I built UNDER REVIEW as a small game inspired by one of the most familiar—and unpredictable—parts of academic life: getting a paper through peer review.
You start with a manuscript, choose where to submit it, and work your way through desk review, reviewer comments, revisions, resubmissions, and editorial decisions. Along the way, you make choices about how to respond, where to invest your effort, and whether to keep pushing for the same journal or try another route. The game turns the academic publishing process into something you can experience in a few minutes rather than several months—or years.
I made it partly for fun, but also because publishing is a process that can feel abstract when you are first learning how research works. A simple simulation makes some of its uncertainty, tradeoffs, and persistence more tangible.
It is not meant to reproduce academic publishing perfectly. Think of it as a lighthearted version of a process that many researchers know very well.
If you give it a try, I would love to hear your feedback—especially ideas for new events, reviewer comments, journal scenarios, or other pieces of academic life that could make the game more interesting.