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07b621 lisa 2026-06-08 12:58:03
C05-3: add the three thinking-step pages plus a Godot creative-thinking page - Shoulders of Giants (Step 1), Connect the Dots (Step 2, rebuilt with a Godot double-jump trace), Plan B Ready (Step 3) — all game/Godot-flavoured, scaffold-faithful - Creative Thinking for Your Godot Project — seven optional moves (diverge, grey-box prototype, remix, constraints, game feel, ecosystem remix, document pivots) to generate creative-thinking evidence - Added C5-3 section to the home index Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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> **DRAFT** — under teacher review.
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# Creative Thinking for Your Godot Project
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The Hamilton and Alexandra College · Year 12 · 2026
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C5-3 rewards **both** kinds of thinking:
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> *"Documents the process of critical **and** creative thinking through the development of design ideas and the detailed designs."*
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The three required steps — [Shoulders of Giants](/sd/C05/Shoulders%20of%20Giants), [Connect the Dots](/sd/C05/Connect%20the%20Dots) and [Plan B Ready](/sd/C05/Plan%20B%20Ready) — mostly show your **critical** thinking: analysing, tracing, planning. This page is about the **creative** half — extra, optional moves that generate strong creative-thinking evidence. Because you have locked in **Godot**, they fit naturally into a game project.
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> [!NOTE]
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> This is still **design** evidence (C05), not the build (C06). The point of each move below is to *develop and refine a design idea* — and to **capture it in your design log** (a sketch, a screenshot, a short note). The artefact is what the marker reads.
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---
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## Move 1 — Diverge before you converge
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Don't design the first idea that works. Generate **many** — five rough versions of a mechanic, a level layout, or a menu — *then* choose one.
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- Sketch 5 quick options on one page.
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- Circle the one you'll build, and write one line on **why each other option was rejected**.
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> [!TIP]
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> The rejected ideas are not wasted — a documented "I considered A, B and C, and chose B because…" is exactly the creative-thinking evidence that scores. Keep the idea sheet.
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---
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## Move 2 — Grey-box prototype to test a design idea
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Build a quick, ugly, playable Godot scene — plain boxes, no art — just to feel whether a design idea actually works. Play it, then change the design based on what you felt.
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- Use placeholder shapes (a `ColorRect` or a cube) instead of art.
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- Write a **before / after** note: "I planned a double-jump, but in the prototype it felt floaty, so I changed the design to a dash."
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This is prototyping to refine the **design**, documented as design thinking — capture a screenshot and the note for your folio.
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---
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## Move 3 — Remix and combine
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Creativity is often two old ideas combined into a new one. Take two things you like and mash them together, then document the reasoning.
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- "Tetris + tower defence", "a cooking game with rhythm-game timing".
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- Write what each part contributes and why the combination is more interesting than either alone.
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---
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## Move 4 — Use a constraint as a creativity engine
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A blank page is hard; a tight limit sparks ideas. Set yourself a deliberate constraint and design within it.
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- One button only. One screen. No text. A single colour. Sixty seconds per round.
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- Document the constraint you chose and the design it forced you into.
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---
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## Move 5 — Design the "game feel"
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How a game *feels* is a design decision, not an accident. Treat feedback — screen shake, sound, particles, timing, a little pause on impact — as a design dimension and make deliberate choices.
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- For one key action (a jump, a hit, a pickup), list the feedback you'll add and why.
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- Note what you're trying to make the player **feel** (snappy, weighty, satisfying).
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---
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## Move 6 — Stand on the Godot ecosystem's shoulders — creatively
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You don't have to invent everything. Study how others solved a problem, then adapt it into something of your own.
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- Browse the in-engine **AssetLib** (Godot Asset Library) and the official **Godot demo projects** to see how a pattern is built.
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- Study open-source Godot games (itch.io, GitHub) and published games for a mechanic or UI idea.
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- Use free **CC0** art to prototype — e.g. [Kenney](https://kenney.nl/) or [OpenGameArt](https://opengameart.org/) — so your design work isn't blocked waiting on art.
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> [!TIP]
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> **Credit everything**, even free CC0 assets and ideas you adapted. A Credits list is an integrity requirement — and noting "adapted from X" is also creative-thinking evidence. This overlaps [Shoulders of Giants](/sd/C05/Shoulders%20of%20Giants), but here the emphasis is on the *creative remix*, not just the analysis.
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---
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## Move 7 — Document your pivots
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When you change a design idea partway through, that change is gold — **if you capture it**.
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- Save the **before** (the original mock-up or sketch) and the **after**.
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- Write one or two sentences on what triggered the change and why the new design is better.
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A folio full of documented pivots tells the marker a real thinking process happened.
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---
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## Capture it for your folio
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None of this counts unless it's **documented**. As you try these moves, drop into your design log:
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- the sketch / idea sheet (Move 1, 3, 4)
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- a screenshot of the grey-box prototype + your before/after note (Move 2, 7)
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- a short written reason for each design choice
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---
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## Check Your Understanding
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1. In one line each, what's the difference between *critical* and *creative* thinking in C5-3?
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>| **Critical** thinking analyses and judges — comparing solutions, tracing requirements, planning for risk. **Creative** thinking generates and combines — producing new ideas, remixing, exploring options. C5-3 rewards documenting *both*.
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2. You sketched five menu layouts and built the second one. Why keep the other four?
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>| Because the rejected options *are* the evidence. "I considered five layouts and chose this one because…" documents a creative process — far stronger than presenting one design as if it appeared from nowhere.
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3. Pick one move above you could do for your Godot project this week, and name the artefact you'd save for your folio.
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>| Any reasonable answer — e.g. *Move 2: grey-box a jump mechanic and save a screenshot plus a before/after note*, or *Move 1: sketch five HUD ideas and keep the idea sheet with reasons for rejecting four*.
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---
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## See also
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- [Shoulders of Giants](/sd/C05/Shoulders%20of%20Giants) — researching existing solutions (C5-3 Step 1)
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- [Connect the Dots](/sd/C05/Connect%20the%20Dots) — tracing ideas to requirements to designs (C5-3 Step 2)
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- [Plan B Ready](/sd/C05/Plan%20B%20Ready) — contingencies and mitigations (C5-3 Step 3)
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- [C05 Resources](/sd/Resources/C05-Resources)
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