Suku Suku Separuh

Suku Suku Separuh is an edutainment game aimed towards primary school children developed by Kindling Interactive and is the property of Putra Malaysia University and The Health Ministry of Malaysia . It's a food serving game where the player serves food for the students and learns about healthy and balanced eating.

## Gameplay

The title of the game is referencing the slogan of sort for Pinggan Sihat Malaysia (Malaysia's healthy plate) Malaysia's version of the food pyramid. "Suku suku separuh" that translate to "quarter quarter half" refers to the food distribution that builds a balanced plate which is a quarter of the plate is grains or grain products such as rice or bread, another quarter of the plate is for protein such as fish, poulty, or meat, and half of the plate is dedicated for fruits and vegetables .

The player plays as "Kakak" the school canteen worker serving food for the students. The player will be have a set of food that changes every level, students will ask Kakak for certain food and the player's task is to serve them balanced nutritional plate of meal by adding various combination of food to the plate in accordance to "suku suku separuh". A food pyramid is present to indicate what part of the food pyramid is lacking, is fulfilled, or have too much of on the plate. If the player makes mistakes there is an option to throw away the plate the player are currently filling and start over. The player must serve all ten students before time runs out. Failure of the game will result to the students having negative feedback towards Kakak and the canteen's food and success will lead to positive feedback.

## Development

The game is aimed towards primary school aged children, typically aged 9 - 12 years old. This affect certain feature, as the game have a version available for school computers, it has a special back end feature that allows teacher to keep track to students' playthrough and help them assess external help learning about healthy eating and the food pyramid

Jaime Lau mentions in a post about concept art for the game that the game's artstyle is inspired by watercolour murals and malaysian caricature works such as "It's a Durian Life" and "Kampung Boy" in the attempt to capture certain Malaysian artistics. Many aspects of the game such as character design, art direction, and certain information provided within the game, and Malay translations is reviewed, approved, or even provided by the Health Ministry of Malaysia  .

## Trivia

* Despite only having 10 students appear per level, there are 13 students in total. same as the food, their appearance is randomized.
* According to Game Artist of Kindling Interactive Jaime Lau, the game is a property of Univeristy Putra Malaysia and the Health Ministry of Malaysia as part of campaign to kids for eating healthy meal.
* The art direction took inspiration from "It's a Durian Life" and "Kampung Boy" to express Malaysian artistic identity.
* Before the game title named Suku-Suku Separuh, the developer give the game title "Kakak Kantin Masak" as a abrevation of KKM (Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia) .

## Official Links

* Kindling Interactive Official Twitter
* Suku Suku Separuh itch.io page

## Gallery

Penjaga Kantin serving balanced dish for studentsAnother example of the Mamak serving balanced dish for studentsStudents review of the meal they ate
## References

1. ↑ https://s34nn.itch.io/suku-suku-separuh
2. ↑ https://jknsarawak.moh.gov.my/hsibu/suku-suku-separuh-panduan-hidangan-sihat-seimbang/
3. ↑ https://www.kakuchopurei.com/2023/05/get-ready-to-serve-with-suku-suku-separuh-an-upcoming-educational-game/
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://jlicious.artstation.com/projects/9Em1ey