Instilling the Spirit of Ramadan to Malaysian Muslim Children through Mobile Game Approach

Ramadan is special for Muslims all over the globe. Muslims are required to fast every day from sunrise to sunset during the whole month of Ramadan. Eating, drinking, smoking and sex are all prohibited during fasting. During this month, Muslims seek the opportunity to do good deeds and aim to improve their good moral character and habits. Parents in Malaysia wish that their children also get the same value and spirit of Ramadan. Passing down the value and knowledge to children is not an easy task. Game-Based Learning is popular nowadays, especially in educating children effectively. The amount of existing mobile games that contain Islamic content especially related to Ramadan suitable for Malaysian values is limited. Therefore, this game aims to motivate and educate Muslim kids in Malaysia about fasting and good deeds during Ramadan. The objective of this study is to develop a mobile game application on Ramadan that is suitable for children according to Malaysian values. This research focuses on the development of User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX), gameplay, game design, environment, and narrative. Unity, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop are the applications used to produce the 2D mobile game aimed at Android users. Game Development Life Cycle (GDLC) model is used as the methodology in the development of this research. The completed game was evaluated for effectiveness among selected target audiences aged 6-12 and families with children aged 6-12. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was adapted to measure user acceptance in terms of game design, functionality, and overall game performance. The result shows that 100 % of the respondents agreed that the Ramadan Spirit game provides knowledge that can be applied in their life.