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

Billys Button Volume 2 Gameplay

Billy's Button Volume 2

September 30, 2024

There's nothing to see here, just a button. There's absolutely nothing hidden behind it.

Cards 21 Gameplay

Cards 21

September 27, 2024

So many ways to score 21! Drop the cards, hit 21, and score big. Go for triple 7s for a huge bonus!

Color Strings Gameplay

Color Strings

September 16, 2024

Rearrange the strings to match the image! Use your visual-spatial reasoning to pull the strings into the correct positions.

Cribbage Gameplay

Cribbage

September 9, 2024

This classic card game is great with friends. Choose your cards wisely so you can get to 121!

Pac Xon Gameplay

Pac-Xon

August 30, 2024

Build walls to trap the ghosts before they catch you! Make sure you don't get stuck with a ghost and get eaten.

On Being Undermined Gameplay

On Being Undermined

August 29, 2024

Explore the Undermine with your goblin buddies! Find all the Orbs, solve unexpected puzzles, and meet new friends in this character-filled, side-scrolling adventure.

Upside Down Gameplay

Upside Down

August 9, 2024

Flip the world so you can touch the stars! In this topsy-turvy platformer, you'll have to think outside the confines of up and down.

Banana Duck Gameplay

Banana Duck

August 8, 2024

Life's simple when you're a duck... just find bananas and dodge evil vegetables! Don't forget to grab those keys to unlock those pesky doors!

Day of the Sandwich Gameplay

Day of the Sandwich

August 2, 2024

All you want is a bacon sandwich... can you figure out how to make one? Enjoy this mundane quest in the tradition of classic point-and-click adventures.

Lost in Translation Gameplay

Lost in Translation

July 29, 2024

You've landed on a strange planet, tasked with writing a dictionary in a language you don't know! Talk with the people of the planet and decipher every last word.