About This Game

Just released! Only a bit behind the schedule, just like the planned experiment.

You got in. Now survive it.

A PhD Simulator - Publish & Perish is a satirical simulation of life as a biology PhD student — the real rhythm of grad school, not the movie version. Choose your field (cancer biology, evolution, or structural biology, each with its own risks and rewards), run experiments that might actually fail, and slowly build the data, the figures, and eventually the thesis that gets you out.

• Balance the bench and your life — hunger, sleep, and sanity are real resources, and burnout is a genuine ending

• Navigate work relationships — your advisor's opinion of you, your labmates, and the ever-present threat of getting scooped

• Write, submit, get rejected, revise, resubmit — the actual publishing cycle, predatory journal included

• Multiple ways out — several distinct endings depending on how you played it, not just win or lose

• Deadpan, research-accurate humor — written by people who've lived it

Not everyone graduates. Not everyone should.

The repetitiveness and frustration included, just a little sped up.

New info: Thank you all for the feedback and encouragement we have received. we have also received a question:

Q: Are there in game purchases that would allow you to progress in the game?

A: No, and we do not plan them even though pay to win model helps in academia. The price that you see is final and also include updates which we will release once they are ready. It would definitely include Czech and Chinese translation and different PI personality. Implementing relationships and trying to maintain them is one possibility.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

The game used AI to generate artwork and code. We are biologists and we do research for living this is to show to others what its like.