAG philosophy / Stephanie Janes -- The coachella disaster : how the puppet masters of art of the h3ist pulled a victory from the jaws of defeat / Burcu S. Bakiolu -- Designing and playing peer-produced ARGs in the primary classroom : supporting literacies through play / Angela Colvert -- Games beyond the arg / Jeff Watson -- Methods : studying alternate reality games as virtual worlds / Calvin Johns -- A typology to describe alternate reality games for cultural contexts / Diane Dufort and Federico Tajariol -- Sociability by design in an alternate reality game : the case of the Trail / Roinioti Elina, Pandia Eleana, Skarpelos Yannis -- Ingress : a restructuring of the ARG or a new genre? : an ethnography of enlightened and resistance factions in Brazil / Thaiane Moreira de Oliveira
Pokemon Go is not just play--the game has had an impact on public spaces, social circles and technology, suggesting new ways of experiencing our world. This collection of new essays explores what Pokemon Go can tell us about how and why we play. Covering a range of topics from mobile hardware and classroom applications to social conflict and urban planning, the contributors approach Pokemon Go from both practical and theoretical angles, anticipating the impact play will have on our digitally augmented world.
Create your own augmented reality games from scratch with Unity 5 About This Book Create your own augmented reality game from scratch and join the virtual reality gaming revolution Use the latest Unity 5 VR SDK to create pro-level AR games like Pokemon Go Innovate and explore the latest and most promising trend of AR gaming in the mobile gaming industry Who This Book Is For This book is for those who have a basic knowledge of game development techniques, but no previous knowledge of Unity is required. Some basic programming knowledge would be desirable, but the book is an introduction to the topic. The book is also suitable for experienced developers new to GIS or GPS development. What You Will Learn Build a location-based augmented reality game called Foodie Go Animate a player's avatar on a map Use the mobile device's camera as a game background Implement database persistence with SQLLite4Unity3D to carry inventory items across game sessions Create basic UI elements for the game, inventory, menu, and settings Perform location and content searches against the Google Places API Enhance the game's mood by adding visual shader effects Extend the game by adding multiplayer networking and other enhancements In Detail The heyday of location-based augmented reality games is upon us. They have been around for a few years, but the release of Pokemon Go was a gamechanger that catalyzed the market and led to a massive surge in demand. Now is the time for novice and experienced developers alike to turn their good ideas into augmented reality (AR) mobile games and meet this demand! If you are keen to develop virtual reality games with the latest Unity 5 toolkit, then this is the book for you. The genre of location-based AR games introduces a new platform and technical challenges, but this book will help simplify those challenges and show how to maximize your game audience. This book will take you on a journey through building a location-based AR game that addresses the core technical concepts: GIS fundamentals, mobile device GPS, mapping, map textures in Unity, mobile device camera, camera textures in Unity, accessing location-based services, and other useful Unity tips. The technical material also discusses what is necessary for further development to create a multiplayer version of the game. At the end, you will be presented with troubleshooting techniques in case you get into trouble and need a little help. Style and approach This book shows you how to create every step of the game and gives practical examples.
As enlightening as The Facebook Effect, Elon Musk, and Chaos Monkeys—the compelling, behind-the-scenes story of the creation of one of the most essential applications ever devised, and the rag-tag team that built it and changed how we navigate the world Never Lost Again chronicles the evolution of mapping technology—the "overnight success twenty years in the making." Bill Kilday takes us behind the scenes of the tech’s development, and introduces to the team that gave us not only Google Maps but Google Earth, and most recently, Pokémon GO. He takes us back to the beginning to Keyhole—a cash-strapped startup mapping company started by a small-town Texas boy named John Hanke, that nearly folded when the tech bubble burst. While a contract with the CIA kept them afloat, the company’s big break came with the first invasion of Iraq; CNN used their technology to cover the war and made it famous. Then Google came on the scene, buying the company and relaunching the software as Google Maps and Google Earth. Eventually, Hanke’s original company was spun back out of Google, and is now responsible for Pokémon GO and the upcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Kilday, the marketing director for Keyhole and Google Maps, was there from the earliest days, and offers a personal look behind the scenes at the tech and the minds developing it. But this book isn’t only a look back at the past; it is also a glimpse of what’s to come. Kilday reveals how emerging map-based technologies including virtual reality and driverless cars are going to upend our lives once again. Never Lost Again shows us how our worldview changed dramatically as a result of vision, imagination, and implementation. It’s a crazy story. And it all started with a really good map.
