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

Cat Bandit Gameplay

Cat Bandit

June 30, 2025

Nab all the riches as fast as you can! Sneak into each location to grab the diamond without getting caught.

Mini Switcher DX Gameplay

Mini Switcher DX

June 24, 2025

Switch up gravity to reach the goal! Move up and down through each level to avoid spikes and safely get to the flag.

TipTap Gameplay

TipTap

June 20, 2025

Get to the smile! Move the tool carefully to reach the smiley face and collect each one in every level.

Card Match 10 Gameplay

Card Match 10

June 17, 2025

Keep matching up to 10! Match up as many cards as you can and don't overfill your hand.

Jello Merge Gameplay

Jello Merge

June 13, 2025

Push the jellies into one! Slide jellies and merge them into one in as few moves as possible to get the most stars.

Sportsball Merge Gameplay

Sportsball Merge

June 10, 2025

Merge balls from every sport! Make sure the box doesn't overflow as you aim for the highest score possible.

House Painter Gameplay

House Painter

June 6, 2025

Paint the town wall by wall! Give every wall a fresh coat of paint, and earn money to grow your city.

Paused

June 5, 2025

What happened when the bunny and the duck crossed the level? Help this unexpected pair avoid the obstacles to reach the goal.

Papa Cherry Sage Gameplay

Papa Cherry Saga

June 3, 2025

Collect all of the sweets! Match up to 3 of the same treats and collect the ones you need to earn all of the gold.

Drop Numbers Gameplay

Drop Numbers

June 2, 2025

Combine the numbers, but don't fill up the grid! Merge numbers to get the highest score possible.