Heyzap’s new social bar makes Flash games more social

Unveiling more of its social platform for Flash games, Heyzap is announcing today that it is launching a social menu bar that can be used to simplify the process of signing into casual online games.
The menu bar is a simple gray stripe that runs along the bottom of a web page and is only 25 pixels high. It gives a user instant access to functions such as virtual currency, which can be used to pay for virtual goods inside the game. The value of the bar is that it is persistent. It can be used in any Flash game that uses the Heyzap platform.
Heyzap makes a platform that is aimed at developers of Flash online games. It is targeting Flash games because the category has grown up from a hobbyist market to a big business. Simple Flash games such as Bloons have proven addictive in recent years and some of them are drawing huge audiences. If developers use Heyzap’s platform, they can have an easier time marketing and monetizing their games. That’s important, since there are tens of thousands of Flash games available.
In the past year, Heyzap has launched tools that allow developers to monetize free games with virtual goods and virtual currency purchases. In December, it launched Heyzap Achievements, which lets users gather their rewards and achievements from games and show them off to their friends.
With the Heyzap Social Bar being introduced today, users will be able to tell their Facebook friends or others what Flash game they’re playing. They will also be able to purchase goods in the Flash game without having to sign into an account every time they play the game. In some ways, it resembles the Meebo chat bar, which lets users chat with friends across a bunch of different applications, or the YouTube social bar that lets users share videos with their friends easily.
“We have made the equivalent of a Meebo bar for games,” said Jude Gomila, co-founder of Heyzap, which has eight employees in San Francisco. “Your identity can travel with you. It effectively makes existing Flash games more social.”
The company competes with rivals such as Mochi Media, which was just acquired by China’s Shanda Games for $80 million.