Village Gamer

Bitcasters spin-off Social Game Universe, pioneers of the concept of inter-connected social games, has announced the launch of the Inter-Game API (IGAPI), a solution for game developers to drive traffic by letting users “play” through a cross-promotion bar.

IGAPI uses the power of the social graph to let players interact with their friends across games and apps without leaving the game they are currently playing. Rather than seeing a typical banner ad or cross promotion, players see IGAPI “Action Cards” that they can play on their friends in other apps. Action Cards can vary from the simple (e.g., “Give film to your friend Nathon to help him grow his studio in Hollywood Tycoon”) to the more zany and bizarre (e.g., “Release a horde of zombies on your friend Jen’s horror set!”). IGAPI’s actions are limited only by the imagination and creativity of the developers looking to attract attention to their games.

Originally developed for Social Game Universe’s own critically acclaimed Hollywood games, the IGAPI technology let players in the movie-mogul sim game Hollywood Tycoon hire actors from the fame and stardom game Avastar. Having seen the power of interconnecting the games, Social Game Universe turned IGAPI into a scalable, point-and-click tool that any third party developer can use. The result is greater player interaction, site engagement, and increased awareness of new apps.

“The IGAPI inter-game action system is very innovative, and I think it will improve the way games drive traffic, re-engagement, and revenue across the industry” said Hussein Fazal, CEO of AdParlor, a leading social application marketing business.

According to Eric Goldberg, Managing Director of Crossover Technologies, “IGAPI is a step forward in the cross-promotion of social games and a great tool for independent developers to reach new players”. Mr. Goldberg has now joined the advisory board of Social Game Universe, along with Manu Rekhi (Vice President of MySpace Games & Content) and Greg Bate (Co-founder of Neverblue).

Nathon Gunn, Founder and CEO of Social Game Universe, added “We knew we had something special going on between Avastar and Hollywood Tycoon, and we’re even more excited now that these innovations can be shared by other developers.”

On a side note, Social Game Universe is hiring. Check out their Jobs page for more details.