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

Defense of the Wilds Level Pack

September 23, 2021

The evil robots have returned and are threatening the safety of the forest. Power up your Fire, Ice and Physical towers and protect your gems!

Flipzzle

September 14, 2021

Can you make every level a monochromatic dream? Draw lines across the circles to change their color. Careful, you only have a few lines to use!

Cheap Golf

August 31, 2021

You're trapped by a wise-cracking AI. Get out... by playing golf! The only hope for escape is your amazing golf skill. Can you outsmart the Computer?

Sokoban Miner

August 16, 2021

Another day working in the green energy mines... Load the crystals into the carts for immediate extraction! Plan ahead and try not to get stuck.

Shape Merge

August 10, 2021

Merge shapes to work your way up from circle to star! How far can you get before you are boxed in?

Boxbob

August 3, 2021

You have one job: push boxes where they need to go. Think carefully and find the right path to get the job done!

Rail Connect

July 27, 2021

This train needs to get moving! Slide tiles around to connect the tracks and deliver the gold.

Billiards Gameplay

Billiards

July 26, 2021

Grab a cue and take your best shot! Can you read the angles and run the table in this classic game of billiards?

The Faded Path

July 22, 2021

Don't hang around... or you'll fall off! Keep moving and jumping as the level disappears around you. Only the fastest will survive!

I Heard A Rumor

July 15, 2021

Be careful not to start a rumor. You never know how quickly it will spread...