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

Vertex Shifter

April 19, 2021

Count your steps before you splat! If one square runs out of moves, use another to push it to the goal.

Mini Push

April 16, 2021

Flip blocks on or off to reach the coin! Disrupt the enemy blobs to sneak past them, or send them crashing into spikes.

Car Drawing Game Gameplay

Car Drawing Game

April 15, 2021

Grab hold of the magic pen and draw the car of your dreams! Warning: Cars may not stay upright.

Fishing Guru

April 13, 2021

The fish are really biting today! Type words to reel them in before they reach your boat and bare their teeth.

Hurdles

April 12, 2021

Strap on your running shoes and your headphones. Feel the beat of the music to clear the hurdles and win the race.

Bokdown

April 8, 2021

The chooks are scattered around the farm! Use your all-powerful bark to round them up before nightfall.

The Chamber game screenshot

The Chamber

April 5, 2021

Figure out the secret rule of every room! Can you make it to the final chamber and escape the facility?

Powercut Gameplay

Powercut

March 30, 2021

Keep your business running and the electricity flowing. Manage your workers' essential needs to ensure they keep earning big bucks!

A Knight and His Ghost

March 22, 2021

Don't worry, your ghost isn't scary. Use it to get through these tricky puzzles!

Chrono Noir

March 18, 2021

If at first you don't succeed... rewind time and try again! Avoid the enemies and get to the goal with the help of your past self.