With controversial author James Frey turning heads with his first of a series of three new books in the Endgame series, which came out this past October, Google’s Niantic Labs are looking to do the same thing, as the company is making progress on its tie-in Endgame mobile release.

The team is looking to release the game before the second book in the Endgame series comes out, according to VentureBeat. The game will have a lot in common with the geo-location-based title Ingress, as it will take place inside an alternate reality using real-world locales for fights with 12 unique factions, all of whom will be battling for control.

So how will this tie in with the Endgame books? Players will be able to create factions based on its Ancient Societies, which combat one another in the hopes of being the last remaining surviving one before the pending apocalypse.

What’s interesting about the game, though, is that it can actually change the events that occur within the books, based upon the actions of players and factions. Frey and co-author Nils Johnson-Shelton have worked very closely on the stories so that they’ll interact with the second and third books. This is according to Niantic Labs’ Jim Stewartson, talking with GamesBeat. “The plotlines of the game, movie and novel will merge into one story,” he said, also mentioning the Fox-based film trilogy that’s currently in the works.

As a result, this project will create one of the biggest “transmedia” projects around, one that interlaces events from a game release with those from both the books and the films. “Google has the online gaming rights to this franchise, and Niantic is extending this intellectual property into mobile,” said Stewartson.

In addition, an interesting promotion involves the books, where players have to solve a puzzle that’s actually embedded within the pages. The first person to do so will win $500,000 in actual gold, which is currently on display at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“We’ve been building a story that turns the novel into an alternate reality game, and, by next year, becomes a mobile game,” said Stewartson. “To me, this is the most exciting thing I’ve ever done.”

Considering the popularity of Ingress – with over seven million players since its release – Endgame is likely to be a much more complex project, involving 12 factions fighting for the sake of survival. “At its core, Endgame will have the same core DNA as a geolocation game like Ingress,” said Stewartson. “But it also has player versus player action, and that is a very different mechanic. The interesting thing is that the real players will be incorporated into subsequent novels. That might be the first time that has ever happened.”

The year of Endgame is upon us. Players should probably be ready to make the next move.