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| 3/17/2010 4:19:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Snakehead Software founder offers variety of iPhone games
LAURI ZACHRY
Education Reporter
Snakehead Software founder Gerald Bailey wants iPhone users to take a break and escape by playing one of the six games his company has created as iPhone applications.
Bailey created Snakehead Software in August 2008. In December 2008 the company launched its first iPhone application game, Flying Aces, the first-ever iPhone application flight simulator. Since then, artists and developers at Snakehead Software have created six applications such as Flying Aces, Texas Tea and Air Assault.
"Everyone wants a piece of the iPhone and we've got it," Bailey said.
Texas Tea is a three-in-a-row dice strategy match game in which players start in El Paso and work their way to Austin by collecting points and discovering oil.
Bailey offers Texas Tea as a preview application for free while he charges 99 cents for users to have the game's full features.
"Texas Tea is a fun game but it can be addictive," Bailey said. "It was hard testing this game because I couldn't watch for all the things I needed to watch for but I would get to caught up in actually playing the game."
Air Assault is the newest application Snakehead Software artists and developers have created. More than 1.5 million people downloaded the application in the first week of its release, making it the second-most downloaded free application that week, Bailey said.
Air Assault is a combat game in which U.S. military forces invade Afghanistan. Afghan soldiers are then backed by Russian military forces and attack U.S. soldiers. The iPhone player is the lone U.S. officer fighting Afghan and Russian forces, he said.
Currently, Bailey is working on the second, campaign of Air Assault in which the lone U.S. soldier moves into Iraq to fight.
Flying Aces costs $3.99 to download while Air Assault is free. However, the second campaign of Air Assault, which will include new levels and weapons, will cost 99 cents per download.
Bailey and other Snakehead Software artists and developers write iPhone applications for other companies such as a large pizza chain and any business that wants to convert their Flash-based applications into iPhone applications.
"I'm an idea guy so I get my ideas from just about anywhere," Bailey said. "It's just hard always finding the time to develop them."
Bailey has always had a love for technology and Mac products. While still in high school in New Mexico, Bailey worked as a service technician for the Apple II computer and then managed a store that sold Apple II computers.
While attending New Mexico State University he served as the student representative for Apple Computers, installing them in classrooms, and then worked at Computerland Stores as an Apple education representative.
Bailey then moved to the Silicon Valley in California in 1996 but moved to Round Rock in 2006 because the Austin area still had the same technology culture as Silicon Valley but with a lower cost of living.
Before creating Snakehead Software, Bailey was the founder and owner of Don Geraldo Foods, a homemade salsa company.
Recently, Bailey launched another iPhone application offering called appstoremanager.com, an online applications managers can use to keep up with aspects of their businesses.
For example, the application can automatically chart and graph sales data.
Bailey believes in keeping his business local so he hires graphic artists and developers who live in the Central Texas area. Currently, two graphic artists and three developers work for him. He is also looking for a marketing intern and another graphic artist for his company.
In the future, Bailey and others with Snakehead Software want to come up with more applications, games and applications for other companies for the iPhone.
For more information about Snakehead Software and Bailey, visit snakeheadsoftware.com, appstoremanager.com or follow Bailey on Twitter @snakehead.
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