Slhoka
Smash Lord
HF-LAN 3
TL;DR information :
May 19th-20th
Near Paris
64 players
Great venue, with a giant screen in an auditorium to watch finals
Free drinks
Amazing staff
Near Paris
64 players
Great venue, with a giant screen in an auditorium to watch finals
Free drinks
Amazing staff
What is the HF-Lan ?
Short answer : One of the best-run tournaments you could attend.
Long answer : The HF-Lan series started in early 2010, and only consisted in 2 tournaments gathering 30 to 40 attendants. Yet, it's without a doubt one of the most awaited tournament in the French community along some much larger tournaments like Smashers' Reunion.
The reason for this is that it was one of the best-run tournament the French community has ever seen. Here's a short summary of what was done at HF-Lan and will be there again :
- A large venue (the tournament takes place in the canteen of a huge engineer school)
- Many setups : the HF-Lan series fits in the average TV/players ratio at French tournaments : close to 3. It means you almost never have to wait in order to play.
- Free drinks during the whole event, including RedBull
- Free food (usually hot dogs) for the lunches of saturday and sunday. And the staff took care of a group order in the evening (Have you ever seen someone order 95 McDonalds menu at the same time ? Well they did )
- Couches : in front of many TVs (not all of them), there were large couches to be comfy while you play.
- The top games were played in a 200+ seats auditorium, on a large movie screen.
- One of the most dedicated staff there could be.
So basically, the HF-Lan is an amazing tournament series.
Now for the practical information :
When ?
May 19th-20th, 2012
The venue is going to open on Saturday morning, and will close on Sunday evening. You can stay during the night.
Where ?
Noisy-le-Grand, France. This city isn't far from Paris and easy to reach with the public transportation system.
The venue
ESIEE Paris
2 boulevard Blaise Pascal
Cité Descartes
Noisy-le-Grand
See it on a map !
The venue is an engineer school, and a huge one that is ! We're using the canteen, which is really large and easily provides enough space. Couches are set in front of some TVs in order to play comfortably.
In addition to the canteen, the auditorium will also be used for the most hyped sets. It has space for 200+ people, features a giant screen as well as a scene at the bottom for the players.
You can see the venue on this photo album, taken during HF-Lan 2 : http://www.flickr.com/photos/esieephoto/sets/72157627849883949/with/6279832090/
Who ?
In order to be able to manage the event more efficiently, the ESIEE staff sets an attendance limit, which rose with every edition. This time, the tournament is limited to 64 players. However, to help international attendance, the staff considers setting up a quota reserved for international players.
The hosts
The tournament is hosted by the members of the school's gaming club. They do not enter de tournament, but play smash often and follow the activity of the international scene. While one might think that not being a part of the smash community could make them care less about smash players, the reality is actually the opposite. Their dedication is absolutely remarkable, and they always listen to the players' need to make the tournament a better experience.
Events
The tournament will feature singles and doubles.
Singles : 64 players, most like 8 pools of 8, top 4 making it to a 32-man bracket.
Doubles : 32 teams, most likely 4 pools of 8, top 4 making it to a 16-team bracket.
These are subject to change.
Depending of the attendants and the time available, other events could happen, such as a crew battle.
Equipment
I talked to one of the main hosts a few days ago and we had a common aim : one setups for every 3 players. It would mean 21 or 22 setups, and, it addition to helping the tournament run faster, it would allow everyone to find free TVs whenever they want.
Registration
Registration will take place on the HF-Lan website. It's being renovated right now, but it should be available soon. If the 64 players limit is reached, a reserve list will be set up.
Entry fees and prizes
Entry fees
Venue fee : 6€
Singles tournament : 10€
Doubles tournament : 10€ per player
Prizes
The post should be separated as follows :
1st|50%|50%
2nd|25%|25%
3rd|15%|15%
4th|10%|10%
5th to 8th|10€|TBD
1st|300€|160€ each
2nd|150€|80€ each
3rd|90€|48€ each
4th|60€%|32€ each
5th to 8th|10€|TBD
Schedule
The venue opens on saturday morning, and closes on sunday evening.
Detailed schedule is TBD.
Ruleset
To be determined. But it will be similar to the usual French tournaments, with 6 stages available (BF, DL64, FD, FoD, PS, YS)
Food, housing, and travel information
Food
Last time, the HF-Lan staff served free drinks during the whole event, including red bull. Additionnally, they served free hot dogs for lunch, and took care of a group Mc Donalds order on the saturday evening.
But there are also some shops in the neighbourhood where you can buy food. A map with the locations of the food stores will be added to this post before the tournament.
Housing
On saturday evening, the venue will be open and you will be able to stay there. Just bring what you need to sleep.
If you need housing before or after the tournament, some Parisian smashers should be able to help you. Please contact me if you need housing (see Contact section)
Travel information
The venue is located 500 m away from the RER Station on the A line. From there, a trip to Paris takes 20 mn and costs 4€. Please contact me if you need information regarding transportation : I'll help you choose the most convenient route.
Other games
HF-Lan began as a multi-games event, including, Melee, Brawl, SC2, LOL, … and then, the list shrinked to keep the most active communities.
HF-Lan 3 will feature Melee and Starcraft 2. I don't have much information regarding the Starcraft event, but if you are interested, just ask and I'll get what you need.
Smash-unrelated interests
The tournament will not take place in Paris, but so close it is pretty much the same. Paris is a beautiful and very lively city, and sightseeing can be great there.
If you plan to attend the tournament and want some information about great places to visit, don't hesitate to ask.
Updates
We intend to stream the tournament. I don't know the link yet, but this post will be updated with more information.
We will also make Twitter updates on LeFrenchMelee, the french community's Twitter acocunt.
Contact
Slhoka
Check my profile for IM accounts, send me an e-mail, or ask me on facebook !
Make sure to contact me if you have any question.
Here are a few more pictures from HF-Lan 2 so you can see what HF-Lan 3 will be like :