Pao Salcedo

Game Curator

Pao standing over a skillet full of bistek tagalog

Favorite Coolmath Games: Powercut, 8 Ball Pool
 

Pao is an advertising copywriter turned game producer. A graduate of the NYU Game Center's Game Design MFA program, he has over 9 years of experience playing, testing, and curating games in an academic or professional setting.

As a Senior Game Producer at Coolmath Games, Pao has created comprehensive game design documents for experienced external developers and translated them into launched games, such as Rock Paper Scissors, Pirate Battle: Ships Ahoy, and Tag.

He has licensed over 100 games and counting for CoolmathGames.com (including Tiny Fishing, Slice Master, and Duck Duck Clicker) and the Coolmath Games mobile app.

Before Coolmath Games, Pao worked at Computer Lunch, developers of the hit mobile games Cell to Singularity and Mama Hawk. He researched historical tidbits for Cell to Singularity and wrote write-ups for limited-time events. He also wrote in-game text and copy for Mama Hawk, and store descriptions for the App Store and Play Store.

Prior to that he was briefly a playtester for one of the most successful tabletop RPG Kickstarters ever.

In a previous life, he was a creative copywriter in multinational ad agencies in the Philippines.

Outside the hallowed, equation-filled halls of Coolmath Games, he is playing old JRPGs, trying to catch up to the latest One Piece volume, and experimenting with his lola's adobong manok recipe. 

 

WORK EXPERIENCE

  • COOLMATH GAMES | Senior Game Producer
    2019 – Present
  • COMPUTER LUNCH | Game Researcher
    Apr – Jun 2019, Sep 2022
  • KICKSTARTER RPG | Game Tester
    Apr 2019
  • COMPUTER LUNCH | Game Design and Copywriting
    Jun – Aug 2017
  • LEO BURNETT GROUP MANILA | Creative Team Head
    May 2014-May 2016
  • TBWA\SANTIAGO MANGADA PUNO | Copywriter
    June 2010 – April 2014

 

EDUCATION

  • NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, USA, MFA Game Design
  • ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY, PHILIPPINES, BS Business Management
  • ÉCOLE SUPÉRIEURE DE COMMERCE, PAU, FRANCE, Int’l Management Program

 

CONFERENCES ATTENDED

  • Game Developers Conference 2023
  • Indiecade 2017, 2018
  • PlayNYC 2018, 2021
  • Waffle Games 2018

Games Reviewed By Pao Salcedo

Like a hot knife through butter Gameplay

Like A Hot Knife Through Butter

June 21, 2024

Don't melt away from this slippery challenge! The butter is too hot and there are too many knives. It's up to you to slip, slide, and slice until every knife is buttered!   

Mrs. Hop Hop Gameplay

Mrs. Hop! Hop!

June 20, 2024

Help Mrs. Hop Hop hop her way to a yummy meal. Aim her jumps just right and try not to fall off a cliff!

Carrom Live Gameplay

Carrom Live

June 18, 2024

Sink some pucks in this classic aim and shoot game! Test your mettle against other players in online multiplayer.

Packing Gameplay

Packing

June 13, 2024

Your packing robots are awaiting orders! Set up your instructions, then sit back and watch them do all the hard work for you.

Magiciban Gameplay

Magiciban

June 11, 2024

The rabbits are out of the hat! Shift the stage to get them all back in place to put on a spectacular magic show.

Knightmare Gameplay

Knightmare

June 10, 2024

Move your knight across floating islands! Free from the chess board, teleport over perilous plunges until you reach your goal.

Square Away Gameplay

Square Away

June 7, 2024

Fix up this mix-up of squares! Try to restore order to this shuffled grid in as few moves possible.

Laser Overload Gameplay

Laser Overload

May 31, 2024

These lasers won't aim themselves! Rotate the mirrors to charge the battery to full power. Try to collect all the stars!

Flip Flop Gameplay

Flip-flop

May 30, 2024

Reflect reality itself to repair the broken mirror. Use your skills and scientific genius to retrieve all the mirror shards in this flip flop game.

Frog Corral Gameplay

Frog Corral

May 23, 2024

Lead the frogs back to the water. Solve the puzzles and return the little ones to their amphibious master.