Slhoka
Smash Lord
HF-LAN 4(ever)
December 1st-2nd
Noisy-le-Grand, France
TL;DR information :
December 1st-2nd (confirmed)
Near Paris, France
64 players
Great venue, with a giant screen in an auditorium to watch finals
Free drinks
Amazing staff
Near Paris, France
64 players
Great venue, with a giant screen in an auditorium to watch finals
Free drinks
Amazing staff
The HF-Lan series is back !
Since March 2011, this tournament series became a reference in terms of tournament hosting in France. All three events were unquestionable successes, each of them featuring improvements over the previous event : better players, more hype, more services... And this new edition will not be an exception ! Once again, we'll make our best to make this event close to perfection !
What is the HF-Lan ?
One of the best-run tournaments you could attend, awaited by all those who attended one of the previous editions.
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 or really cheap food for the lunches of saturday and sunday.
- 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 400+ 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 ?
December 1st-2nd, 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 400+ people, features a giant screen as well as a scene at the bottom for the players.
You can see more pictures of the venue in the photo albums of HF-Lan 2 and HF-Lan 3
Who ?
In order 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.
They will take care of the logistics, budget, and pretty much everything but running the tournament in itself. That will be the part I will handle with a few other smashers.
Events
The tournament will feature singles and doubles.
Singles : 64 players, most likely 7 turns of swiss rounds followed by 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. An amateur bracket may take place for both tournaments, but isn't garanteed.
Depending of the attendants and the time available, other events could happen, such as a crew battle.
Sadly, we won't have a Project M tournament. While we definitely support the game, we decided to focus on offering a perfect Melee experience for this tournament, and decided to drop Project M for that reason. However, a few PM TVs will be set up for friendlies.
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 isn't open at the moment, but it should be available soon. If the 64 players limit is reached, a reserve list will be set up.
Entry fees and prizes*
*All fees and prizes are subject to change
Entry fees
Venue fee : 8€
Singles tournament : 10€*
Doubles tournament : 7€ per player*
Prizes
The pot should be separated as follows :
1st|50%|51%
2nd|25%|25,5%
3rd|15%|15,50%
4th|10%|8%
5th to 8th|10€|7€
1st|300€|100€ each
2nd|150€|50€ each
3rd|90€|30€ each
4th|60€|16€ each
5th to 8th|10€|TBD
Schedule
The venue opens on saturday morning, and closes on sunday evening.
Detailed schedule is TBD.
Ruleset
The ruleset will be similar to the previous HF-Lan ruleset, which can be found here.
This ruleset is fairly standard, and only use 6 stages : Battlefield, Dreamland 64, Final Destination, Fountain of Dreams, Pokémon Stadium, Yoshi's Story.
Food, housing, and travel information
Food
Last time, the HF-Lan staff served free drinks, including red bull. Additionnally, they served hot dogs for 1€ at lunch, and sold pizzas for dinner.
But there are also some shops in the neighbourhood where you can buy food.
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 may be able to help you. Please contact me if you need housing (see Contact section). There are also hotels close to the venue, including one costing about 30€/night for 3 persons.
Sadly, there are no showers at the venue.
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 4 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 account.
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 the previous HF-Lans so you can see what HF-Lan 4 will be like :
