Professor Simulator: Desktop Lab

Please note: this is a semi-idle, small-window game.

Professor Simulator: Desktop Lab is not a traditional management game that requires constant attention, continuous control, or deep strategic planning. It is also not a serious university management simulator.

The original intention behind this game was simple: we wanted to give researchers, graduate students, and anyone working on papers, experiments, presentations, or daily tasks a small moment of relief at their desk. It is closer to a research-themed desktop companion that quietly runs in the corner of your screen. You do not need to stare at it all the time; just check back occasionally to see what is happening in your lab.

You can recruit master’s and PhD students, apply for projects, buy research equipment, publish papers, accumulate Impact Factor, and gradually unlock more lab features. Your students will work, live, slack off, break down, and sometimes bring new papers to the lab while you are away.

Although the game lets you play as a “professor,” its perspective is closer to the everyday experience of graduate students and research workers. Many parts of the game are lighthearted jokes about papers, Impact Factor, group meetings, graduation, projects, and lab life. It is not meant to be a strict simulation of university management or the real work of a professor.

If we fully recreated real academic life, including grant applications, peer review, administration, evaluations, and pressure, the result might become heavy rather than fun. What we hope to create is a small, absurd game that can make people familiar with research life smile for a moment.

If you are looking for a full-screen, highly interactive, realistic strategy or management sim, this game may not be for you.

But if you want a relaxed research-themed game that can sit at the edge of your screen and be checked from time to time, welcome to your laboratory.

This is an idle game that won’t interrupt your work, experiments, or paper writing.

It only takes up a tiny corner of your screen, quietly running in the background and keeping you company.

In the game, you play as a young lecturer at the start of your academic career. Beginning with a humble little lab, you will recruit students, conduct research projects, publish papers, purchase equipment, set lab rules, and gradually climb the academic ladder until you become a true academic heavyweight.

The journey may be painful, and it may be absurd, but at least—

you finally get to be the advisor.

Interview Students

Starting from scratch, you will personally interview master’s and PhD students, selecting the most suitable candidates to join your team.

Different students have different abilities, personalities, and growth potential. Some are naturally gifted, some are hardworking and reliable, and some look extremely promising—while simply waiting for the perfect chance to slack off.

As your academic rank rises, your lab will gradually expand, allowing you to recruit more students and build a larger research team.

Manage Your Research Team

Students will occasionally “slack off,” so you need to check in regularly, click to view their status, motivate them, boost their research abilities, and effectively reduce the number of times they secretly “take it easy.”

You can observe each student’s condition, ability growth, stress, and relationships, then train them, assign tasks, or let them continue experiencing the harsh reality of academia at the right moment.

If a student produces little to no results for a long time... you also have the authority to take decisive action—deny graduation and let them feel the full force of the “academic iron fist.”

Of course, once you are promoted to a higher academic rank, your management options will become even richer. The lab rules system allows you to adjust stipends, authorship rules, and graduation requirements, creating a research environment that is lenient, strict, or full of pressure.

Conduct Projects and Publish Papers

Research cannot rely on passion alone. You also need projects and results.

Lead your students through different types of research projects, accumulating innovation, workload, and writing quality. When the results are ready, remember to write the paper and submit it to a journal.

The higher the quality of your work, the greater the chance of being accepted by a high-impact journal. But submission is never entirely predictable—even if you do everything well, you still may not escape the fate assigned by the reviewers.

You will need to guide your students through different research stages, bouncing between revisions, rejections, and publications, eventually accumulating academic influence of your own.

Purchase and Upgrade Lab Equipment

Purchase and upgrade lab equipment to significantly improve your team’s research efficiency.

Different equipment affects research outputs such as innovation, workload, and writing quality. Based on the needs of your current projects, you can gradually add research instruments, daily-use facilities, and decorations, transforming your once modest lab into a high-end, intelligent, and perhaps slightly absurd modern research platform.

At the same time, do not forget to add some entertainment and daily-life facilities to relieve the students’ accumulated stress and prevent their depression index from skyrocketing.

Climb the Academic Ladder

As your influence grows, you will gradually be promoted through academic ranks.

Starting as a lecturer, you will rise to associate professor, professor, and even higher levels of academic leadership. There are 9 advisor ranks in total, and your lab size, student capacity, and available projects will all expand as you advance.

Becoming a professor is not the end. It is only the beginning of something bigger.

Apply for Honorary Titles

As you manage your lab, you can also apply for various honorary titles.

Whether you are a paper-production machine, a master of student cultivation, a conference expert, or, in some sense, a “graduation delay manufacturer,” you can unlock your own titles by meeting different conditions.

Become a more outstanding and more distinctive academic leader!

Set Lab Rules

As an advisor, you do not just manage projects. You also manage the system.

In the full version, you can adjust stipend levels, authorship rules, and graduation requirements. Will you offer generous support, or make students fend for themselves? Will graduation be lenient, or set to hell mode? Will office romance be allowed, or strictly forbidden?

Your lab, your rules.

Attend Academic Conferences

Bring your students to various academic conferences, improving research abilities through communication, presentations, and, of course, free food and drinks.

Different conferences may bring different growth opportunities, networking gains, and special rewards. Attending with a paper, bringing students along, or simply going to broaden your horizons can all become important steps in your lab’s development.

Trade with the Mysterious Wandering Merchant

A mysterious friend will occasionally visit your lab, bringing all kinds of curious goods.

He may sell research equipment, daily supplies, special projects, outsourcing opportunities, recipes, strange apps, and even things you are not entirely sure you should buy.

They may not all be reliable, but someone will always be tempted.

Joint Training and Student Exchange

After completing the required research projects, you will be able to unlock the joint training system.

Different advisors can exchange students, sending your students to other labs for further training or bringing students from other advisors into your own lab to continue their development.

The academic path is never a solo journey. Sometimes sending students away may lead to unexpected growth.

Recall Graduated Students

For some students, the story does not truly end after graduation.

In the full version, you can unlock the ability to recall graduated students, bringing former master’s students back to the lab so they can continue participating in research and extend their academic connection with you.

Graduation is not the end. It is merely another form of returning to work.

Play While Idling

Professor Simulator: Desktop Lab can be minimized to the bottom-right corner of your screen, taking up very little space.

It is perfect for quietly running while you work, study, write papers, run experiments, or slack off during meetings. You do not need to keep staring at it, but it will always be there with you.

When you look back, perhaps your students have already published a paper.

Or perhaps they have started slacking off again.