Heyzap lets Facebook game developers publish their games to the web

Heyzap is liberating games from Facebook, allowing social game makers to publish them directly on the web.

The new platform will let game creators to maximize their audiences for games that have proven themselves on Facebook or the hi5 social network. It takes as little as an hour to half a day to adapt a Facebook or hi5 game for the web. That’s why 15 game publishers, with a monthly combined reach of 50 million users, have signed up already.

Heyzap uses Facebook Connect (which lets non-Facebook apps tap into a Facebook user’s friends list) to preserve the virality of Facebook games on the web. Anyone can take the social games and embed them on any other web site, blog or fan page — much like users embed YouTube videos in web pages with simple cut-and-paste embed code. Users can play with their friends, regardless of whether they are on Facebook or not.

Early Heyzap partners include Hi5, TheBroth, Gameduell and Aeria Games. These publishers will essentially double the reach of their games overnight to more than 150,000 sites in Heyzap’s network, said Jude Gomilla, c0-founder of Heyzap in San Francisco. Games going live this week are TheBroth’s “Hoop Fever Live,” and RacconX’s “FishStory,” among others.

“We think that every game developer could benefit from this,” said Gomila.

Heyzap works with Facebook Connect application programming interfaces. It simulates all of the viral features of Facebook, such as posting user updates to streams, sending gifts to friends, and inviting friends to join games. Heyzap has a couple of easy ways to make Flash or non-Flash games work on sites other than Facebook. And Heyzap will give the participating web sites a 15 percent share of the social game revenues. The converted games can use the startup’s payment system, but major game publishers can continue to use the same payment systems they are accustomed to on Facebook.

Heyzap’s existing network, which monetizes Flash games across the web, includes 25,000 games from 2,700 developers. The company, started by Gomilla and Immad Akhund, is in the middle of doubling its staff. It has raised funding from Y Combinator and Union Square Ventures.

Back in December, Facebook announced one in a series of features to make Flash games more social.