Burnt-Out is a serious game designed to incite discussion, raise awareness and create a space where players can explore the subject of burnout within the catering industry.
A four player cooperative board game where players take the role of employees working in a fast-food restaturant where the goal is to earn enough money before the shift ends.
Winner of the GameMaker Award for Game and System Design 2025
Burnt-Out was directly influenced by research into serious game design practices - procedural rhetoric, asymmetric design and theme and narrative design - with further research into the subject of burnout.
The catering industry is recognised as a sector with one of the highest rates of burnout, yet is one of the most reluctant to enact change to fight against it.
How the research applies to the games design:
Serious games - Designed to be both entertaining and educational, based on lived experience alongside The Burnt Chef Project, reducing bias and oversimplification of the subject.
Procedural rhetoric - Players learn through the rules and mechanics of the game - The stress meter and burnout levels that each player has, along witht the effects that come with each of them, aims to teach people about the symptoms of occupational stress. Players are taught through the game that teamwork and strong group dynamics, can aid in the reduction of stress build up.
Asymmetry - Purposeful imbalance of Kitchen players and Front-of-House players - keeps players overwhelmed by tasks, simulating the stress that occurs within the catering industry. Front-of-House has a stress meter that affecrs the players movement. This can be reduced via help from the kitchen, while the kitchen have a permanent movement reduction throughout the game.
Theme and narrative - Parody fast-food style restaurant - designed to somewhat recognisable, and give players context for the catering industry and burnout connection. The games mechanics, cards and game pieces are all narratively appropriate - allowing players to become more immersed with the subject, and immersed in the gameplay.
Burnout - The states of exhaustion that contribute to burnout are each represented within the game - physical exhaustion: established through the levels of burnout that affect movement - mental exhaustion: the stress meter that builds up over time, slowly affecting how the player reacts to it - emotional exhaustion: represented through the messages on the '+1 stress token' cards (below)
These are paraphrased from ambassadors of The Burnt Chef Project who have all recovered from burnout or stress related mental illnesses while working in the hospitality industry. They now help other suffering from the same.
