

Heyzap Vies To Become A YouTube For Flash Games (YC W09) - fallentimes
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/15/heyzap-vies-to-become-a-youtube-for-flash-games/#comment-2595084

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immad
Here are a few other links on us. Thanks for the coverage everyone!

<http://mashable.com/2009/01/15/heyzap/>

[http://tinycomb.com/2009/01/15/heyzap-the-longtail-
competito...](http://tinycomb.com/2009/01/15/heyzap-the-longtail-competitor-
to-oberon-media/)

[http://www.geek.com/articles/games/first-impressions-
heyzapc...](http://www.geek.com/articles/games/first-impressions-heyzapcom-
youtube-of-casual-gaming-20090115/)

[http://news.gotgame.com/heyzap-the-youtube-side-of-
games/236...](http://news.gotgame.com/heyzap-the-youtube-side-of-games/23613/)

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unalone
Okay, I know I ask a lot of questions (I already asked another one in this
thread), but I'm curious: why name it HeyZap? What's the "zap" in reference
to?

Congrats a ton on launching, and best of luck to you guys! :-)

~~~
immad
Its a fun, cool, memorable, short, unique name. Zap is a small monkey we keep
in the office :P

~~~
unalone
No way. You're pulling my leg. That would be too adorable.

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11ren
A pygmy marmoset with a joystick would make an awesome mascot.
[http://uartsjournals.com/2006_sara/wp-
content/uploads/2007/0...](http://uartsjournals.com/2006_sara/wp-
content/uploads/2007/04/pygmy%20marmoset.bmp)

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Mystalic
I don't usually say this about YC companies, but I'm not impressed - gaining
traction to be flash game epicenters Kongregate, CrazyMonkeyGames, and most of
all, Newgrounds, is not something I really envision. Do I really need ANOTHER
flash game website? Do you REALLY offer something consumers need?

Why would I want to install a widget on my blog for games, honestly? All I
want to do is play them, not embed them.

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nihilocrat
This seems a lot more webmaster / publisher-oriented, while Kongregate seems
more (new) developer- and community-oriented. Just compare the Kongregate
"About Us" page with HeyZap's front page. Kongregate even has its
"Shootorials" which honestly might be more about marketing the site as
newcomer-friendly and less about seriously teaching people stuff.

To be honest, I much prefer Kongregate's slant, but that's because I'm much
more interested in the developer end of things. However, HeyZap is just
starting, so I'm not going to fault it for not having all the bells and
whistles Kongregate does. There also might be serious value in the widget
model (i.e. HeyZap is not a destination, like Kongregate is) that I'm
completely blind to because I personally think that's dumb.

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judegomila
I'm sure we can get that search box in there. It's something we've been
planning (we've actually half done that feature :>)

Thanks guys for the support.

~~~
unalone
Best of luck to you!

I'm curious to hear in your own words, however: what does embedding games do
to help a site? As opposed to, say, doing what Kongregate does, and creating a
centralized location for games? With video it's different, because videos tend
to be shorter and last less time, so posting a video - especially one under 10
minutes in length - makes sense. (Even then, longer videos work better in
centralized zones like Hulu or even Vimeo.) Aren't most games long enough that
they thrive more from a feeling of centralization and unity of location?

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judegomila
Thanks for your comments unalone,

Embedding games on your site will keep users engaged for longer and give them
deeper, more interesting and addictive content.

If the users want to spend longer on a piece of content, they wont opt out
just because that piece of content has been embedded.

It's also great for the developers to get their games out to a larger
audience.

In general, setting these games free can only be a good thing for game
developers, game players and publishers.

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zach
Same pitch I heard for Kongregate, so it seems like a good one.

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fallentimes
Is Kongregate as focused on the widget aspect? I've always just gone straight
to the site.

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fallentimes
Already making money - gotta love it. I wonder if there's room in the widget
to fit a small box for search.

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sh1mmer
Immad I'm curious how you plan to compete with Kongregate, et al. What's the
value add? One of the things I notice about Kongregate, as a level 16 user
(sad, huh?) is that "badges" play a large role for me.

I don't have an infinite amount of time, and I've found that achieving badges
has become essential for me to feel like I've "done something". A lot of the
Flash games have a variety of levels of engagingness. Spending 20 minutes
completing a badge gives me a warm glow even if the game was mediocre and
keeps me going back to Kongregate again and again.

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immad
Hi sh1mmer,

Kongregate does a great job with concentrating on game developer tools and
providing a deeper experience for its users. We don't plan to directly
complete with that. We want to let other websites embed games to provide more
content for there users.

So imagine if Youtube was massive as a destination website but didn't allow
people to embed videos. The analogy is not perfect but fits well to describe
the different.

Either way the world of casual gaming is a lot bigger than just what
Kongregate does, I am sure we will find a space and hopefully when you want to
install games on your websites you know where to come ;-),

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arram
Congrats on the press hit Jude and Immad.

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chris11
I'd suggest adding a mute button to your widget. I like to listen to internet
radio while I play flash games, and it annoys me when the game music starts to
play. Also some authors seem to partially hide the mute button, so can be
somewhat frustrating to mute the sounds in game.

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iamwil
I thought that was what newgrounds.com was.

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unalone
You can't embed things with Newgrounds. As a side note, I onder why Newgrounds
faded out of popularity. Very fun web design, very neat systems for stuff, and
yet it was completely ignored as a company.

~~~
iamwil
They've been concentrating on other things, I think. I know Tom Fulp was
focusing on first Alien Hominid and then Castle Crashers (which is a really
fun game btw). Their PDA game is surprisingly fun as well.

I think they have other things in the works, but it seems like they're moving
in the direction of console games, rather than online flash games. But all the
same, I figured they still had a ton of traffic.

~~~
unalone
I figure they must, but I find it odd that I never hear the name pop up on
sites like this and Reddit.

Have they made many console games? The only one I knew of was Alien Hominid.

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iamwil
I don't know. Tom bootstrapped newgrounds with his friends, and they're based
out in Philly, so I think he never really plugged into the tech world. They've
been doing well and profitable, so they might be plugged in elsewhere, perhaps
the flash community.

They released "PDA Game" first as a minigame inside of Alient Hominid, and
then the sequel as a stand-alone on Xbox Live. They just (i.e. a month or two)
released Castle Crashers. I haven't heard of anything else coming from them.

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JabavuAdams
What about supporting the Unity Web Player? <http://unity3d.com/>

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immad
Hi, happy to consider it.

Doesn't that require a separate install? Can you link me to a web playable
game?

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JabavuAdams
It does require a separate download of about 3 MB.

Here's one of the Unity demos: <http://unity3d.com/gallery/live-
demos/tropical-paradise>

Here's a game I made (it's a bit slow due to last-minute physics overkill):
<http://www.tojam.ca/games_2008/office_smash.asp>

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judegomila
and one in french!

[http://www.accessoweb.com/HeyZap-Le-Youtube-des-jeux-en-
flas...](http://www.accessoweb.com/HeyZap-Le-Youtube-des-jeux-en-
flash_a4669.html)

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utnick
the techcrunch comments are strangely positive, either you must be doing
something good or techcrunch started moderating comments better :)

~~~
fallentimes
Even a blind squirrel... :)

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dnaquin
i've been waiting for this. congrats on the launch, guys.

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ajkirwin
Frankly, Kongregate seems better.

