That's actually a good idea. Like "here we release subscriptions, this is another way for us to grab your money, but look, here's what your money will be spent on in 2021: 1)...2)...3)...". I'd appreciate that.
However not all could like the roadmap content, especially when Ingress team tries so hard to push portal scanning while the community is clearly against this vector. But that's another question, just give us something already.
Ingress is between a rock and a hard place over Covid19. When the bug allows things to come back to familiar play levels then we can discuss in person first Saturday leading to anomalies.
Cautiously optimistic about live first Saturday happening Q4 next year???
Subscriptions may have to wait until that happens before going live.
Depending on how effective the vaccine is (including distribution) I could see in-person IFSs possibly as early as late Q2, assuming a lot of other things go very well.
They’ve talked about their lack of communication, that they want to work on it, but there really hasn’t been much of it in 2020. Super disappointing. Ive paid for apps, run by one person, with hundreds of thousands of reviews on the App Store that have better communication with their user base. Niantic is a joke...
Given the usual caveat of "this is my perspective, not an official statement, so any of this is subject to change" hopefully this can help shed some light. As you know a big focus of 2020 was trying to get Ingress to a sustainable place. This involved three components: providing value to the company as a whole (which you all helped out enormously with with portal scanning), reducing server costs (which we've cut down by a large factor), and increasing revenue (which has improved, but not significantly). Furthermore, we need to balance this goal with delivering features and gameplay that players will enjoy (unfortunately, covid impacted some of the gameplay ideas we had e.g. battle beacons, so we couldnt really expand on that concept). Needless to say that this is a difficult juggling act which we have messed up on a few times and will probably do so again, but we are working on improving. Furthermore, as we get closer to being in a sustainable place (and we are getting closer), it is getting easier. That being said, we are mostly shifting focus this year to trying to get more players playing the game more often. How exactly we will go about doing that over the course of the year, I dont know. There are a few things currently in the pipes which I cant announce, but hopefully you all will like.
I know you can't comment on it to us, but can you poke @NianticBrian about subscriptions again, to help increase revenue? Longest teased feature ever (at least in the current age of Ingress).
Piggybacking off of @Perringaiden 's request, I'd like to see another Archives medal to increase revenue. Those seemed fairly popular and it's been a while since the previous one (late June). I'd imagine they're pretty easy to put in the store as well, half a day's work at best with all the announcements.
I appreciate you taking the time to comment, we all appreciate it since it seems to be severely lacking...
I have to say though, I'm completely puzzled.... In one breath you say, "this is a difficult juggling act which we have messed up on a few times" and shortly thereafter, "we are mostly shifting focus this year to trying to get more players playing the game more often" and then finally, "There are a few things currently in the pipes which I cant announce, but hopefully you all will like."
It's no surprise that there has been some mess ups, but why the continued secrecy regarding what's in the pipe? Why continue to place bets on your player base/community with new features Niantic hopes we like? Why not work with your community to build up confidence and overall enjoyment, because with that, comes new players and more play in general.
Not trying to completely roast you, but also, I just hit 16, kind of enjoy the game, but losing interest and just completely puzzled why it's so tough for Niantic to communicate with it's community instead of treating us like clients/workforce.
Subscriptions is in the works, but as we've worked on it, we've discovered that it has quite a number of corner cases. E.g. what if you have a subscription on an iPhone but you login on Android (and vice versa). So, we're trying to iron out some of the issues we've found before releasing it.
Generally, I think that bringing in players with the direction that we want to go in makes a lot of sense. I also think it makes sense when we have a good sense of what we want to build. We currently do this with the vanguards. The main problem is that we generally (as I've said above) have a direction and want to try something and see how it works. If we announce ahead of time that we're building X, Y, and Z, that makes it really hard to adapt to new circumstances and build something else instead. E.g. we only built out v1 of Battle Beacons, we didnt build any of the other plans on top of it because of covid. That being said, there are some features that we're currently building (e.g. subscriptions) that we also havent said very much about. The reason in that case is that its turning out to be a much more complicated to implement feature than we thought it would be. We would feel really bad if we said "Hey! We're planning on building this" and then having it come out half a year later (because it was actually built in a month to two, but got stuck in testing for much longer due to the discovery of corner cases, etc.). Lastly, it isnt my position to announce features and we generally want to do that in a higher production way than me making a small forum post, so thats why I dont do it. Again, with all that being said, we do try and use the vanguards to bring in the player perspective on the things that we're working on.
As for what you've said, I (and Brian) mostly agree. Communication is what builds up trust between the community and Niantic and thats why I have been trying to provide what perspective I have and Brian is also quite active on the forum as well. At the same time though, I dont have all the perspective and sometimes cannot provide that perspective. I apologize, but hopefully what I can provide does help.
You're very much in the minority with that opinion. I think most players would say AR in Ingress is a dead end. It requires you to hold your phone in a way that makes you look stupid in public, slows gameplay down and adds a massive overhead to the game's existing excessive battery drain and in return gives no gain at all apart from looking cool but also a bit clunky the first time you see it.
Just look at what happened in Pokemon Go – Niantic wasted massive amounts of effort on putting AR into that game (instead of doing anything the users actually wanted, or proper beta testing), and pretty much everyone tried it for 30 seconds then turned it off forever.
Games that use AR well could be developed, but they would have to be much less 'always on' than any of Niantic's current roster.
The longest promised improvement is to allow us to rearrange our mission badges (even if the first row is frozen). Many people want their banners to line up, or to sort by city, or by picture (like, all faces together).
Also, to see a list of portals already visited/captured. PokemonGo has this ability. Please at least let us see it on a browser.
They've never actually promised badge rearrangement. We've just asked for it forever. And if you want to go "whole of game" the Intel API was promised in early 2013, before badges even existed.
@ofer2 questing systems which require xx amount of gameplay to reward VR gear.
Build xx fields, capture xx portals, capture xx MU, destroy xx links, glyph xx points, etc. Rotate the quests regionally based on what players of each faction are doing. Lower than x fields or links in a cell? Require that quest. Too many links in a cell? Run the destroy links quest. Make it generally context aware of the cells and different for each faction so their objectives compete.
Also, require a certain level of play each day for quantum capsules to work. Aka, force people to do a map-showing action daily to get quantum gear. Simple fix to backpackers while also increasing daily actions of players.
Let's start at the beginning. Until jurisdictions loosen up Covid19 restrictions to the point where 90+% of the population can safely go out, this is not going anywhere.
After that, check back in Q3 or Q4 2021, we can discuss things like subscriptions, getting people out playing more, harder, and bring back basic things like live FS, and ramp for anomalies.
Why not put a poll out with some ideas, or a survey, see what people eould be interested in and what they wouldn't be. I get theres the vanguard program for litmus testing, but a better litmus test is asking loads of people from different backgrounds, play styles playing length etc.
Exactly, In my play area I know of 2 times a battle beacon was used, one to test it and another because the person wanted to flip their portal but didn't have a virus. Maybe more places use them, but just now it sounds like it was a wasted development
Another thing would be the portal scanning being so unrewarding for the time and effort it takes, if a poll had been done they might have been able to start it off being worth while
Comments
@NianticBrian @ofer2 we really need something to wait for, don't you have anything to say? 👀
ANY peak behind the curtain would be much appreciated! Imagine them releasing a rough roadmap with the subscription...
That's actually a good idea. Like "here we release subscriptions, this is another way for us to grab your money, but look, here's what your money will be spent on in 2021: 1)...2)...3)...". I'd appreciate that.
However not all could like the roadmap content, especially when Ingress team tries so hard to push portal scanning while the community is clearly against this vector. But that's another question, just give us something already.
Ingress is between a rock and a hard place over Covid19. When the bug allows things to come back to familiar play levels then we can discuss in person first Saturday leading to anomalies.
Cautiously optimistic about live first Saturday happening Q4 next year???
Subscriptions may have to wait until that happens before going live.
We use OSM now
no im not talking about OSM updates... roadmap.... stuff to expect in the game etc....
Depending on how effective the vaccine is (including distribution) I could see in-person IFSs possibly as early as late Q2, assuming a lot of other things go very well.
They’ve talked about their lack of communication, that they want to work on it, but there really hasn’t been much of it in 2020. Super disappointing. Ive paid for apps, run by one person, with hundreds of thousands of reviews on the App Store that have better communication with their user base. Niantic is a joke...
Here you go.
Given the usual caveat of "this is my perspective, not an official statement, so any of this is subject to change" hopefully this can help shed some light. As you know a big focus of 2020 was trying to get Ingress to a sustainable place. This involved three components: providing value to the company as a whole (which you all helped out enormously with with portal scanning), reducing server costs (which we've cut down by a large factor), and increasing revenue (which has improved, but not significantly). Furthermore, we need to balance this goal with delivering features and gameplay that players will enjoy (unfortunately, covid impacted some of the gameplay ideas we had e.g. battle beacons, so we couldnt really expand on that concept). Needless to say that this is a difficult juggling act which we have messed up on a few times and will probably do so again, but we are working on improving. Furthermore, as we get closer to being in a sustainable place (and we are getting closer), it is getting easier. That being said, we are mostly shifting focus this year to trying to get more players playing the game more often. How exactly we will go about doing that over the course of the year, I dont know. There are a few things currently in the pipes which I cant announce, but hopefully you all will like.
I know you can't comment on it to us, but can you poke @NianticBrian about subscriptions again, to help increase revenue? Longest teased feature ever (at least in the current age of Ingress).
Piggybacking off of @Perringaiden 's request, I'd like to see another Archives medal to increase revenue. Those seemed fairly popular and it's been a while since the previous one (late June). I'd imagine they're pretty easy to put in the store as well, half a day's work at best with all the announcements.
@NianticBrian @ofer2
@NianticBrian Please tell us what ofer2 is referring to - can you give us an actual 2021 Ingress roadmap?
I appreciate you taking the time to comment, we all appreciate it since it seems to be severely lacking...
I have to say though, I'm completely puzzled.... In one breath you say, "this is a difficult juggling act which we have messed up on a few times" and shortly thereafter, "we are mostly shifting focus this year to trying to get more players playing the game more often" and then finally, "There are a few things currently in the pipes which I cant announce, but hopefully you all will like."
It's no surprise that there has been some mess ups, but why the continued secrecy regarding what's in the pipe? Why continue to place bets on your player base/community with new features Niantic hopes we like? Why not work with your community to build up confidence and overall enjoyment, because with that, comes new players and more play in general.
Not trying to completely roast you, but also, I just hit 16, kind of enjoy the game, but losing interest and just completely puzzled why it's so tough for Niantic to communicate with it's community instead of treating us like clients/workforce.
Subscriptions is in the works, but as we've worked on it, we've discovered that it has quite a number of corner cases. E.g. what if you have a subscription on an iPhone but you login on Android (and vice versa). So, we're trying to iron out some of the issues we've found before releasing it.
Generally, I think that bringing in players with the direction that we want to go in makes a lot of sense. I also think it makes sense when we have a good sense of what we want to build. We currently do this with the vanguards. The main problem is that we generally (as I've said above) have a direction and want to try something and see how it works. If we announce ahead of time that we're building X, Y, and Z, that makes it really hard to adapt to new circumstances and build something else instead. E.g. we only built out v1 of Battle Beacons, we didnt build any of the other plans on top of it because of covid. That being said, there are some features that we're currently building (e.g. subscriptions) that we also havent said very much about. The reason in that case is that its turning out to be a much more complicated to implement feature than we thought it would be. We would feel really bad if we said "Hey! We're planning on building this" and then having it come out half a year later (because it was actually built in a month to two, but got stuck in testing for much longer due to the discovery of corner cases, etc.). Lastly, it isnt my position to announce features and we generally want to do that in a higher production way than me making a small forum post, so thats why I dont do it. Again, with all that being said, we do try and use the vanguards to bring in the player perspective on the things that we're working on.
As for what you've said, I (and Brian) mostly agree. Communication is what builds up trust between the community and Niantic and thats why I have been trying to provide what perspective I have and Brian is also quite active on the forum as well. At the same time though, I dont have all the perspective and sometimes cannot provide that perspective. I apologize, but hopefully what I can provide does help.
Thanks for the reply, ofer2, but as you mentioned you aren't the community or product manager.
Why hasn't Brian chimed in on this topic? I understand the hesitation to set dates, but at least give a list...
Most phones don't have lidar yet, which is the key ingredient. The latest iPhone but none of the prior ones for example.
You're very much in the minority with that opinion. I think most players would say AR in Ingress is a dead end. It requires you to hold your phone in a way that makes you look stupid in public, slows gameplay down and adds a massive overhead to the game's existing excessive battery drain and in return gives no gain at all apart from looking cool but also a bit clunky the first time you see it.
Just look at what happened in Pokemon Go – Niantic wasted massive amounts of effort on putting AR into that game (instead of doing anything the users actually wanted, or proper beta testing), and pretty much everyone tried it for 30 seconds then turned it off forever.
Games that use AR well could be developed, but they would have to be much less 'always on' than any of Niantic's current roster.
The longest promised improvement is to allow us to rearrange our mission badges (even if the first row is frozen). Many people want their banners to line up, or to sort by city, or by picture (like, all faces together).
Also, to see a list of portals already visited/captured. PokemonGo has this ability. Please at least let us see it on a browser.
They've never actually promised badge rearrangement. We've just asked for it forever. And if you want to go "whole of game" the Intel API was promised in early 2013, before badges even existed.
@ofer2 questing systems which require xx amount of gameplay to reward VR gear.
Build xx fields, capture xx portals, capture xx MU, destroy xx links, glyph xx points, etc. Rotate the quests regionally based on what players of each faction are doing. Lower than x fields or links in a cell? Require that quest. Too many links in a cell? Run the destroy links quest. Make it generally context aware of the cells and different for each faction so their objectives compete.
Also, require a certain level of play each day for quantum capsules to work. Aka, force people to do a map-showing action daily to get quantum gear. Simple fix to backpackers while also increasing daily actions of players.
Let's start at the beginning. Until jurisdictions loosen up Covid19 restrictions to the point where 90+% of the population can safely go out, this is not going anywhere.
After that, check back in Q3 or Q4 2021, we can discuss things like subscriptions, getting people out playing more, harder, and bring back basic things like live FS, and ramp for anomalies.
Why not put a poll out with some ideas, or a survey, see what people eould be interested in and what they wouldn't be. I get theres the vanguard program for litmus testing, but a better litmus test is asking loads of people from different backgrounds, play styles playing length etc.
Good point. We could have told Niantic that Battle Beacons would not repay the development time they put into them if they had consulted us.
Exactly, In my play area I know of 2 times a battle beacon was used, one to test it and another because the person wanted to flip their portal but didn't have a virus. Maybe more places use them, but just now it sounds like it was a wasted development
Another thing would be the portal scanning being so unrewarding for the time and effort it takes, if a poll had been done they might have been able to start it off being worth while