Portrait of ITS Bramunastya Team showing the XEGA game, their design

ITS Campus, ITS News – 2016 UNICEF data shows, 8 out of 10 adolescents aged 18 years believe that young people are vulnerable to sexual harassment. Moving on from these problems, Bramunastya Team from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) developed an innovation of 3D modeled games to increase awareness of elementary school (SD) children about the importance of sexual education.

They are Aqilla Suci Fattimatuz Haya, Muhammad Adrian Fadhilah, Rendy Ichsan Hanif, Rizki Amrizal, and Hammam Dyahurrahman Yusdin, created of Sex Education Game (XEGA), the nickname for this innovative game. These five students of ITS Industrial and System Engineering Department have developed their games by utilizing the Microsoft Kodu Game Lab as the basis for their development.

Aqilla Suci Fattimatuz Haya, One of the team members explained that the reason they chose to develop games with a three-dimensional (3D) model was that so far the media provide similar services. Generally, in terms of graphics, still use two-dimensional models and are very text-oriented. “From the survey we conducted 68 percent of all respondents believe that games are preferred by children to videos or text,” explained Aqilla.

Interestingly, this game is free and can access by anyone. You only need a laptop or computer and Microsoft Kodu Game Lab installed to play it. “In XEGA later, the story begins in a city called Majapahit,” she added. At the beginning of the game, players will get the name of their characters. Kartono or Kartini, according to their gender.

To win the game, explained Aqilla, players must complete the three main missions available. Each mission is adjusted to the level of difficulty starting from the easiest. “In the first mission, players will be asked to identify themselves and tested whether they can differentiate between men and women,” said this 2018 class student.

After succeeding in the first mission, players must move to one of the crowded locations in Majapahit City. Here, the player is met by several unknown people who try to hold the privacy area of ​​the player’s character. If this happens, the player character must shout for help to the crowd. So they can pass to the next mission. “In the last mission, players are asking to complete a maze to escape from bad people,” said Aqilla describing the most difficult-mission.

(from left) The characters of Kartini, Bad People, and Kartono in the XEGA game, designed by ITS Bramunastya Team

For information, since August 2020, XEGA has undergone many developments until the last one is the integration of XEGA with augmented reality. Until finally, XEGA managed to win a gold medal at the 2021 ASEAN Innovative Science Environmental and Entrepreneur Fair (AISEEF) international paper competition held by the Indonesian Young Scientist Association (IYSA) on February 18-22 after defeating nearly 450 teams from 20 other countries.

After winning this competition, Aqilla and the team hope that XEGA can be played by a wide audience. Especially, children with their parents to be more aware of the importance of sexual education. “Currently, the only limitation that makes our dream not come true, because not all children have access to the technology needed to operate XEGA,” he concluded. (pan/ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: ion24