By The Numbers: Week 1

So... Assassin's been out for just over a week, and we've gathered some very interesting usage data based on its first few days out in the wild.

See, there's this handy tool called Flurry -- not to be confused with Furry -- that iPhone developers can embed in their apps. Flurry tracks how many people have fired up Assassin on the iPhone, including how many are launching it for the first time, and what geographic regions they belong to. For all of you conspiracy theorists out there, there is no need to worry... we can't use Flurry to access your personal data (as far as we know.. yet... bwahahaHAHAH!).

Let's look at some graphs from Week 1... 'cause who doesn't love graphs? Keep in mind these stats don't track Facebook App usage, which by the way, GET IT if you haven't done so yet =)

Fig. one-point-oh: 3,688 New Users Week 1

So here's a bit of good news! It seems like our new user numbers were steady all week. Let's hope this keeps up, as most iPhone app downloads drop sharply after their first few days on the market. We're counting on the fact that Assassin is a social app so people will want their friends to download it and play along. *cough* spread the word! *cough*

Fig. one-point-one: 9,939 Sessions Week 1

This is the number of times Assassin has been launched, regardless of the number of users. So we have, let's see, carry the 1... just under 3 sessions per download (2.7 to be exact). Not too shabby, but we could probably do better.

Fig. one-point-two: Regional Usage

As you can see from the graph above, North Americans and Europeans have the biggest urge to stalk others with their camera phones. Latin American numbers seem low... maybe it's time to start thinking about a Spanish localization? "Policía? Ayuda! Alguien me quiere asesinar con su teléfono!"

Oh, and WAKE UP, ANTARCTICA!!

We've also been studying usage stats tracked on our internal servers, for example how many games have been created versus how many have actually been started, and it seems that most people are getting stuck in the "game invite" process. Although quite a few games have been created, we'd like to see more games actually get started. We're working on ways of making it easier for you to invite your friends to play along... more details on this soon.

Problems Registering?

We have isolated reports of people not receiving their account activation e-mails. We suspect there are some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that are automatically blocking our e-mails, and we're still trying to figure out why... we're not Nigerian and we don't have $1.5MM to offer you, we promise!

If you are experiencing this problem, send an e-mail to assassin@longtailstudios.com from the same e-mail address you entered as your username, and we will manually activate your account.

Pop the Cristal!

I can't believe I forgot to post this on Monday =)

Assassin Facebook and iPhone: BFFs at Last!

Remember that pesky bug we reported a couple of days ago? You know, the one that would make the user database cry every time someone tried to link their Assassin iPhone account to their Facebook app? We're happy to report that *crossing fingers* another bug bites the dust.

Code ninja Dom has made some updates to the server code, Jean-Christophe in QA has given it the thumbs up, and we have re-added the ability to merge your existing iPhone and Facebook accounts.

In order to link your accounts:

1. Open the Facebook application (http://apps.facebook.com/assassinfb)
1. Select Account, then Link Your Account
3. Enter the e-mail address of the iPhone account you would like to link to your Facebook account.

That's it! You should be good to go. Don't forget to contact us at assassin@longtailstudios.com if you run into any problems.

Never Take Styling Tips From a Russian Wrestler

Brandon: "Maybe I should cut my hair like Zangief."


Judges?

"Plan B" Titles for Assassin

Back in December, we faced the grim prospect that the title "Assassin" would be taken either in the iTunes App Store or on Facebook by the time we released.

Being the Planny McPlanningtons that we are, the team held a brainstorming session (OK, we just started spamming each other via e-mail) so that we wouldn't be caught off guard in case the unthinkable happened.

Some suggestions were great, some were... OK... and some were just silly. But that's the nature of brainstorming: there is no such thing as a bad idea.

So without further ado, here's the list of potential titles we came up with:

Assassin Cam
Assassinate
Assassins Club
Assassins Guild
Assassin Society
Dial A For Assassin
iAssassin
Cam Assassin
Phone Assassin
Snap Shot
Say Cheese and Die
Hunted
Photo Hunted
The Kill
Assassins Local 137
When Assassins Attack
Hey, remember that movie from the 80’s ‘Gotcha’ it’s sort of like that, but with an iPhone
Last Assassin Standing
Assassin’s Challenge
Tournament of Assassins
Got Assassins?
The Contract
Xtreme Assassin: Do the Dew
Assassin’s Order
What’s that, I can’t hear you, ‘cuz you’re dead
Assassin’s Paradise
Contract Killer
Last Man Standing
The Hit
Say Cheese

In case you're curious, we decided to go with Assassins Club.

What would you have called Assassin instead? Leave a comment.

"Remember that movie Gotcha! from the '80s?"

According to Brandon, Assassin "...is kind of like that, but with cameras." And he's absolutely right.

The 1985 classic, starring Anthony Edwards (Revenge of the Nerds, E.R.) and helmed by Nerds director Jeff Kanew, featured a group of college students playing a variation of Assassin called... you guessed it... Gotcha!

Assassin has been a popular live-action role playing game (or LARP) in college campuses for decades. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia entry:

Assassin (also Gotcha, Assassins, Juggernaut, Battle Royale, Paranoia, Killer, Tag, Elimination, or Circle of Death) is a live-action roleplaying game. Players try to eliminate each other from the game using mock weapons in an effort to become the last surviving player.

Assassin is particularly popular on college campuses; several universities have a dedicated "Assassins' Guild" society which organizes games for their members. Assassin is lifestyle-invading. Game-play occurs at all hours and in all places. Since an elimination attempt could occur at any time, successful players are obliged to develop a healthy degree of watchful paranoia.

So there you have it. Assassin has been around since the dawn of teen comedies. We just packaged "watchful paranoia" in digital form. You're welcome.