Pao Salcedo
Game Curator

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
Zenge
September 1, 2022Piece together the broken shapes! Every puzzle you solve reveals more of the bigger picture. Can you find out what lies beyond the keyhole?
Draw The Hill
August 23, 2022Get the car as far as possible without getting stuck! Sketch your way to a new high score and upgrade your ride with coins.
Legend
August 18, 2022It's not easy becoming a legend, especially when you lose a life each time you land on a platform! Can you become legendary?
Step Spots
August 5, 2022Drag the shapes along the path and fill them up! All the holes need to be filled with white light. Can you make the shapes whole again?
Escorial
August 2, 2022There's something strange in the castle! Stay one step ahead of the ghosts and use your powers against them. Can you defeat them all?
Space Filler
July 28, 2022Patch up your broken spaceship! Seal all the holes with your repair blocks. You don't want to get sucked into the vacuum of space, do you?
Astray 2
July 21, 2022You're a marble in a maze... Can you roll your way out? Find your way through all the mazes and shine brightly in the desert!
Simple Moves
July 12, 2022You only have a few moves. How will you make the most of them? Plan your route and light all the boxes before you run out of moves!
Quax
July 11, 2022Run, hop, and wall jump your way through this minimalistic platformer! Don't let the simple levels fool you, they're quite a challenge.
Unstack Balls
June 24, 2022Slide and unstack the balls so there's only one ball per hole! Can you plan your moves and unstack them all in 60 levels?