The stress doesn't stop... not only were we expected to finish the game today, but we also had to make 2 videos AND a presentation about our design process (which ALSO had to be finished today 💀) Anyways, we pulled through, and most of us ended up having some sort of final product to turn in (even if we weren't satisfied with it - oh well 🤷‍♂️). Presentations are on Monday, so at least there's that.

In the afternoon, we began the long-awaited COSMOlympics! We didn't expect to place at all, but somehow our skit ended up getting THIRD overall! Everyone's skits turned out incredible - most of them were really funny! (special shoutouts to Cluster 3's Lorax, Cluster 6's "Powerfuel Girls", and Cluster 12's dance battle).

As for the games themselves, we didn't end up placing at all, and they unfortunately had to be cut short due to time and safety concerns, but we ended up having fun nevertheless!

FR1DAY 0UTS1DE ACT1VIT1ES

• COSMOLYMPICS!!!

  • Skits

  • Water Balloon Toss

  • Three-Legged Race

We really didn't do much on Saturday: Clusters 1-7 went to the beach while the rest of us just relaxed in our dorms. To be honest, it was a really nice break from the stress of the first week and was greatly appreciated!

We also took the time to finally do our laundry! The lines were... a bit long 💀

SATURDAY 0UTS1DE ACT1VIT1ES

• Scavenger Hunt

• Pencil Bag Painting

• Sunset Painting

• Ramen Night

• Board Games

• Target Run

Ah, back to class...

On Monday, we presented the tower defense games we made last week! There were 2 Candylands, a Spongebob parody, and even a game about self-driving cars! (don't ask about that one 🤫) Most of us admitted that our games weren't the best, especially with the time we were given, but we all agree that some of them were quite funny (i.e. the winning game literally had MASSIVE TANKS as the final wave). At the very least, we can confidently say that we have made our first Unity game!

We were also introduced to our next project: Critters! It's a Java (not Unity)-based simulation based around rock paper scissors where animals can fight, eat, and even mate! Each critter acts differently, and we were tasked with implementing 3 of the "base" critters (bears, lions, and tigers) that each moved, fought, and ate differently. So far, this is MUCH easier than last week... (thank goodness 😅)

Some of our nightly activities ended up changing... What started as a trivia game ultimately turned into a tug-o-war match! (they REALLY got into it - I can still hear those screams). Also, no one ended up doing Zumba, so they switched to Just Dance and actually got some people involved!

M0NDAY 0UTS1DE ACT1VIT1ES

• Crochet

• Stuart Art Collection Tours

• Trivia/Tug-o-War

• Zumba/Just Dance

We continued work on our ethics video! We once again find ourselves in a bit of a time crunch (since we have to get these done by Thursday 😬) but we're making steady progress and they should be done by the deadline!

During lab, we also began work on coding our very own critter! The plan is to host a March Madness-style tournament with our custom critters and see whose strategy (fighting, moving, eating, etc.) can come out on top! So far, much easier than last week! (especially considering we're much more comfortable with Java 😇).

At night, we began our first (or I guess third, if you count Avatar Bingo on opening day and COSMOlympics) Large Scale Program (LSP for short). Much like bingo, we had stations themed around the 4 elements, and completing activities would earn you tickets that you could exchange for prizes, with the grand prize being a Lego set for 22 tickets!

TUESDAY 0UTS1DE ACT1VIT1ES

• Avatar Picnic

  • Fire: Paper lanterns, hot takes, spicy candy

  • Air: Frisbee

  • Water: Caprisun, magnet fishing

  • Earth: Clay sculptures

In the morning, we watched a panel featuring COSMOS alumni! We enjoyed listening to their stories and wisdom and found some of their advice to be extremely useful.

We then got more time to finalize our ethics videos and polish our critters! We also got to work on yet another presentation about our critter design process (all hail Slidesgo 🙏). Like we said, this week was a lot simpler than Week 1, but pretty soon we'll be moving back to Unity to create our own Zelda-style game! Hopefully we'll have more time for that!

THURSDAY 0UTS1DE ACT1VIT1ES

• Cookies and Curls

• Explore UCSD

• Nail Painting

• Ethics Presentation Worktime