Serious game development for children learning to read using SAS strategies

Reading and writing at the elementary school level are part of the language skills that students must have. Based on a survey at SD Muhammadiyah Ambarketawang 3 and SDN Balirejo in Yogyakarta, we found problems in elementary schools: more than 60% of grade 1 students could not read, and grade 2 students could not read fluently. One of the causes is a lack of student motivation and interest in learning. Increasing student motivation to learn can be done through educational games (serious games) because they provide learning that can be tailored to students and provide feedback automatically. Many game applications have been developed, but only some are effective and suitable for improving students’ reading learning. This research focuses on developing "alfabeta" games using SAS strategies to learn to read. The development of this game uses the GDLC (Game Development Lifecycle) method, which is a game development method that consists of six main stages: initiation, pre-production, production, testing, beta, and release. In measuring the success of application development, testing is carried out using the media quality test method and Single ease question. According to the media quality test, the "alfabeta" game application scored 4.52 on a scale of 5, which means it has very good quality. According to SEQ testing, the "alfabeta" game scored 6.44 out of a scale of 7, which means the application is very easy to use.