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

Step Spots Gameplay

Step Spots

August 5, 2022

Drag 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?

Escoria Gameplay

Escorial

August 2, 2022

There'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 Gameplay

Space Filler

July 28, 2022

Patch 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 Gameplay

Astray 2

July 21, 2022

You'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 Gameplay

Simple Moves

July 12, 2022

You 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 Gameplay

Quax

July 11, 2022

Run, 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 Gameplay

Unstack Balls

June 24, 2022

Slide and unstack the balls so there's only one ball per hole! Can you plan your moves and unstack them all in 60 levels?

Ice Cream Man Gameplay

Ice Cream Man

June 23, 2022

It's a scoop. It's a dollop. It's Ice Cream Man! Someone left you outside... Can you make it back to the freezer before you melt?

Duplicube Gameplay

Duplicube

June 21, 2022

Take over the board with your color! Click on the right spot and watch the space fill with color. Can you take over all the boards?

Strinop Gameplay

Strinop

June 14, 2022

Drink up to power up! Your powers are contained in potions scattered all over the level. Pick them up to escape the evil dimension!